Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Rescue Crews Search For Survivors After Russian Missile Attack On Kramatorsk Kills At Least Four; Kremlin Says It Will Investigate How About A Billion Dollars Paid To Wagner Group Was Actually Spent; Deforestation Soared In 2022 Despite Pledges; President Maada Bio Sworn In Hours After Win; Donald Trump Responds To 2021 Tape: "I Did Nothing Wrong; Prigozhin Reportedly In Belarus, After Aborted Mutiny. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired June 28, 2023 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:57]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, after the mutiny, how long before the next? With his absolute authority last weekend, Vladimir Putin works to reassert control over Russia.

Celebrated as a landmark agreement by world leaders to save our forests has been an abject failure and no one seems surprised.

And "Mission: Impossible" again for Tom Cruise. There's the new movie but also hopes he can save the summer box office for Hollywood for another year.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Thank you for joining us here on CNN. While the turmoil in Russia may have overshadowed the war in Ukraine, the deadly conflict there grinds on with a missile strike in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says at least four people were killed and dozens were hurt with at least one Russian missile hit a crowded restaurant in the city's downtown area. And at this hour, rescue crews continue to search for survivors.

Russia is accused of deliberately targeting a civilian area. Ukraine's president says they must be held accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Every such act of terror proves again and again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves only one thing as a consequence of all that it has done, defeat and tribunal, fair and lawful trials against all Russian murderers and terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Meantime, on the front line, Ukrainian forces appear to be advancing taking advantage of Russia's split focus during a rebellion which is now over.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on the search for survivors in Kramatorsk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Other destruction, two missiles striking Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, one slamming into the city center.

WEDEMAN: The strike took place at precisely 7:32 in the evening. We don't know what it was that struck, but it was clearly a very large missile by the given level of damage here.

Now, right behind me was a very popular restaurant. And given the time of the strike, there were probably many people inside.

WEDEMAN (voice over): The witness inside the restaurant says it was crammed with people when the missile struck. He saw rescuers pulling dozens of people out.

Slabs of concrete collapsing at the center of the restaurant. Medics and firefighters continuing to pull people out hours after the strike, and removing damaged cars from surrounding streets, clearing the way for more rescue work.

Air raid sirens warning of another strike, pausing the search and rescue and moving along crowds looking for loved ones.

The blast knocking this woman off her feet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was in the middle of my apartment. Then I heard a sudden explosion and was knocked off my feet by the wave. The windows were blowing out on the first floor. I was very frightened.

WEDEMAN (voice over): Kramatorsk is not far from the frontlines. As the war trenches on Russia continues striking seemingly random targets and civilians are paying the ultimate price.

WEDEMAN: I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN reporting from Kramatorsk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing his part to move beyond the Wagner Group insurrection, praising security forces who are preventing a civil war as well as promising to investigate the Wagner Group's finances.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance reports from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Kremlin damage control in full swing. Using the trappings of the Russian presidency to patch up Putin's battered image, and to portray a deal ending the armed Wagner rebellion here as a feat not of weakness, but of national unity.

[00:05:00]

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): You have defended the constitutional order, the life, security and freedom of our citizens, saved our motherland from upheavals, and actually stopped the Civil War.

The Kremlin insists Putin's biggest challenge in 23 years of power is actually bringing Russia closer together.

The problem is that's not entirely true. Images of Russians cheering Wagner forces would have sent chills through the Kremlin. All Russians welcomed to the mutiny, but few turned back to resist it either despite what the Kremlin says.

And what of the man who exposed this serious crack in Kremlin authority. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner leader has now arrived in neighboring Belarus according to its officials after charges of insurrection against him and his fighters in Russia were dropped.

It's possible Wagner fighters could now work alongside the Belarusian military, suggests Aleksandr Lukashenko the country's leader, though he said no camps for them had yet been built.

The Russian defense ministry says the mercenary group must first surrender its heavy weapons.

The Kremlin which now admits fully funding Wagner says it will investigate at more than a billion dollars recently paid for salaries and bonuses was really spent.

Back to Kremlin, a minute's silence for the Russian pilots killed in Prigozhin's uprising. Putin may find it hard to forgive a man who shattered his image of control and who he says stabbed Russia in the back.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: According to new reporting from the New York Times, a senior Russian general may have known about Yevgeny Prigozhin's plans for a rebellion long before his mercenaries began their march on Moscow.

The Times reports that U.S. intelligence is working to determine if General Sergei Surovikin may have helped in the planning. He was replaced in January as the Russian commander in Ukraine.

Current and former U.S. officials tell the Times Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed others in power would come to his aid.

Rose Gottemoeller, the former NATO Deputy Secretary General, and now a lecturer at Stanford University, she's with us from Mountain View in California. Thank you for being with us. ROSE GOTTEMOELLER, FORMER NATO DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL: Certainly.

VAUSE: So, as Putin tries to restore his image, a strong man and control, it seems he may have found a narrative here. It's like what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Here's part of his national address on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (through translator): Your determination and courage as well as the consolidation of the whole Russian society played a huge decisive role in stabilizing the situation. People who were drawn into the revolt saw that the army and the people were not with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That's kind of true to a point. Here's for the most part, the army and the security services did not side with Prigozhin. The same is true for regional governors and senior Kremlin officials. That doesn't mean though that they're loyal to Putin, does it? Especially when that loyalty is the result of fear of Putin.

GOTTEMOELLER: Absolutely. And it's quite interesting to me that Putin himself in the last few days, starting on Saturday, the 24th of June, began talking about Russia being in Civil War, he even cited 1917, which, of course, is the date of the Russian Revolution that overturn the czarist government in favor of the Soviet Communist so and he repeated it again on Monday and said that -- and today that these troops have saved Russia from Civil War.

So, it seems to me that he is actually talking about a great deal of deep instability in Russia, himself as president, which is not only a challenge to the country, but to his own governing.

VAUSE: And Putin hasn't actually mentioned Prigozhin by name, since that deal was brokered by Belarus to end the uprising. Putin struck that deal. He says, as you've mentioned, to avoid a civil war, it was not the sort of movement he believed Putin would actually -- Putin would actually make, especially given the harm it's done to his leadership and its reputation.

Is there a lesson though in that for the war in Ukraine, and how it might be able to come to an end?

GOTTEMOELLER: Well, this development was Surovikin, the general who is now in Ukraine as far as I understand, but having possibly supported the Prigozhin uprising, this march on Moscow, this is a very interesting development, because as a matter of fact, he was brought in to really lead the offensive that the Russians conducted last winter after having been in Syria where he presumably worked very closely with Wagner forces.

[00:10:14]

So, I do think there is probably a good working relationship there and perhaps some temptation after he was shoved aside to put his -- put his stock in with the Wagner group.

I'm only speculating here, but it does mean that the command and control of troops of Russian forces in Ukraine may be very much in question not only from the crisis inside Russia, but from the fact that the main military leader, one of the main military leaders on the ground, may be in question in terms of his loyalties.

VAUSE: Yes, and as for Prigozhin, he's now in Belarus, a lot of questions about his future. I want you to listen part of the White House briefing on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SCHOGOL, SENIOR PENTAGON REPORTER, TASK & PURPOSE: Does the DoD know for a fact that Prigozhin is still alive? Or are we in a weekend at Bernie's scenario right now?

BRIG. GEN. PAT RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I'm sorry, Jeff. I don't get the reference. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Gen X are here at the podium. I have many responsibilities, but press secretary for Mr. Prigozhin is not one. So, I really can't comment on his current status.

To that point, essentially, there's a belief that Prigozhin is a dead man walking. One commentator noted that there are plots without coups, but Prigozhin essentially had a coup without a plot. How do you see this playing out?

GOTTEMOELLER: Well, actually, it's funny about President Lukashenko saying today that Prigozhin and the Wagner troops can actually help to build up the Belarusian Armed Forces, which I think is causing some anxiety among the NATO countries, the Baltic states, particularly in Poland, bordering on Belarus, so that's an interesting development.

But yes, if I were -- if I were Prigozhin, I would certainly be watching what I eat, and also stay away from windows at this moment. But he does have a lot of support as you play the clip at the outset.

And one thing I wanted to mention is that there is this real now I would say proliferation of these private militia groups, not only Prigozhin, but Kadyrov of the head of the Chechen militia group. And then individual companies even like Gazprom, the big gas company have their own militia group.

So, it's a very difficult situation, if a country is trying to prosecute a war, to have all these splinter groups, essentially militias that are under private control, they're not under the command and control of the armed forces.

So, it's a terribly complex situation for the Ministry of Defense to try to get their arms around, that Putin obviously now is trying to reinvest the Ministry of Defense and their leadership with that authority.

VAUSE: Finally, I want you to listen to the Secretary General of NATO, and the connection he believes between Putin's internal problems and the war on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, SECRETARY GENERAL, NATO: These are internal Russian matters. But what is clear is that President Putin's illegal war against Ukraine has deepened divisions and created new tensions in Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Which is unusual because in the past, Putin has gone to war, be it in Georgia or Chechnya, as were bolstering his own leadership. That isn't happening this time in Ukraine. Why is that?

GOTTEMOELLER: I believe it's because it's evident that there are cracks in the regime, the regime is very brittle. This was even clearer, I think, and becoming clear by the week before this crisis occurred.

So, in many ways, this crisis has been in development for a long time. And now it has come on the horizon. And we really, I think we're only seeing the first phase of it. And there will be I think, continued opportunities for instability, particularly if the armed forces cannot gain the control of the troops on the ground that they need to, starting with the Wagner group. But ensuring that these private militias proliferating as they are not going to cause continuing security problems inside Russia itself.

VAUSE: Yes, it's quite the mess which has been created in some ways inside Russia. And I guess we're just going to see over the days and weeks ahead on how this all plays out.

But Rose Gottemoeller, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time and your insights.

GOTTEMOELLER: My pleasure.

VAUSE: With that, we'll take a short break, when we come back, wildfires made worse by climate change lead to scenes like this, skylines in cities across the United States, again, blanketed by thick smoke.

A new report shows humanity's attacks on the rainforests soared last year. The very ecosystems which would help reduce global warming are being destroyed at a record pace.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:16:49]

VAUSE: Air quality alerts have been issued for more than 80 million people living in the U.S. Midwest to the East Coast, as well as Canada. That's from the smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires.

Chicago and Detroit had the worst air quality in the world Tuesday according to IQAir. Officials asking all residents especially those with heart or lung conditions, older adults, pregnant women and young children to avoid going outside and protect themselves from smoke exposure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bought this mask because it felt dangerous to breathe the air and yes, I felt like I would be safer wearing a mask around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's burning on the eyes and burning in the nose. And I don't think this mask is even strong enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad that my son is not out in it because he does have severe asthma. So, I'm glad my son is not out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Officials are warning of reduced visibility and are closing some public spaces as Canada sees its worst fire season on record. More than 200 fires currently burning out of control.

One of the most celebrated achievements from the U.N.'s climate change summit back in 2021 in Glasgow was the leaders' declaration on forest and land use, described at the time as a breakthrough moment, a commitment by 145 world leaders not just stop deforestation, but also reverse it by the end of the decade.

It was recognition of the crucial role forests play in slowing climate change and maintaining biodiversity. That was late 2021.

A few months later, those noble promises of stopping and ending deforestation came into effect, it was 2022. And according to the World Resources Institute, destruction of the world's rainforests in 2022 went up not by a little but by a lot, 10 percent compared to a year earlier.

The world lost an area of tropical forests equivalent to the size of Switzerland. Or put it this way, think of a standard soccer field covered in rain forest. Now think of 11 of those soccer fields with rainforest being cleared every minute of every day of every week of every month for a year.

And there was one country which led the world and rainforest destruction, Brazil, a signatory to the Glasgow leaders' declaration.

Erin Mordecai is Associate Professor of Biology and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She is with us from Palo Alto in California. Erin, it's good to see you. Thanks for taking the time.

ERIN MORDECAI, SENIOR FELLOW, STANFORD WOODS INSTITUTE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Hi, thanks for having me.

VAUSE: So, you know, it's important to point out here the 2022 was the last year of Jair Bolsonaro's term in office in Brazil, what seemed like a four-year long all-out assault on the Amazon. You know, he was voted out of office and replaced by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. And here he was speaking earlier this month, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Stopping deforestation in the Amazon is a way to reduce global warming. I know the size of the challenge of ending deforestation by 2030. But this is a challenge we are determined to achieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Every country has a role to play in trying to fix the climate crisis. But it seems our fate in so many ways could be determined by what happens in Brazil. Because the future of the Amazon is just so crucial here in so many different levels.

So, can Lula da Silva make good on that promise without a lot of international assistance?

[00:20:06]

MORDECAI: Well, I certainly hope so. Because halting the deforestation that's going on, particularly in the Amazon is critically important for controlling the Earth's climate system, as well as for protecting biodiversity and human health and wellbeing.

VAUSE: Yes, the problem with the Glasgow leaders' declaration on forests and lodges, it seems to be the same problem that every other U.N. Climate Declaration actually has. It totally relies on good intentions, goodwill and honesty with no way to hold any country accountable for failing to do what they promised they would.

And right now, the world is not on track to end the deforestation or reversing it by 2030.

So, what will that actually mean, if we don't achieve this goal, what happens to global warming?

MORDECAI: Well, we can expect to see global warming getting worse and a failure to be able to stop global warming above 1-1/2 degrees or even two degrees Celsius, which is really important for avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

So, being able to conserve the world's remaining primary forest is critically important for controlling climate change.

VAUSE: And we have a situation with the Amazon where right now it's in what you might call the virtuous cycle, absorbing (PH) carbon, it's actually minimizing the amount of carbon and the impact of the carbon that we're putting into the environment. Because it's absorbing that, it does get to a tipping point, though, right, where that reverses, and suddenly it becomes a problem.

MORDECAI: That's right. There are very important feedbacks that happen between land cover like forest cover and the Earth's climate system.

In some ways, tropical forests can create their own weather and create conditions that are cooler and rainier and therefore, promoting the growth of trees and the storage of carbon.

And once you clear enough of the Amazon, you can get a tipping point where you no longer have a stable forest ecosystem, it can be converted into a savanna ecosystem, which burns more easily and is less able to store large amounts of carbon, not to mention again, the loss of biodiversity and human cultural diversity that's really important that takes place in the Amazon

VAUSE: More than a decade ago or not even longer. You know, climate scientists were warning that, you know, a warming planet would lead to this dramatic increase in diseases and the spread of disease. And it seems the future is here now. Listen to the head of the WHO.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBRA HOURY, ACTING PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: So, each year, particularly before COVID, we saw about 2,000 cases of malaria in the United States each year, but that was from people who are traveling abroad and acquired internationally.

What is different this time and why we put out the health notice to doctors and to the public as we had five cases of domestically acquired malaria, meaning people got it from in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Sorry for the confusion, that was the head of the CDC talking about the situation with malaria in the U.S., it's not unrelated. But what the head of the WHO has said is that what they're seeing is because of the El Nino effect, is that there's been a huge increase in malaria and dengue fever as well around the world.

So -- do we know if there's a way of drawing this direct link between the amount of forest we're losing in the Amazon, and how many people are dying from an outbreak of disease like dengue or malaria?

MORDECAI: You know, there are some pretty direct ways that we can measure those effects. And some research that we and others have done, have shown a really clear linkage where for every -- for example, every square kilometer of forest that you clear in the Brazilian Amazon, leads to about 6.4 additional malaria cases.

So, we can directly translate those numbers of forest loss to human health to malaria cases. What we're seeing right now in Peru is a really massive outbreak of dengue, that's much more severe than anything they've seen in recent years.

And that is likely linked to some climate variation and climate change that's happening right now.

And of course, you know, you mentioned those new locally acquired malaria cases here in the United States, which have a lot to do with many aspects of global change, mostly probably people traveling around and bringing in new cases of malaria, but some local transmission is being sustained as well. So, the climate and especially land clearing can create habitat and

suitable conditions that allow for mosquito borne diseases to be transmitted, not only, you know, in the tropics, but here in the United States.

VAUSE: Erin, thank you for being with us. We appreciate your time.

MORDECAI: Thank you very much.

VAUSE: Well, Sierra Leone's president didn't waste much time. Maada Bio was sworn into a second term, just hours after the electoral authorities certified the vote. His main opponent though is rejecting the outcome of the election.

CNN's Stephanie Busari has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR: Sierra Leone's president might appeal has been declared winner of the presidential elections. According to the Electoral Commission, he secured more than 56 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff against his rival Samura Kamara.

Just hours after the results were announced, Bio was already sworn in at the statehouse where he gave a speech, saying he was, "Extremely humbled, and immensely thankful to the people of Sierra Leone".

However, Samura has rejected the results saying that they are not credible, and that he would be challenging them.

It was a fiercely contested election between the two men, and international observers such as Carter Center reported that the tabulation process lacked, "adequate levels of transparency".

[00:25:06]

Carter Center observers also said they observed instances of broken seals and ballot boxes that were opened in some tally centers.

The Electoral Commission described a weekend pull as relatively peaceful but acknowledged pockets of violence.

And on Sunday, Kamara's APC party accused the country's security forces of laying siege to its head office in the capital Freetown and firing live rounds, which Kamara described as an assassination attempt. Although the police denied firing live rounds.

The votes on June 24, was a fifth since the end of civil war in 2002, and was held amid high unemployment and inflation, as well as growing divisions in the country.

President Bio made great inroads in his first term with gender equality and education, but was marred by worsening hardship for its citizens. Although he has promised to tackle these problems by feeding the nation and creating a half a billion jobs for young people.

Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A day after an audio recording was released in which Donald Trump seemed to admit he was holding classified documents after his time in office, the former President insists he's done nothing wrong.

That recording though is a key piece of evidence of the U.S. Justice Department's indictment against Trump. In the past, he denied holding on to any secret documents after leaving office. He's not repeating those denials now, but he is calling the charges against him a hoax.

Paula Reid has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For the first time, the public is hearing former President Trump in his own words, claiming to have secret documents months after leaving the White House.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up, look.

REID (voice over): CNN exclusively obtained the bombshell recording of Trump seemingly rustling through paper and showing off a secret military document during an interview at his New Jersey Golf Club in the summer of 2021.

His own staffers recording the conversation at his request. And still, he tells the room --

TRUMP: See as president I could have declassified it.

STAFFER: Yes.

TRUMP: Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret.

STAFFER: Yes. Now we have a problem.

TRUMP: Isn't that interesting?

REID (voice over): Trump giving Fox News this explanation Tuesday.

TRUMP: What did I say wrong on those recordings? I didn't even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong. We had a lot of papers, a lot of papers stacked up.

REID (voice over): In the recording, Trump refers to a classified proposed military attack plan against Iran.

TRUMP: This was done by the military and given to me.

REID (voice over): That line, these are the papers coming to light for the first time.

JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL: We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.

REID (voice over): Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was prosecuting Trump in the classified documents and obstruction case, cited the tape in his indictment, but left out that key line and the section where Trump mocks former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server.

TRUMP: Look, look at this. You attack and --

STAFFER: Hillary would print that out all the time, you know.

TRUMP: No, she'd send it to Anthony Weiner.

REID (voice over): The tone throughout is casual, even jovial when talking about national defense secrets, something that may not play well before a jury.

TRUMP: Isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential.

REID (voice over): The tape ending with Trump ordering some sodas.

TRUMP: Now you believe me, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I believed you.

TRUMP: It's incredible, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they never met a war they didn't want.

TRUMP: Hey, bring some -- bring some Cokes in please.

REID (voice over): The Trump campaign says the audio tape provides context proving once again, President Trump did nothing wrong at all.

REID: Trump's close aide and co-defendant in this case, Walt Nauta was expected to be arraigned in federal court in Miami Tuesday, but he didn't make it to the courthouse as a result of flight delays.

The judge is going to have him back next week for his arraignment but he still needs to find a Florida based attorney.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, the head of the Wagner group may have escaped retribution for his rebellion, at least for now. But other Putin critics and challenges have not been so lucky in the past, we'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN Newsroom. More now on our lead story this hour. Russian President Vladimir Putin praising the soldiers who stayed loyal during the open rebellion by Wagner mercenaries, telling them on Tuesday they prevented a civil war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Real defenders of the motherland, you saved our people, our homeland, virtually, you stopped a civil war. In actual fact, you stopped a civil war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Meantime, the President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko taking the credit for saving Putin. He shared details with state media on how he claimed he helped brokered a deal to end the revolt. Here he describes a conversation with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEKSANDR LUKASHENKO, BELARUS PRESIDENT: March on Moscow, and I say halfway to Moscow, they will squash you like a bug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yevgeny Prigozhin is one of the few Russians to openly defy or criticize Moscow and the war in Ukraine, apparently without much consequence. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on the fate of Putin's critics in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN REPORTER: A march of justice is how Wagner's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin justified it. For others, such as Russia's leader Putin himself, this was betrayal, a red line not many dare to cross.

PUTIN: All those who deliberately chose the path of treachery, who prepared an armed mutiny, who chose the path of blackmail and terrorist methods will face inevitable punishment, and will answer both to the law and to our people.

PLEITGEN: Just as quickly as the insurrection became reality, a deal was brokered with the Belarusian president, while the situation appears diffused for now, many who dared to defy Putin paid a heavy price. A fierce Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov was once one of Russia's promising opposition leaders jailed several times for speaking out against Putin's government.

[00:35:00]

But in 2015 on a Friday night, just steps away from the Kremlin. Nemtsov was shot and killed; a dissident voice silenced. Five Chechen men were later found guilty and sentenced to over a decade in prison. Oppose Mr. Putin's rule, threaten his establishment and life can turn into one behind bars. Once the wealthiest man in Russia former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky crossed the line with Putin when he began to promote reforms and accused him of corruption. Khodorkovsky was charged with tax fraud, a charge he says was politically motivated.

Putin, then the Prime Minister was asked about the case and he replied the thief should be in prison. The maximum prison sentence was given to the Kremlin critic and he spent years behind bars.

Alexei Navalny, a staunch Russian opposition leader critical of Putin fell into a coma on a flight returning to Moscow three years ago. He was later Medivac to Germany where he recovered, investigations later concluded he was poisoned with a nerve agent. Navalny vowed to keep fighting, an opposition threat to the Kremlin lingered and as he landed back in Russia months later, he was arrested.

Now held in a maximum-security prison, Navalny faces a term extension that could possibly see him behind bars for decades. It's a fate seen many times over when someone crosses Mr. Putin and not all can escape it, not even one living in exile.

Wagner's Yevgeny Prigozhin may have found a haven in Belarus for now, but his safety seems fragile at best. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The U.S. Justice Department reports multiple failures by prison officials allowed sexual predator and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the opportunity to take his own life. Epstein died at New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center 35 days after his arrest on charges of sex trafficking minors. Among the failures reported by federal investigators, guards failed to check on Epstein or search his cell that night. Allow him extra bed linen which he used to hate himself, failed to assign Epstein a cellmate after he was placed on suicide watch.

But ultimately investigators say they found no evidence to support any allegation of criminal activity linked to his death. Up next here on CNN, Tom Cruise is back with another Mission Impossible and a jaw- dropping stunt that will shock moviegoers, you'll be shocked I tell you. The actor speaks to CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Well, what might be the oldest distant relative of the modern- day Italian pizza has been revealed by an ancient painting, which was recently recovered from the ruins of the city of Pompeii. The painting was discovered in the hall of a house that had a bakery. Archaeologists presume that flatbread depicted in the fresco may have been eaten fresco, maybe eaten with fruit or dress as spices and a type of pesto sauce.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL ZUCHTREIGEL, DIRECTOR, POMPEII ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK: The image that obviously to the modern observer immediately brings to mind a pizza. Since we're near Naples. Obviously, it's not a pizza, but perhaps it could have been a distant ancestor of this food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Just for the record, Pompeii was destroyed by a volcanic eruption nearly 2000 years ago.

Well, Tom Cruise Top Gun Maverick nearly single-handedly saved Hollywood when it was released post-pandemic, grossing about $1.5 billion worldwide. Now, Cruise is hoping for another big hit, so too other (ph) studios with the latest installment of his Mission Impossible franchise. The action superstar spoke with CNN's Becky Anderson, in its Middle East premiere.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: It's been hailed as one of the most dangerous stunts in cinematic history. Tom Cruise risking life and limb as Ethan Hunt to go bigger and bolder for the latest Mission Impossible film.

Crews stopped down in Abu Dhabi this week for the Middle East premiere of the seventh installment Dead Reckoning, Part One. Tom Cruise you've just spent like an hour with the fans which is in typical Tom Cruise fashion. Absolutely wonderful. And they are in for such a treat when this movie launches, not least seeing you in your biggest stunt ever. If not one of the biggest cinematic stunts ever. Look me in the eye and tell me you weren't frightened of your wits.

[00:40:00]

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: I can't. The difference is I just, I just don't mind it. I don't mind that that feeling. I kind of like that feeling. I like to see, like, you prepare for something and you're like what's going to happen. That's -- I don't mind that feeling.

ANDERSON: Is there anything you wouldn't do?

CRUISE: I don't know, you know, there's a lot of things that I still want to do.

ANDERSON: How do you challenge yourself? I was talking to somebody before this interview and they said, listen, he's unrivaled at this stage. Who challenges here? Who challenges you, Tom Cruise?

CRUISE: I'm always -- my whole life, I just want -- I strive for excellence. I'm always as I said, there's always another story to tell. There's always another mountain to climb. And I always feel like I can do it better.

ANDERSON: The stunt sure to have the audience on the edge of their seats, even shook-up Cruise's longtime friend, and the film's highly acclaimed director, Christopher McQuarrie.

CHRISTOPHER MCQUARRIE, DIRECTOR, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -- DEAD RECKONING PART 1: I don't have clear memories of it. Somebody was there recording it and that ended up on the Internet, so now I know what I look like when -- it feels a lot different in my head than it actually looks from the outside. I apparently, I was pretty nervous.

ANDERSON: Is it true that it was the first scene that you shot just in case you didn't make it?

MCQUARRIE: Not in case you didn't make it? We just like to get the big stuff out of the way and most importantly, we'd like to know the kind of movie we're making around that stunt. So having it out of the way is just -- it's just a huge relief to focus on the story.

ANDERSON: Ethan Hunt, is this his swan song, sir.

CRUISE: I'll talk to you next summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, it's part one, so there's part two, I imagine to come. So, maybe it's not going to be his swan song, but thanks to Becky Anderson for that report. We have this, note Dead Reckoning hits theaters July 10th. I'm John Vause back at the top of the hour with more CNN Newsroom, but first, World Sport starts after a short break. See you back here in 18 minutes.

[00:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)