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CNN International: Mercenary Boss Presumed Dead in Plane Crash; Japan Begins Releasing Treated Fukushima Wastewater; Trump to Surrender at Fulton County Jail; Prigozhin's Africa Legacy: What Happens Next? Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired August 24, 2023 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, questions are swirling of Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane crash. Was it truly an accident? Russian authorities are investigating, a new era for the so called BRICS nations.
Six other countries will become members next year. And in the coming hours Donald Trump is expected to be booked and then release. We're live outside George's Fulton County Jail. The final facts are still unclear. The speculation is soaring around the presumed death of Wagner lead Yevgeny Prigozhin.
And so far the Kremlin hasn't commented. Russian officials say Prigozhin was on board a plane that crashed northeast of the capital on Wednesday, but not many other details were provided. Russian state media reports 10 people were on board the flight traveling from St. Petersburg to Moscow but so far, only eight bodies have been found.
And those vans as well are carrying the dead are now arriving at the forensics bureau. State media also reports the debris field stretches across an area spanning two kilometers. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me now live in Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine, you surprised, Nick that the Russians haven't said anything yet or confirmed the death.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think to some degree this is keeping perhaps and how Putin tried to respond after he got a grip of the situation a little more after the failed armed rebellion in a sort of casting Yevgeny Prigozhin has a bit of a non-person now, within the Russian elite.
And so that may explain why we've heard nothing maybe the Kremlin trying to impose their own narrative showing Putin at a World War Two Memorial site perhaps suggesting his proximity to the fallen in Russia's wars. We've just had some news though, in terms of the room -- now swirling around this extraordinary event.
A catastrophic plane crash in which entirety it seems Wagner's top elite were on the same private jet that fell out of the sky unexpectedly a wing falling off and it's spiraling down to the ground. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, remember Ukrainians will take the death frankly of Prigozhin with some degree of wry delight.
In that he and his group Wagner were part of some of the most brutal fighting on the frontlines against Ukraine around Wagner. Zelenskyy has said first we have nothing to do with this situation. That's for sure. But I think everyone realizes who has. Now that is, I think clearly a reference contributing to the debate about whether or not this was something the Kremlin indeed performed and sanctions.
Zelenskyy, saying, look, even though Ukraine with every desire potentially to kill someone by Prigozhin, we didn't do that and pointing the finger instead towards the Kremlin. And Max, that's essentially where we are right now. We don't have copper bottoms proof that Prigozhin did indeed die on that aircraft.
We know that Russian state officials have said that he was on board that plane along with his top Wagner lieutenants, including a man called Dmitry Utkin, essentially one of the key founders of that original organization. But we still are awaiting forensic expertise with the knowledge too.
That investigative work will be being done by the Kremlin's investigators and essentially potentially tainted towards whatever outcome Vladimir Putin wants the public to hear from this. So some doubts as to exactly what indeed occurred here. But I think increasingly less doubt in the minds of Russians and Ukrainians of where the finger may end up getting pointed.
And that's towards Vladimir Putin, who staying silent and clearly decided that Prigozhin was still too much of a threat that his continued survival, show Putin to be so weak. He preferred potentially, to have taken this ultimate sanction and move rather than allowing Prigozhin to remain in freedom going forward, Max.
FOSTER: Well, Nick in Zaporizhzhia, thank you for joining us. Now, a Russian court is refusing to free "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich. The court extended Gershkovich's detention for another three months on Thursday, while he awaits trial on espionage charges.
Gershkovich was arrested in March and is the first American journalist to be held by Russia on spying charges since the Soviet era. The BRICS economic bloc has extended membership invitations to six nations.
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It's seen as a latest move really by the group to strengthen its role as a geopolitical alternative to the west. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter has been invited to join along with Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia. Membership takes effect in January 2024.
In a video message, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the new countries and says BRICS global influence will continue to grow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: I would like to congratulate our new members who will start working in a full scale format next year. I'd like to assure all our colleagues that we will continue the work that we have started today, expanding the influence of BRICS in the world.
I'm referring to the establishment of practical work with new members of the organization and with those who are working the BRICS sphere as outreach with our partners who in one way or another, pay attention to co-operation with our organization, and would like to work with us together.
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FOSTER: Let's bring in CNN's David McKenzie in Johannesburg. David, how important is this deal? It does seem to tip the balance of power some, to some degree.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'll see if it tips the balance of power, it is very important, Max, I think we expected many of us that there would be a move to set up the way that countries maybe will join, not for a whole lot of countries to be added to this BRICS grouping.
And if you see the countries and where they are spread around the world, it's truly significant. This could become a very powerful political bloc of the so called Global South. And as you say, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and some other countries bring substantial financial might to BRICS, and could be very important.
Going forward, I think there's something in this for all of the founding members, South Africa will be happy that African nations were added. The Brazilian President said they were extremely pleased that Argentina was in there and for China. And I think this really is the best news for the Chinese President.
It shows that potentially there diplomacy between Saudi Arabia and Iran, strange bedfellows to bring them together into BRICS, starting in January. So it could become an alternative to the G7, but they all have to co-operate for that to happen, Max.
FOSTER: So, you know, the significance of this is really economic, isn't it? Are their proposals, realistic to abandon the dollar, for example, and take on, you know, the rest of the world?
MCKENZIE: I've spoken to a few bankers and business people over the last few hours. And the short answer is no. There's really no expectation that the dollar is going to realistically be abandoned when it comes to world trade and financial transactions, because the dollar, of course, is the background and the backbone of the world financial markets and trade.
However, it's an important political statement in terms of de- dollarization. They say that they are going to explore during trade in local currencies of the BRICS members. I think more important on the economic side, is whether the financial clout of countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE in particular, can help bolster the New Development Bank, the so called BRICS Bank, which is looking to be an alternative to the World Bank and IMF.
And you had the U.N. Secretary General today in South Africa speaking and he warned about what the impact of these various moves to have regional blocs get power would be.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: For multilateral institutions to remain truly universal. They must reform to reflect today's power and economic realities, and not the power and the economic realities of the post Second World War. In the absence of such reform, fragmentation is inevitable.
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MCKENZIE: However this brings in restructuring of global politics that remains to be seen. It's really up to the individual countries, as I said to co-operate and they are a strange mix of countries in some ways to have their voice heard on the world stage. But it is a big moment, I think, Max.
FOSTER: OK, thank you for bringing us that David, in Johannesburg. Japan strongly requesting China to overturn the ban on all its aquatic products, after Tokyo released treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.
The controversial move is sparking protests, anxiety and health concerns in the region. Japan says it's safe and urgently needed. CNN's Marc Stewart has more from Tokyo.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The release of the treated wastewater is now underway. This will be a lengthy process that could take years to complete a move that's prompted controversy.
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CNN visited the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in April we saw the tanks that collectively have been holding enough water to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. At the center of the controversy, a radioactive isotope called tritium. For now there is no technology to remove it, and space is running out in massive storage tanks.
But authorities stressed the water from Fukushima will be highly diluted and released slowly over decades, meaning the concentration of tritium being released will be very low and meets international regulations. Still, many nations are expressing reservations including China.
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WANG WENBIN, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: It is unjustified, unreasonable and unnecessary for Japan to push through the ocean discharge plan. We urge Japan not to shift the risk of nuclear pollution onto the rest of humanity in pursuit of its selfish interests.
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STEWART: The skepticism is also been felt here in Tokyo, where some protesters are concerned about the impacts of the move including the effects on the fishing industry. The discharge won't be without supervision. Local Power Company has pledged to monitor the discharge for decades to come. Marc Stewart, CNN, Tokyo.
FOSTER: Preparations underway for Donald Trump to turn himself into the jail in Fulton County, Georgia. Authorities have arranged for the Former President to be processed on Thursday evening in an effort to minimize traffic disruptions and other operations of the jail.
It's expected that Trump will only be in custody for a short time before being released and heading back to his New Jersey home. Our Nick Valencia is outside the jail, where Trump will be later as these objects have him being in a jail which seems so powerful, Nick.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is going to be striking for this moment to happen later this evening, Max. We can't underscore or overstate this enough just how unprecedented it is what is going to happen here later today. The President finds himself, the Former President finds himself in legal peril facing four indictments in the last five months.
But it's here in Atlanta where for the first time in those indictments, we'll have to surrender to arrest and pay bond when he walks through those doors later today in Fulton County Jail. He'll be doing so for the first time as an alleged criminal defendant.
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VALENCIA (voice-over): A historic moment set for today. Former President Donald Trump will surrender to authorities at the Fulton County Jail. They'll post a $200,000 bond be processed and possibly have his mug shot taken.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: This indictment is a travesty.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani not mincing words after his surrender.
GIULIANI: This could happen to me who is probably the most prolific prosecutor maybe in American history, and the most effective Mayor for sure that can happen to you.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The Former Federal Prosecutor even taking a shot at the Fulton County District Attorney.
GIULIANI: Fani Willis will go down in American history as having conducted one of the worst attacks on the American Constitution ever when this case is dismissed.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Giuliani was booked on 13 charges and bond was set for $150,000. Trump posting on truth social shortly after Giuliani surrender. The greatest Mayor in the history of New York City was just arrested in Atlanta, Georgia because he fought for election integrity.
The election was rigged and stolen. How sad for our country, Maga. Along with Giuliani, two more of Trump's key election lawyers have also turned themselves in, Sidney Powell.
SIDNEY POWELL, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: President Trump won by a landslide. We are going to prove it.
VALENCIA (voice-over): In Jenna Ellis.
JENNA ELLIS, AMERICAN LAWYER: We want to make sure to protect election integrity.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Both Powell and Ellis are facing charges related to the 2020 Georgia presidential election, including violating Georgia's anti-racketeering law. So far, nine of Trumps co-defendants have turned themselves in and for two of them, Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
Their efforts to avoid arrest or surrender have come to an end, U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones, rejecting both Meadows and Clark's emergency filings in two separate rulings to move their cases to federal court. Meadows argued that he should be allowed to avoid processing in Fulton County before his scheduled hearing Monday.
The judge writing in his decision, the clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution does not support an injunction or temporary state prohibiting District Attorney Willis's enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows.
Clark sought an emergency hold on the state court proceedings, including efforts to arrest any of the cases defendants who didn't turn themselves in by the Friday deadline.
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VALENCIA (on camera): The process for Trump's surrender is expected to be brief, you'll be in there for a much shorter time than it would be an average person checking themselves into the Fulton County Jail.
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Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat says that he's going to treat all these defendants the same. We'll see if that applies to the Former President later this evening, Max.
FOSTER: Nick, we will indeed thank you so much for joining us from the Fulton County Jail. Now still to come. The Wagner mercenary group not only fought in Ukraine but also extended its influence to Africa, will any of that change following Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed death?
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FOSTER: The Wagner mercenary group is synonymous with brutality and ruthlessness. And the U.S. calls the group a destabilizing force around the world, particularly in Africa. Wagner is most active in the Central African Republic Mali and Sudan, all of which have a tenuous relationship with the West.
Just days before the plane crash that presumably kills Yevgeny Prigozhin he appeared in a video that suggests Wagner was refocusing its efforts on the African continent, so not so what exactly happens next? So let's have a look with CNN's Stephanie Busari joins us now live in Lagos, Nigeria.
I mean, they've lost their figurehead, also some other senior leaders, if we believe what we're hearing about this plane crash, how does that affect the group and what happens next?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR AT AFRICA: Well, this is a picture that's still unfolding, Max. But what is clear is that Wagner as we know, it is no more. They've lost, as you say, a very prominent and kind of quite renowned, prominent leader, and some of the top brass of nowhere on that private jet that went down.
And this has implications this organization will go through a restructuring. It depends also what Putin wants to do next, will it be disbanded altogether? What that picture is still unfolding. But so what security experts are seeing on the continent is that it has severe security implications for places on the continent where they are active.
Where what was active, where they were providing security assistance, in some cases with Mali, in the Central African Republic, and also in Sudan, Max.
FOSTER: Yes, just explain how established they are there? How integrated are they with the system of security?
BUSARI: Well, so I mean, people are quite keen not to overstate the relationship, but then the influence that there has on the continent after all, there are 54 countries here and it's really only operational in 4, 5 in any significant way. But those places, it has benefited incredibly from the resources.
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So in Mali, for example, it has been providing security and assistance in the wake of French soldiers leaving that country and U.N. soldiers, U.N. peacekeeping forces diplomatic routes that have happened there with the Malian authorities. So it's quite embedded in the countries that it is in.
And just after the coup in Niger, we saw Prigozhin making a video, almost a plea to say, I'm here for you, Niger, you need our services, really, almost pitching himself for business in that country. So it is quite embedded.
And we had a CNN investigation that showed that Wagner was receiving, funding and gold resources in Sudan in exchange for providing military assistance. So it is quite embedded in those countries where it has operations, Max. FOSTER: And how does it make its money? Is it independent of the Russian operation?
BUSARI: Well, it's not quite some Putin did come out recently to say that it had given up to 1 billion from the Russian Defense Ministry to Wagner, between 2022 and 2023. So we know that it's not entirely as independent from the Kremlin, as they'd like to see.
And, again, as we said, it has benefited it's a private contractor on the continent and has benefited from these lucrative deals with the governments where it is, but the picture is quite complex. It has hundreds of shell companies that are linked to financial bigwigs in Russia. So the picture is quite complex to know exactly how the kind of the intricacies of the funding for Wagner, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Steph, thank you so much for bringing us that insight. Now still to come. He started as a humble chef and ended up a warlord. It was a meteoric rise from Athens and Petersburg. We'll take a closer look at Yevgeny Prigozhin's carrier.
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FOSTER: Returning to our top story Yevgeny Prigozhin, Founder the Wagner private military group is presumed dead in a plane crash people gathered outside the Wagner Center in St. Petersburg leaving flowers and candles as a tribute. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh now also through Prigozhin's rises from Putin's personal chef to rebel and his rapid fall from grace.
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WALSH (voice-over): He had always lived in the shadows until the war in Ukraine made him perhaps the most public Russian critic of how the Kremlin's war was fought. The possibility Yevgeny Prigozhin is dead as a shockwave to an already shaken system. Putin's critics rarely survive as long as he did.
And the talk in Russia and Ukraine, the Putin might still have wanted to kill him assign the chaos in Moscow he caused was not over. He led the most brazen affront to Putin's rule in his 23 years at the helm, taking an armed rebellion into the southern stronghold of Rostov-on- Don, marching on Moscow, and then abruptly turning around.
The apparent reason a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin saved here by a neighboring ruler, he usually treated with contempt. The deal was opaque perhaps involving the fighters of the group Prigozhin led Wagner moving to Belarus.
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It's unclear how much that happened and then Prigozhin appeared already surviving a long time for a Putin challenger popping up in Africa this week, saying he would expand Russia's influence there. It would have been another turn in his remarkable and sordid career.
Initially Putin's chef, he became a military contractor supplying food and expanded into influence operations in the United States trying to meddle in key elections, all deniable, all damaging to Putin's enemies. Is Wagner group expanded too from 2014?
CNN has tracked their mercenaries operating in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Mali, and Syria, as well as Ukraine with an army of tens of thousands battle hardened. And in Ukraine, always savage fighting hardest around Bakhmut, and always expanding, recruiting convicts from Russian prisons to be used as apparent cannon fodder on the front lines, executing alleged traitors, apparently with a sledgehammer.
It may never be definitively known who died in this wreckage. Even transparent investigators would struggle to find the right DNA. Instead, we will have Russian state investigators and media's word, the very people whose boss Prigozhin enraged, Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
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FOSTER: Thanks for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. "World Sport" with Andy Scholes is up next.
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