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Grief And Outrage Over Alexei Navalny's Prison Death; Trump Ordered To Pay Over $350 Million In Business Empire Scheme; Israel Will Not Stop Fighting During Ramadan; Prince Harry Speaks After King Charles III's Diagnosis. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 17, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers, watching from around the world. I'm Anna Coren live from Hong Kong.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who became Putin's biggest domestic opponent, is dead in a Russian prison. Russia is vowing to investigate.
Plus a New York judge orders Donald Trump to pay a hefty $355 million penalty for fraud and says the former president has shown no remorse.
And later, "We won't stop." A member of Israel's war cabinet vows more ground operations as Palestinians in Gaza face dire conditions ahead of Ramadan.
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COREN: Russia says it's working to learn what caused the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But Western leaders are blaming Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Russia's prison service says Navalny lost consciousness after a walk and that an ambulance crew tried to resuscitate him. U.S. President Joe Biden says he was not surprised by the reports of Navalny's death. But he was outraged
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake. Make no mistake.
Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality.
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COREN (voice-over): Well, this is video of one of Navalny's final court appearances. At the hearing last week, he urged prison workers to vote against Putin. On Friday, European Commission president Ursula van der Leyen met with Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya.
They spoke at the Munich Security Conference, calling on the international community to fight against what she called Putin's "horrific regime"
Well, around the world, Navalny's supporters gathered to remember at memorials and protests. Former CNN Moscow bureau chief Nathan Hodge joins us now from London.
Nathan, what more are you learning about Navalny's death?
NATHAN HODGE, FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, the prospect of what Navalny liked to Rafah to as "the wonderful Russia of the future" seems more remote than ever today.
As we learn more about Navalny's death and gather some of the responses from both Russians, Russians living abroad, and members of the international community and, broadly speaking, the reaction has been one of complete shock.
And one of the phrases that I've heard and seen several times is that, this is, for Russia, the death of hope.
With the death of Navalny, Russia's political landscape has essentially been cleared of all competition. Even while still in prison, in a jail above the Arctic Circle, Navalny continued to be a thorn in the side to the Kremlin.
He remained active, for instance, on his Telegram social media accounts, poking fun at the Russian president and using humor, one of his best weapons to make fun of the dire prison conditions that he's been -- that he was enduring before his death.
For instance, most recently, laughing about the horrible music that was being piped over the prison PA system. And generally, trying to laugh off and show an incredibly brave face to the world amid some incredibly difficult, difficult conditions.
And even more touchingly, on Valentine's Day on February 14, posting a love letter, a brief love letter with a photograph of himself and his wife, Yulia, a very touching Telegram post. That was his final Telegram post.
And one that showed that even from prison, he was able to reach to a larger audience, continue to get his message out and pose something of a political challenge, despite the fact that he was facing down several -- many more years in prison, Anna.
And I think it's worth pointing out as well that his wife, Yulia, was at the Munich Security Conference yesterday. And here's what she had to say about her husband's death. Take a listen.
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YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S WIFE (through translator): I thought about it quite a while. I thought, should I stand here before you or should I go back to my children?
And then I thought, what would have Alexei done in my place?
And I'm sure that he would have been standing here on this stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HODGE: Well, and the reaction, of course, from the Kremlin, has been consistent with what it's been in the past. Putin quite famously refused to Rafah to Navalny by name, just referring to him as that citizen or this individual.
And the comment that we had from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was essentially nothing to see here, move along; an investigation is underway. We'll find out what the facts are.
And of course, many, many questions remain about the circumstances of Navalny's death, particularly given that he had survived Novichok poisoning, a nerve agent poisoning in 2020 but quite boldly returned to Russia in 2021, leaving a comfortable exile, because he knew -- or he said that there was no other place for him to be except in Russia and in the mix politically.
COREN: He certainly paid the ultimate sacrifice. Nathan Hodge, great to get your analysis. Thank you so much.
Well, the wife of jailed Russian opposition figure, Vladimir Kara- Murza, spoke to CNN after Navalny's death was announced. Kara-Murza was detained after publicly condemning Moscow's war in Ukraine. His wife is slamming Russian president Vladimir Putin and says he has to be stopped.
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EVGENIA KARA-MURZA, VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA'S WIFE: This is despicable. And the only thing I can say about Vladimir Putin is that this despicable atrocity of a man, who calls himself the president of the Russian Federation, should be stopped. He has to be stopped.
And that is the only way war will be stopped and repression in Russia will be stopped.
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COREN: Across Russia, more than 100 people were detained after attending vigils and rallies for Navalny. Well, that's according to independent Russia monitor, OVD-Info, which says some of those detained have been released.
This video shows a skirmish between police and a protester in Moscow. We don't know what happened to that person.
Well, joining us now is Max Seddon, the Moscow bureau chief for the "Financial Times."
Max, why now?
Why would Vladimir Putin, the Russian state, have Navalny killed now?
MAX SEDDON, MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, I think its important to remember that we still don't know and we may never know, given the remoteness of where Navalny was being held and the circumstances.
We may not know for some time what exactly happened to him but that doesn't really take anything away from what Putin was trying to do to him and the message that was showing to everyone.
It was a message to his not just to his opponents in Russia but I think also to the West and to Ukraine that anyone who opposes him may, may very well end up -- end up getting killed. He had absolutely no, no shame and thus he didn't address Navalny's death directly.
But he looked happier than we've see him in some time when he was speaking after the news broke yesterday. So I think that that is the message of the Kremlin as one of those to send, that Navalny was someone that they have dealt with and now that they will feel confident that they can deal with any of Putin's many other enemies in the same way.
COREN: Max, we know Navalny's lawyers and relatives are expected to arrive in the remote arctic town where he was held in that prison.
I mean, what answers, if any, will they get?
SEDDON: Not necessarily very much. The Kremlin has said that it is delegating everything to the Russian prison service and the official autopsy that will be carried out according to regulations. They're making the pick up like this is just another normal death.
But we can all think back to when he was poisoned with nerve agent by Russian security service agents in 2020 to know that we're not in any position to expect anything like the truth from them.
There was this whole circus-like atmosphere when Navalny was in hospital in Siberia after he had been poisoned. And the doctors came out and kept telling everyone that he in some sort of diabetic coma.
So I think any -- it's going to be awhile before we find out what really happened to him, whether there was a move to kill him yesterday as some suggested or rather given the perilous state of his health and horrible conditions he was being held in, he suddenly just gave out.
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We really don't know. I think it's quite, quite credible to believe either option at this point.
COREN: President Biden has laid the blame squarely at Vladimir Putin. He warned him back in '21 in Geneva not to harm Navalny whilst he was in prison or that, there would be consequences. But I mean, what consequences if any, can the U.S. or the West enforce on Vladimir Putin and on Russia?
SEDDON: I think that's a very good point because you have to think back for three years ago when Biden said that. It was a very different Russia, he was talking to that was integrated into the global economy, that was still an acceptable part of the global stage.
And with what sanctions that the Western imposed after the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, that's basically gone. Whatever leverage that that kind of punishment had over, over Putin. And Biden said this himself yesterday. They've already used it.
The Western attempt to arm Ukraine has created a lot of consequences for Russia. And I think, I think the West is really out of options at this point. It's really, really not clear what, what you can do about this because Putin very much feels that he enjoys near total impunity.
And I think it will feel like he's getting away with this.
COREN: Yes, the world is certainly seeing a very emboldened Vladimir Putin . We're also getting images of these impromptu vigils, people laying flowers at memorial sites in Russian cities. Tell us about Navalny's legacy and what he leaves, the opposition movement.
Will it continue?
SEDDON: Well, I must have interviewed Navalny a dozen or more times over the years. And this was, was always a question that came up. He was many years ago, even before the poisoning, he was very sick of answering, what happens if they kill you?
What happens if they send you to the jail. And he would always say that the whole purpose of what he was doing was to try to create a movement to inspire other people. And the people should go to protests so that they could feel that they were not alone. And I think despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have left Russia versus they outlawed dissent and criticism of the war, it's still clear that when you see this and these vigils yesterday across the country, that many Russians do oppose the war and they do did support Navalny.
You just have to look at the election next month for president. This is going to be the first time that Putin has run where they haven't allowed a tame liberal challenger on the ballot. They wouldn't let Navalny run.
But there would always be some sort of Navalny lite, which was a kind of bellwether for the Kremlin to see how, how strongly anti-Putin sentiment was. And the person who emerges, that figure this year, Boris Nadezhdin.
He wasn't allowed to run after it became quite clear that, even though the judge who was a much less popular, much less inspirational figure than Navalny, the simple fact of having this, this anti-war message out there inspired Russians to stand in lines, to leave signatures supporting his candidacy. Kind of spontaneous enthusiasm that you never see for Putin. And it
was exactly, I think for that, for that reason that the Kremlin has decided not to let Putin have, have any competition.
And it's one thing for him to act that he is on Mount Olympus on his own and above, above all, all competition. But it certainly -- he felt it from Navalny because what Navalny said resonated with really a lot of people in Russia. I think that's clear from these vigils.
COREN: Max, I'm, sure in all those conversations that you had with Navalny you thought or at least hoped that this day would never come. Max Seddon, Moscow bureau chief for the "Financial Times," thank you so much for joining us.
SEDDON: Thanks for having me.
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COREN: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was hit with a massive judgment Friday in a New York courtroom. He must pay nearly $355 million for inflating the value of his properties.
He and his adult sons are also banned from serving as officers or directors of any New York businesses for a period of time. If interest accrues, the multi-million dollar judgment against Trump could swell to some $450 million.
His sons and another former Trump Organization employee also face fines.
Last month, a jury ordered Trump to pay more than $83 million to writer E. Jean Carroll, who'd already won a $5 million judgment against him. CNN correspondent Kara Scannell has more on the fraud trial.
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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A devastating blow to Trump's reputation as a successful businessman.
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After a New York Supreme Court judge ordered him and his company to pay nearly $355 million.
Barring him from serving as a company director in the city where he made his billions, where his name is plastered on skyscrapers for three years.
LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: Donald Trump may have authored the "Art of the Deal" but he perfected the art of the steal. This long running fraud was intentional, egregious, illegal.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Friday's ruling follows a nearly three month long trial filled with dramatic moments. Trump himself often chose to attend court, though he was only required to be there when he testified.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This trial was railroaded and fast tracked. This trial could have been brought years ago but they waited until I was right in the middle of my campaign.
SCANNELL (voice-over): He frequently attacked Judge Engoron, as well as his clerk and the New York attorney general in the hallways of the courthouse and on Truth Social.
PRES. TRUMP: This judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who's very partisan sitting alongside of him. We're wasting our time on this trial, with a Democrat judge from the clubhouses, it's a disgrace. We're going to be here for months with a judge that already made up his mind.
We have a rogue judge who rules that properties are worth a tiny fraction - one one-hundredth - a tiny fraction of what they actually are.
A Trump hater, the only one that hates Trump more is his associate up there.
SCANNELL (voice-over): His attacks even resulted in the judge issuing a gag order, restricting him from going after the court staff, which Trump then violated twice and was fined a total of $15,000.
DONALD TRUMP JR., CO-DEFENDANT: I thought they were going to go somewhere but I think they understand that they have nothing as it relates to a case other than, I guess, an overzealous attorney general who would destroy all of New York business by going after transactions where there are no victims, I guess, other than herself.
SCANNELL (voice-over): The former president and his adult sons all testified during the trial, which began in October last year. During his testimony, Donald Trump frequently clashed with Judge Engoron in the courtroom. The judge warning Trump's lawyer, Chris Kise, to control your client and threatened to remove him.
PRES. TRUMP: Thank you very much.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Outside Mar-a-Lago Friday after the ruling, Donald Trump continued those attacks.
PRES. TRUMP: These are radical left Democrats. They're lunatics and it's election interfering, so I just want to thank you for being here. We'll appeal. We'll be successful. I think because, frankly, if we're not successful, New York State is gone.
People are moving out of New York State. And because of this, they're going to move out at a much faster rate.
SCANNELL: The judge ordering Donald Trump to pay nearly $355 million plus another $100 million in interest. With other legal judgments against him, he is owing more than $540 million, a big bill for the former president -- Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.
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COREN: Israel's prime minister is under growing international pressure over the war in Gaza as talks to secure the release of hostages ramp up. What Benjamin Netanyahu is now saying about a possible Palestinian state.
Plus the trend playing out on social media, where Israeli troops are documenting their military offensive in controversial videos tailored to an online audience.
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COREN: Welcome back.
Israel's prime minister is rejecting what he calls "international dictates" on the creation of a Palestinian state. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly opposed the notion. But notably this time, he made the statement just a few hours after discussing the war in Gaza with U.S. President Joe Biden.
The two have spoken multiple times this week amid a flurry of diplomatic talks, seeking a potential hostage deal
Meanwhile, a member of Israel's war cabinet vowed to continue the military offensive until all hostages are returned, even if that means fighting during Ramadan. The Muslim holy month is set to begin in just over three weeks.
Well, on the ground in Gaza, the situation in Khan Yunis grows more dire as Israel continues its raid of the largest remaining hospital in the enclave. A doctor at Nasser Hospital says medical staff are prevented from doing their rounds and warns that all the ICU patients will die.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, at least five patients died after a Israel reserves attack caused the medical complex to lose power. Israel says the outage was caused by a generator malfunction.
Well, meanwhile, displaced Palestinians are reportedly fleeing Gaza's southern most city of Rafah, where they had been seeking shelter. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says many are heading north to Deir al-Balah due to intensified airstrikes on Rafah.
In recent statements by Israeli officials about an impending ground offensive. Let's go to CNN's Scott McLean joining us from Istanbul.
Scott, what more are you learning about Palestinians fleeing Rafah?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Anna, look, this statement rightly points out that you have a situation, where more than 50 percent of the population of Gaza, 1.3 million people, are sheltering in an area that is less than 20 percent of the actual territory of the Gaza Strip.
And that territory is under increasing pressure, not only because of scarce resources but also because of intensifying Israeli airstrikes. And also these statements coming from Israeli officials, who are promising that Israel will in fact go into Rafah militarily at some point in the future.
Not clear exactly when but they are saying it will be soon. And so this U.N. statement is now saying that some people are starting to flee north.
The problem with that though, is that they need to go past Khan Yunis, the city in southern Gaza, where fighting is ongoing. That's where the Nasser Hospital is. They are also heading toward Deir al-Balah city, where there's fighting happening just to the east of there on the ground.
And of course, even if they make it there, even if they make it to a place where there isn't active fighting happening on the ground, these people are still not going to be safe from Israeli airstrikes.
In Deir al-Balah last week, 12 people, all members of the same family, were killed in one single Israeli airstrike. Some of them were children.
You also had a journalist who was killed days before that in the house that he was staying in at the time. And so Israel says that it's not going to move into Rafah until it's able to move civilians out first.
But look, there are safer areas in Gaza but there is no place that is 100 percent safe.
COREN: Scott, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the last couple of weeks, he hopes to wrap up these attacks if you like, in Gaza, in Rafah before Ramadan.
And then we're hearing from Benny Gantz, the war cabinet minister, saying that the attacks in fact won't stop during Ramadan. Mixed messages here
MCLEAN: Yes, exactly. So what prime minister Netanyahu has said is he wants to wrap up this military operation in Rafah by Ramadan, which is happening -- beginning March 10th, goes for a month.
So we're talking about just over three weeks from now. The problem is that the operation in Rafah on the ground hasn't even started yet. And now you have this former prime minister Benny Gantz, now a member of the Israeli war cabinet, saying that its going to continue even beyond then unless the hostages are released.
This is what he said exactly.
He said, "It's important that Hamas terrorists and its leaders know there will be no cities of refuge above or below ground in Gaza, even in the approaching month of Ramadan. The fire can continue. Either the hostages will be returned.
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"Or we will expand the fighting to Rafah."
And so you have this looming invasion of that area that is sort of sitting or looming over these hostage negotiations, which right now are at somewhat of an impasse. The Israelis have said that the Palestinians need to change their position substantially in order to move these talks forward and make any progress.
They said that when they were in Cairo, that Hamas didn't come forward with any meaningful change to their position, which is essentially to empty out Israeli jails of Palestinian prisoners, who are women, children or people over the age of 50, something that Israel has already patently rejected.
And so its not clear that there's going to be any kind of a hostage deal struck anytime soon. Though, you know, talks could continue at any moment. You also have pressure from the Israelis or on the Israelis, from allies telling them not to move into Rafah.
But again, Anna, they haven't seemed keen, the Israelis, on taking advice from allies so far in these many months of war now
COREN: Scott McLean joining us from Istanbul, many thanks for your time.
As the war grinds on, a growing number of Israeli soldiers are mining their military experience for their social media posts. The videos and content shared across TikTok and elsewhere often cast the troops in a less than noble light. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the details.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a how-to video on how to blow up a mosque in Gaza. Format is internet fluid. The content is very real, filmed, edited and posted on Instagram by an Israeli soldier.
It's one of dozens reviewed by CNN, many in 2024, social media is everyday life. Israeli soldiers are no different, except they're fighting Israel's largest and most brutal war in decades.
In video after video after video, soldiers document the destruction of Gaza and rejoice. They film detonations to use as wedding invitations. Among them are would-be comedians, whose video satirizing the war, show the devastation in Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
AVNER GVARYAHU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BREAKING THE SILENCE: Soldiers have always documented themselves. It could be in journals. It could be with you know, taking pictures.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Avner Gvaryahu served in the IDF during the Second Intifada. He leads the group, Breaking the Silence, which encourages soldiers to speak out about the realities of occupation.
GVARYAHU: Even if we do find the why we went to this war, important, significant and a necessity, we have to ask ourselves how we're conducting ourselves in wartime.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The videos often end up on the social media channels of right-wing political commentators. They boast to the Israeli public of the tactics used to defend them. The IDF told CNN that it has acted and continues to act to identify unusual cases that deviate from what is expected of IDF soldiers.
"Those cases will be arbitrated and significant command measures will be taken against the soldiers involved."
Images from Gaza of Israel's war injured are rare on Israeli television. There they're on TikTok.
ERAN HALPERIN, HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM: The overarching theme is that, you know, we're here, we're going to win. We're powerful enough.
And they think that what these soldiers are doing with all this ellipse (ph) that we see on social media is part of an attempt to regain sense of agency, regain sense of power, regain, you know, the sense of positive self image, the way we talk about ourselves before October 7.
DIAMOND (voice-over): At times, they openly defy their military's message about protecting civilians. They film themselves destroying civilian shops.
Israel is under increasing scrutiny over the war in Gaza. These videos may well be adding fuel to that criticism -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
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COREN: Nearly two years since Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraine, the country is signing new security agreements with two prominent allies.
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COREN: And they have strong words of criticism for the Russian president. That's next.
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KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Whatever story they tell, let us be clear, Russia is responsible. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, that was U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the Munich Security Conference Friday about the death of Alexei Navalny. Russia's prison system says the longtime opponent of Vladimir Putin died Friday after a walk.
Many Western leaders are blaming the Russian president for Navalny's death. But the Kremlin says statements by the West about Navalny, his death, are quote, "rabid and unacceptable."
Well, CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has more on the price Navalny paid to battle corruption in Russia.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three years, Alexei Navalny had been languishing in Russian penal colonies. Sentenced on charges of extremism, his real crime, taking on Russian President Vladimir Putin and exposing the rampant corruption of Russia's political elites.
Navalny's lawyers warned that the brutal conditions and solitary confinement were taking a toll on him. Still, he managed to communicate to his followers and loved ones through social media.
On Valentine's Day this year, as he had done every year, he posted a message to his wife, Yulia, "Baby, everything is like in a song with you; between us there are cities, the takeoff lights of airfields, blue snowstorms and thousands of kilometers. But I feel that you are near every second and I love you more and more."
Hours after the shocking news broke, Yulia Navalnaya addressed world leaders at the Munich Security Conference.
YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S WIFE (through translator): I would like Putin and all his staff, everybody around him, his government, his friends, I want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family and with my husband. They will be brought to justice and this day will come soon.
WARD (voice-over): Defiant and determined, just as her husband always was. A staunch critic of Putin for more than a decade, Alexei Navalny had dodged death before. Collapsing on a plane from Siberia in August 2020, after being poisoned with a deadly nerve agent, Novichok.
The flight was diverted. Two days later, a comatose Navalny was flown to Berlin and saved by a team of German doctors.
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The CNN investigation with Bellingcat found that a team of FSB operatives had been following Navalny on trips across the country for years before poisoning him. We located one of the men accused of the poisoning and tracked him down to his apartment in Moscow.
WARD: (Speaking foreign language).
My name is Clarissa Ward. I work for CNN.
Can I ask you a couple of questions?
(Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
WARD: (Speaking foreign language).
Was it your team that poisoned Navalny, please?
Do you have any comment?
He doesn't seem to want to talk to us.
WARD (voice-over): Despite the attempt on his life, Navalny vowed to continue his work and return home.
WARD: So you've said that you want to go back to Russia.
ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: Yes and I will do.
WARD: You're aware of the risks of going back.
NAVALNY: Yes but I'm Russian politician and even when I was not just in hospital, I was in the intense therapy and I said publicly I will go back and I will go back because I'm a Russian politician.
I belong to this country and definitely, which I -- especially now, when this actual crime is cracked open, revealed, I understand the whole operation. I would never give Putin such a gift.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
WARD (voice-over): Before boarding the plane to Moscow, Navalny posted an expose on YouTube about the $1.3 billion Black Sea villa he claimed belonged to Vladimir Putin. It was viewed more than 100 million times.
The moment he landed back in Moscow, he was taken into custody. Yet even in prison, Navalny never stopped criticizing Putin, never lost the extraordinary charisma and courage that made him popular.
Russia's opposition has now been crushed. But in prescient words from the Oscar-winning documentary, "Navalny," he had a clear message for the Russian people.
NAVALNY: (Speaking foreign language).
WARD (voice-over): "You are not allowed to give up," he says. "If they kill me, it means we are incredibly strong" -- Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.
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COREN: CNN's Melissa Bell, has a look at what leaders across Europe are saying about Alexei Navalny's death.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: huge reaction from European leaders in the wake of the news of Alexei Navalny's death. Ursula van der Leyen speaking of the need now to stand in his name for democracy, in what she described as "our values."
The British foreign minister speaking of the need for Moscow to face repercussions. Olaf Scholz speaking also of his courage. And Emmanuel Macron of the fact, he said, in a tweet that, in today's Russia, free souls are sent to the gulag.
And that theme of the Soviet style repression at the heart of today's system, very much at the heart of many of the comments made.
The Lithuanian prime minister for instance they're saying that its methods were straight out of the Soviet playbook.
We've also heard from the Estonian prime minister herself, just put on Russia's most wanted list, speaking of the need, again, for the Russian regime in power now to face repercussions and consequences as a result of this death.
We've also had response, though, from Russia in the shape of words made -- spoken by Dmitry Peskov to pool journalists, who were traveling -- were traveling with, speaking of this reaction that has come so forcefully in such a united way from so many European and American leaders.
Saying that these comments, he said, are rabid and unacceptable, a sign that Moscow continues to listen to what is coming from the West in response to this killing with so many questions about what it will mean now, inside Russia itself -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris
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COREN: Well, lets bring in "Time" correspondent Simon Shuster in Stockholm.
Simon, why now?
Why would Vladimir Putin and the state have Navalny killed now?
SIMON SHUSTER, "TIME": That is the big question. I think the clearest answer is that Putin clearly feels a sense of impunity. He has demonstrated time and again that he will push the opposition.
He will push the West as far as he can until he is stopped. So now, for whatever reason -- and we can guess at the various factors that may have contributed to his thinking, that right now is the moment to push this far.
But he feels a sense of strength and a sense that he can get away with it. I think it's as simple as that. COREN: You speak about this impunity.
I mean, is this an emboldened Putin that the world is seeing right now?
SHUSTER: I think so. I mean, I think the recent attention he's been getting from supporters of president Donald Trump, including Tucker Carlson, has certainly given the impression.
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SHUSTER: Hey, maybe the American elections will offer an opening and maybe even the relief of some sanctions that he's faced for the invasion of Ukraine.
Also, his position in that war, the war in Ukraine, has in some ways improved in recent months. And maybe that has given him a greater sense of impunity and strength. So all those things taken together seem to have given him an idea that this is the moment to get rid of one -- of one of his last remaining enemies inside Russia.
Probably the biggest threat that he faced domestically from a Russian politician.
COREN: But Navalny was in prison in Siberia in the Arctic Circle until 2031. I'm sure Russia would have thrown more charges at him.
So why, why kill him?
What sort of threat did Navalny pose from a prison in the Arctic Circle?
SHUSTER: He is a symbol. He's a symbol of what Russia could have been. You know, when this news came along from the Russian penal colony, I thought back to the protests that Navalny led back in 2011, 2012.
You know, these were hundreds of thousands of people and he would address them on the square. This is a vision of a Russia that could have been. That was a fork in the road and that alternative Russia is the one that Navalny stood for.
And he was able to rally his supporters, even from behind the prison walls. He was able to run a pretty vibrant network of activists, activists working abroad and working underground inside Russia, even from within the prison walls.
So he still continued to pose quite a serious risk, I think, and at least symbolically to inspire people inside Russia to believe that there is another way. And he was the face of that alternative.
COREN: Navalny was saying in court and we're showing these pictures, looking very gaunt but still smiling and joking. The next day he takes a walk and apparently cannot be resuscitated. He's dead. We may never know how he died.
But do you believe Alexei Navalny was murdered? SHUSTER: Yes, I do. I think the actions that Russian authorities have taken toward him over the years make it clear that there's been a very consistent effort to silence him, kill him. So this would not be out of -- out of the norm for the way that the Kremlin tried to treat him.
I think in the letters that he sent to me from prison a couple of years ago, he made clear that he was in this kind of isolation ward, a prison within a prison, where the Kremlin was essentially biding its time, keeping him under lock and key until a moment when it could do something like this.
COREN: Absolutely tragic. Simon Shuster, we thank you for your time.
SHUSTER: Thank you.
COREN: Stay with CNN. Much more after the break.
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COREN: The hearing on Donald Trump's Georgia election subversion case has ended for now. A judge will decide whether Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, should be disqualified from the case because of alleged financial misconduct in her personal relationship with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.
More now from CNN's Nick Valencia in Atlanta.
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QUESTION: Can you tell us why you were late today?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Terrence Bradley was supposed to be a star witness for defense attorneys trying to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Donald Trump election interference case.
But on Friday, Wade's former law partner and divorce attorney couldn't provide details lets just show Willis and Nathan Wade were lying about the extent of the romantic relationship.
TERRENCE BRADLEY, NATHAN WADE'S FORMER LAW PARTNER & DIVORCE ATTORNEY: I have no personal knowledge of when it actually happened. I was not there I do not have any personal knowledge.
VALENCIA: Attorney-client privilege, a major hurdle for the defense, especially after Judge Scott McAfee ruled Bradley could not be asked about what privileged conversations he had with Wade about his relationship.
ASHLEIGH MERCHANT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR MIKE ROMAN: I want to talk about privilege, I'm happy to ask him the substance of the question.
VALENCIA: Yet, one defense attorney managed to introduce a text exchange with Bradley in 2023 about the Wade-Willis romance.
BRADLEY: So what I have is a text message from you saying, oh, my god, Nathan took Fani on a trip to Napa and pay for with his firm.
MERCHANT: OK, continue reading.
BRADLEY: And you said, is he dumb (ph)?
VALENCIA: Also testifying Friday, Fani Willis' father, backing up her heated testimony from Thursday when she said she always keeps cash on hand.
FLOYD WILLIS, FANI WILLIS' FATHER: I've always kept cash. You know and I've told my daughter, you keep six months worth of cash, always.
VALENCIA: On both days, money was center stage because defense attorneys are trying to prove that Willis somehow benefited financially from a relationship with Wade through gifts and vacations that weighed paid for with money he earned on the case.
FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We went out multiple times. That probably went to the level of more than $100. But if were doing tit-for-tat like that, I probably paid for as many meals as he paid for. And so, I did not receive any gifts from him.
VALENCIA: And Willis and Wade both maintain the relationship began only after Wade took the job of special prosecutor. Willis'' father testified he didn't know about the relationship until the rest of the world found out and only met him region certainly.
FANI WILLIS: I did not meet Nathan Wade until 2023.
VALENCIA: In a surprise turn, Willis did not take the stand again on Friday, her team believing they had enough to beat back efforts to this qualify her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The state has no further questions for Ms. Willis.
VALENCIA: The judge has signaled that these hearings will continue sometime in the next week. When they do eventually wrap up, he's going to allow the state and defense attorneys to write replies in written legal briefs, which means that it could be weeks before we know the conclusion of these hearings altogether.
These allegations have already led to a delay in this case. Prior to them surfacing, the DA appeared to be on track for an August start to this trial. For now, all of that has been put on hold -- Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
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COREN: An update now on the deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade.
Missouri court officials say two teenagers have now been officially charged in connection with the shooting. They're facing gun-related charges, along with resisting arrest. And they may well face additional charges once police conclude their investigation.
One woman was killed, more than 20 other people wounded in the shooting on Wednesday.
Just ahead, the reported death of Alexei Navalny is highlighting the dangers of challenging or criticizing Vladimir Putin in Russia. It's just the latest in a disturbing pattern going back years.
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COREN: The reported death of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny is the latest in a long line of Putin critics to meet an early demise, some of them under mysterious or even violent circumstances. CNN's Brian Todd is following the story.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The reported death of one of Vladimir Putin's biggest adversaries, whether it's ever actually traced to the former KGB colonel or not, analysts say, certainly fits a very haunting pattern.
SARAH MENDELSON, FORMER U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL, UNITED NATIONS: There's not a lot of Russian opposition left anymore. Again, people are either in exile, dead, in prison.
TODD (voice-over): Alexei Navalny now apparently joins an unsettling list of those who've challenged Vladimir Putin and paid the price.
BILL BROWDER, CEO, HERMITAGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: In order for Putin to have been the leader for 23 years, he's had to be the -- seemed to be the meanest guy in the prison yard, the one who had caused damage to anybody who even looked at him the wrong way.
TODD (voice-over): Financier Bill Browder was a client of Sergei Magnitsky, an attorney who exposed corruption in Putin's government, was arrested and died in prison in 2009.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
TODD (voice-over): Yevgeny Prigozhin, the billionaire head of the Wagner paramilitary group, died last year in a mysterious plane crash after leading a short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin.
Imprisoned Putin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza says he's been poisoned at least twice and sent into a coma.
Boris Nemtsov, once one of Russia's most outspoken opposition leaders, was gunned down on a bridge at the foot of the Kremlin in 2015.
Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent journalist, was a vocal critic of Putin's regime in the wars in Chechnya. She was shot and killed in her Moscow apartment building in 2006.
Then there were the former Russian spies, who Putin saw as threats.
ANDREW WEISS, AUTHOR: Whenever Putin has a particular beef with people he calls traitors and he has gone after them in various parts of the world, including in London, in the case of a former FSB agent, Alexander Litvinenko, as well as the attack on a former Soviet double agent, Sergei Skripal in the southern English city of Salisbury in 2018.
TODD (voice-over): Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned and nearly killed in Britain with the powerful nerve agent, Novichok, an attack which British investigators tied to Putin.
in 2006, former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko, who'd been digging up information potentially tying Putin to organized crime, was killed in London when someone slipped the radioactive substance, polonium, into his tea.
ALEX GOLDFARB, AUTHOR: The British investigators found beyond reasonable doubt on evidence that two agents of the Russian security services poisoned Mr. Litvinenko.
TODD (voice-over): Putin's regime has denied involvement in all of these cases. But at the same time ...
MENDELSON: He absolutely doesn't care about his international reputation. In some ways, he's interested in a reputation that is of violence.
TODD: Could Vladimir Putin now have a bigger target on his back?
One analyst says its possible that someone in Putin's inner circle could turn on him. But the analyst also says, he's woven people into that circle who simply benefit too much by being there. And it would harm them significantly to take him out -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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COREN: Well, tech giants say they are working together to take down harmful artificial intelligence or deepfakes in politics around the world.
In a rare show of unity, companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and TikTok will collaborate in detecting misleading content. More than a dozen tech firms pledged on Friday to locate, encounter deceptive election AI-generated contents, like political candidate deepfakes. The tech leaders say they will also collaborate on educational
campaigns for the public. And they promised to be transparent with their efforts.
Well, Prince Harry says he jumped on a plane for London as soon as he found out that his father, King Charles, had been diagnosed with cancer early this month. He spoke about his father and the royal family during an interview on the U.S. daytime show, "Good Morning, America."
Here's more from CNN's Max Foster.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Nothing particularly new in this interview but it is the first time we've heard from Prince Harry since his father's diagnosis of cancer.
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PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: Look, I love my family. The fact that I was -- the fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I'm grateful for that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've also found that in my own life that, sort of, an illness in the family can have a galvanizing or sort of reunifying effect for a family.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that possible in this case?
PRINCE HARRY: I'm sure. I'm -- for all these families, I say on a day- to-day basis, again, the strength of the family unit coming together, I think any illness, any sickness brings families together.
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FOSTER: One thing Harry did say is that he has considered applying for American citizenship. He may not get it, of course. And it's not entirely unexpected because his family is based there. He did talk as well about future visits to the U.K. So he is retaining those ties -- Max Foster, CNN, London.
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COREN: We now want to take you live to the Munich Security Conference, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been speaking to our CNN chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour. Take a listen.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I hope.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fine. Whatever.
ZELENSKYY: We will see who does in this war. So I don't know. OK.
We can start then.
AMANPOUR: OK. OK. All right.
All right. Firstly, Mr. President, thank you for being here and for agreeing to talk to us in front of this audience and for CNN.
I want to ask you first, you mentioned Avdiivka and I would like to ask you first about the decision of your commanders to pull back.
Your commander said, "In a situation where the enemy is advancing on the corpses of their own soldiers, with a 10:1 shell advantage under constant bombardment, this is the only correct solution."
What do you expect to happen now?
ZELENSKYY: (Speaking foreign language).
Do you have translation?
OK.
AMANPOUR: It's not very loud.
ZELENSKYY: OK.
AMANPOUR: Don't hear it.
ZELENSKYY: (Speaking foreign language).
AMANPOUR: Sorry.
ZELENSKYY: (Speaking foreign language).
AMANPOUR: Thank you.
Carry on.
ZELENSKYY: (Speaking foreign language).
TRANSLATOR: (Speaking German.)
ZELENSKYY: (Speaking foreign language).
AMANPOUR: So a senior NATO official told the "FT" that it is a desperate situation for you on the front lines, far worse than you are actually admitting. Your commander said that one of the reasons that they pulled back was, in just the last 24 hours, there were some 20 airstrikes, 150 different shells.
He said they're trying to erase Avdiivka from the face of the -- from the Earth.
Do you think this will lead to a snowball of other towns and cities on the front lines collapsing?
