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CNN International: Protesters Around the World Denounce Putin, Russian Election; Putin Expected to Maintain Grip on Power in Russian Election; W.H.O. Chief Gravely Concerned About Israel's Rafah Plan. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 18, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now I was able to speak to opposition activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky and here's what he had to say.

MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST (voice-over): We have the only opportunity to show by going to polling stations at the same time as those who oppose Putin and those who oppose the war that we are the majority.

And this is important inside Russia. It's important for those Russians who are inside other countries today because Putin's propaganda is trying to convince including Western public opinion that all Russians are in favor of war.

PLEITGEN: Just like here in Berlin, Russian expats around the world voted in their respective embassies and the scenes that we saw here in the German capital is that some people needed hours to actually be able to get into the actual polling station because so many people were lining up.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now from Florence, Italy is Alexander Baunov, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Alexander, it's always a pleasure to speak to you about Russian affairs.

Now obviously there was no credible opposition candidate standing in this election. But in terms of the mechanics of the voting itself, how free and fair was that?

ALEXANDER BAUNOV, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: It's absolutely unfree and unfair. It's clear and we see the increase of the result of every next election, re-election of Vladimir Putin gives us 10 percent more, over 60 percent in 2012, then over 70 and then over 80. This 80 is -- the reason is clear. Putin has taken an unprecedentedly irresponsible, immoral decision to invade Ukraine. Now he has to show that this decision is supported by the majority that is larger than ever, which is a way to redistribute, to share the responsibility for this decision with the whole of the country.

FOSTER: It is, you know, a big mandate though in his eyes, isn't it? Presumably for the war in Ukraine and it means he's going to push even harder, something like 90 percent. It was his policy to go into Ukraine, so he's got the public support now.

BAUNOV: It's expected, largely expected, that this number will be interpreted as a support of the war, but it's technically impossible.

If you go to even official numbers of the supporter of the so-called special military operation by the citizens of Russia, we see this high number of 80 and more percent for the war till the victory only in one particular group of people, of group of some age. And in all other groups, there are much less, like 60, 50, and then the group younger than 30, it's less than 20 percent.

But this support, at least to interpret this result of 85 percent as a support for the war of 85 percent of population, it's technically impossible even taking into account the official numbers, the officials of theology.

Now go to the voting abroad, this unprecedented numbers of people who voted abroad that first show us how many Russians have moved outside of Russia since the beginning of the war. And then what the result would be without the reach of this political, technological, administrative mobilization and resource that exists inside Russia and without the reach of Russian propaganda, at least the restricted reach of Russian propaganda. It's totally different numbers.

NOBILO: Given that the result of this election was a foregone conclusion, does this illusion -- it's not quite the right word -- but does this illusion of a mandate actually change anything in terms of Vladimir Putin's actions? Does it embolden him domestically, internationally in some way?

BAUNOV: We had seen Vladimir Putin yesterday speaking to the member of his campaign. In fact, there was no campaign by the way, no typical electoral campaigning. He was just present as a president in the news, as a leader of the country in the news.

He is obviously pleased with the result, but there's another significant moment in this unprecedented high number.

[04:35:02]

Before that, Russia was developing as a sort of peculiar, specific, but Western-style political system with many exemptions, but still there were some niceties to be observed.

So 60 percent, 50-something, 70-something maybe, but with 85 and a fifth presidential term of the same person, it goes to an absolutely different political space, non-Western at all. And this rupture with the Western political institutions, with Western political declarations is basically the message of the Russian regime to the rest of the world. 85 does mean that we are not following Western patterns anymore.

We are building something sovereign, something totally different. We see this number only in some Asian autocracies or the European autocracies in the past, of course, or in the Central Asian countries, but not in Russia before.

So Russia stops being, even imitating Western political system. It's totally sovereign in its political institution. This is the message. And I would expect that re-Sovietization somehow of the political system and electoral results in the future, because in the Soviet Union, we had the results of 99.98 percent.

FOSTER: We've just heard from the Central Election Commission saying the turnout was a record, 77.44 percent, which is pretty incredible and does speak, doesn't it, to the mandate that Putin claims to have?

BAUNOV: It's absolutely unprecedented too, this number. And it's achieved with heavy administrative mobilization because people are very dependent on the state in Russia. The state becomes more and more the single employer in many regions, in many areas of the economy. So it has this resource to pressure people to go and vote and even to show how they have voted.

Because we see how the bosses of the companies, of the enterprises were asking people to show them how they did vote electronically or to make a photo of their ballot and to send to them, which is absolutely illegal even by Russian law, but it happened in unprecedented numbers of cases right now.

That's one reason. And another reason that the whole system, the governors, the mayors, the heads of the state-run companies were keen -- were certain involved in a sort of competition to show the large support because they knew that the Kremlin and the leader want to show that this, as I said, unprecedented, risky, immoral and destructive decision to go to the war with Ukraine is supported to comfort the consciousness of the leader.

FOSTER: OK, Alexander Baunov, thank you so much for your insight today. Really appreciate that.

Now, the ongoing war in Ukraine hung over Russia's three-day presidential election, of course, with no lead up in the fighting. And after voting wrapped on Sunday, Vladimir Putin issued a warning saying Western troops in Ukraine could lead to another world war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I think that anything is possible in the modern world, but I've already said this, and it is clear to everyone that this will be just one step away from a full-scale World War III. I don't think anybody is interested in this. NATO military are present there. We know this. We hear French speech

there and English speech. There's nothing good in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Ukrainian officials say a man was killed and eight people were wounded by a Russian strike in Mykolaiv. The regional governor says the southern port city was targeted by two Russian missiles on the last day of Russia's presidential election.

NOBILO: Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces said that they destroyed 14 Russian drones over Odessa on Sunday. That port city was targeted by a massive Russian attack on Friday, which killed at least 21 people and left dozens of others wounded, the worst strike on the city since the beginning of the war.

And Russia's defense minister has ordered additional firepower to be added to the country's Black Sea fleet in order to repel Ukrainian attacks on Russia's mainland and on Russia's warships.

Up next for you, as people in Gaza struggle to get food, humanitarian aid continues to trickle into Rafah.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: This just into CNN. Israel Defense Forces are urging residents around the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza to evacuate, posting on X that they should move south to, quote, a humanitarian zone.

It's unclear how many Gazans have access to social media and internet this time to even see that.

FOSTER: The message comes as IDF troops surrounded the medical complex early on Monday. They say based on their intelligence, the hospital is being used by, quote, senior Hamas terrorists to conduct and promote terrorist activity. CNN can't independently verify the IDF's claim.

NOBILO: Gaza's health ministry says about 30,000 people are sheltering in that complex and claims anyone attempting to leave the hospital is quote targeted by sniper bullets.

FOSTER: And this was the scene outside an UNRWA and aid distribution center on Sunday as people lined up for flour.

Hundreds of thousands of people are scrambling to get food in Gaza as limited aid trickles in with aid organizations saying Gazans are facing famine now.

Dr. Rick Brennan is the regional emergency director for the World Health Organization in the eastern Mediterranean. He joins us now from Cairo. I mean, how would you describe the level of famine we're facing right now?

DR. RICK BRENNAN, REGIONAL EMERGENCY DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Well, I don't think there's been a formal declaration of famine at this stage, but the levels of food insecurity are soaring. We're seeing accelerating rates of malnutrition, particularly in the north amongst children. 13 percent of kids are acutely malnourished. That will worsen unless we can massively scale up aid.

And we're well short of the assistance that's required to stay ahead of famine. And I think that the concern is that we will have a state of famine unless there is improvement in security and unhindered access to the people in need.

[04:45:04]

NOBILO: And Dr. Richard, you recently visited Gaza. Can you tell us what you saw there? I think we have some photos to share with our viewers. It's so important, obviously, because it's very difficult to actually get information, images, and stories out of Gaza. So the fact that you had the opportunity to do that is really important.

BRENNAN: Yes. Well, I've been working in humanitarian assistance for 31 years now. And like just about every other humanitarian veteran that's worked in Gaza recently or visited Gaza recently, I would say there are aspects of this crisis that are amongst the worst I've ever seen. So the levels of displacement -- I was only in Rafah, where, as you know, there's been a million people now displaced.

I've never seen overcrowding like that, never seen so many people squeezed into such a small area with appalling sanitation, very limited access to food. You know, and the shelter itself is of very poor quality, and there's been a lot of rains and flooding of those settlements.

So that is a crisis in and of itself, the level of displacement, the lack of sanitation, the associated disease outbreaks now of hepatitis and diarrhea. Of course, limited access to aid. And we've already talked about the food deficit.

Now, I was looking at some of the data this morning. Now, we usually don't like to talk about the number of trucks going into Gaza as an appropriate metric, but it's one of the best that we have. And we say that we need around 500 trucks going into Gaza per day. Since the start of the crisis, we're at an average of 113.

So that gives you a sense of the massive deficit of assistance going in as these needs continue to soar.

FOSTER: You talk about the problems of displacement, but it's about to get a whole lot worse, isn't it? You've been into Rafah. The Israelis are talking about approving the military plans to go into Rafah. That will require a massive relocation of all those civilians, won't it? So how realistic is that, and what are your concerns?

BRENNAN: Well, the first concern is where do they go? And my understanding is the sense is they'll go further west and a bit north up into the central part. But again, there's no areas prepared to receive them. Where is the shelter coming from? I mean, most of the shelter there is makeshift. It's made from plastic sheeting and, you know, bits of wood and timber that people have been able to bring together.

People aren't in big, tented camps. Let's be clear. This is not like, you know, a managed refugee crisis. So where do they go? What's the source of shelter? How does the aid then get to them?

The other big concern, of course, for us on healthcare, you know, we've seen this massive degradation of the health system. Of the 36 hospitals, only 13 of them are functioning and they're only partially functioning.

So when we were in Rafah, I visited two hospitals, El-Najar Hospital, which is normally a 65-bed facility. It has 300 patients right now. And another field hospital, very well run by International Medical Corps, the U.S. NGO, which now has 150 beds.

If that military offensive occurs, both of those hospitals are going to have to relocate. Now, where do they move? This is the first one, El-Najar, it's a fixed facility. They're looking at options for perhaps moving into some other makeshift facility further west or north. International Medical Corps will have to pack up its hospital and move entirely. That'll take days.

So this, you know, further limiting access to medical care during the time of a military offensive when we would expect high levels of trauma and injury as well. So it's a beyond catastrophic situation.

NOBILO: It is beyond catastrophic, and it's almost unthinkable that this has now been going on for six months. What is your message to the key players in this as this conflict spills over at six months and everything you just said about how you're witnessing some of the absolute worst conditions and crowding and what people are having to endure in Gaza?

BRENNAN: Well, we just have to revisit our humanity. We have to think of the innocent, you know, women, men, children caught up in this debacle. We obviously need a ceasefire. We need unhindered access to those in need. We need the release of the hostages. We need both sides to put down their arms.

[04:50:00]

And we need a return to basic decency. We need a return to basic humanity. These are simple steps. If there's a political will there, we can achieve this.

And there are issues on both sides that need to be addressed. Let's be very, very clear. And, you know, so ceasefire, access, release of the hostages, you know, return to the negotiating table, putting the people first, not political interests first.

NOBILO: Dr Richard Brennan, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this morning.

FOSTER: We'll be back after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FOSTER: It was a rollercoaster of a rivalry match on Sunday at Old Trafford with Man United knocking its arrival, its bitter rival, Liverpool, out of the FA Cup in the quarterfinals.

A thrilling 4-3 extra time showdown where twice Liverpool looked poised for victory. The United rallied in the closing minutes before scoring twice in extra time. Extra time, painful.

[04:55:00]

And the stories in the spotlight this hour. Live images of the latest volcanic eruption in Iceland for you. Officials say there's been no damage so far. It's a critical infrastructure, adding that the lava flow has slowed substantially.

NOBILO: Seismic activity also decreased overnight. Airports on the island are operating normally.

And the U.S. National Park Service says cherry blossoms in Washington, DC, are in peak bloom. And although it's extremely beautiful, it's also extremely early.

Peak bloom is when 70 percent of the cherry trees lining the National Wall and the tidal basin have bloomed. That usually wouldn't happen for another two weeks.

FOSTER: That's remarkable. But the US capital just experienced one of its warmest winters, of course. That was one of the warmest winters on record. Temperatures rose to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly 27 degrees Celsius, by late January. Climate change and very warm weather made this peak bloom the second earliest in DC's history.

NOBILO: So we've just been told that we've got a little extra time in the show. You had a cherry blossom joke that was terrible. What was it?

FOSTER: What did the tree say to the blossom?

NOBILO: What?

FOSTER: Later, bud.

NOBILO: I thought the other one was worse, which was, what type of tree is a cherry blossom? A never-green.

FOSTER: Yes, that's not even the joke, is it?

NOBILO: If you're somebody that writes these jokes, do get in touch with us and tell us what inspires you, because I always think about it.

FOSTER: We've got a very low bar for reading them out, as you can tell.

NOBILO: As you can tell, yes.

FOSTER: Thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. We apologize for the poor quality of those jokes.

CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break. We'll see you soon.

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