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U.S. Refutes Russia's Claim Its Troops Are Moving Away from Ukraine; Ukraine Says Russian Troop Buildup Insufficient for Invasion; NATO Sees No Sign of Deescalation on Ukrainian Border; Growing Cries for More Serious Punishment for Russian Doping; Hong Kong Ordered to Control COVID-19; Prince Andrew Settles Sex Abuse Case. Aired 10-10:40a ET
Aired February 16, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): The U.S. Defense Secretary meets with NATO defense ministers as Russia's military build-up around Ukraine
continues. We're live for you this hour in Moscow, Brussels and in Washington.
She's 15 and the center of an Olympic doping scandal and one step closer to a gold medal. We have the new allegations about what substances Kamila
Valieva used.
And Prince Andrew settles his sexual assault lawsuit. What we know about that settlement and who is picking up the tab.
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ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson in Dubai where it is 7:00 in the evening. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
We begin with what we know at this hour of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. A new report shared exclusively with CNN says the Russian military is not
sufficient to carry out a full-scale invasion.
This despite a new Russian defense ministry video, reportedly showing Russian tanks and troops returning from Crimea after exercises. CNN is
unable to confirm if this video accurately reflects the situation on the ground. The U.S. isn't buying it. Listen to what the secretary of state
told MSNBC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We continue to see not only forces mass, we continue to see critical units moving toward the border,
not away from the border. So what we need to see is exactly the opposite. We need to see these forces moving away. We've heard what the Kremlin said
about this.
As President Biden said yesterday, we'd welcome that. But we haven't seen it on the ground. And the bottom line is this: we're prepared either way.
We're prepared to engage in diplomacy with Russia if it's serious about it.
We're also prepared for renewed Russian aggression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Joe Biden does say there is still room for diplomacy and the Kremlin calls that positive. They say the U.S. President is ready to start
with what it calls serious negotiations is a positive move.
Our correspondents covering the story from three points. Melissa Bell is in Brussels with more on the NATO secretary-general's comments. Nic Robertson
with a look at the troop movements in Crimea.
First, Sam Kiley is in Ukraine.
Sam, what's your assessment of this Ukrainian intelligence report shared exclusively with our colleague, Matthew Chance?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Matthew's report is very interesting because it confirms in almost exactly what -- in terms
of the numbers estimated now of Russian borders close to the Ukrainian border to the east of Ukraine; in other words, the west of Russia.
Perhaps more importantly in Belarus, where we had reports they expected to see some 30,000 troops there as part of what the Russians are describing as
an exercise. Both the Ukrainian assessment and the American assessment put the number of troops at 148,000 to 150,000, including some 28,000
infantiers.
That is consistent with the other reporting we've been doing. Only 50 miles away, an entire Russian army, perhaps mustering 30,000 or 40,000 there. And
those extra helicopters have been spotted in Crimea on satellite. And there is no sign of Russian exercises ending, no matter what the Russians are
saying.
This intelligence says it's not enough for a full-scale invasion.
The question then is, what is it enough for?
Is it enough to cause instability?
Is it enough to slice off a chunk of territory?
Because ultimately the goal here of Russia is, arguably, not to occupy the Ukraine but make it an unsuccessful, non-democratic, Western-leaning
nation, to keep it in a state of chaos. So that may we be plenty of troops to do that.
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ANDERSON: I guess the question at this point -- and I'll put it to Nic; thank you, Sam.
Are we any closer to really understanding what sort of threat Russia poses to Ukraine if, at all, at this point?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: U.S. assessment obviously that it's a major threat to live; that tens of thousands could be
killed; hundreds of thousands could be put to flight if there was an invasion.
The military hardware are medium-range rocket systems, attack helicopter, tanks, mobile artillery pieces, all the sorts of heavy warfare equipment
that can inflict damage. So there's an ability there to penetrate civilian neighborhoods and possibly to move armor and people toward those civilian
neighborhoods as well.
Russia continues to say that it's not a threat. One of the things the Kremlin spokesperson pointed out today was that Biden's comments were
welcome but we very much like the United States to stop this continual mantra that we pose a threat, that we're about to invade, about to do
something we're not about to do.
There seems little doubt that the firepower that Russia still has is capable of inflicting huge damage and capable of projecting that force way
inside the territory of Ukraine. The question is the intent and that sits fairly and squarely with the Kremlin.
ANDERSON: Russia's ambassador to the E.U. said there's no imminent attack, repeating what we have heard now for some time. Wars, he said, don't start
on a Wednesday. He said that rather sarcastically.
So what is the intent at this point? Is it any clearer?
ROBERTSON: The intent is to try to get, through diplomacy, President Putin's stated goals. We heard this again from the Russian ambassador to
the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, in Vienna, saying at a minimum for the negotiations, NATO must declare that
Ukraine cannot join.
And Ukraine must declare itself a neutral state. We heard President Putin yesterday saying, at a minimum for negotiations, Ukraine can't join NATO
and NATO must go back to 1997 lines.
So what Russia is doing with this force is projecting a force, making this an immediate and pressing issue that NATO and the European Union cannot
ignore and will use this so far to continue to press his maximalist demands.
And the answer so far has been very clearly no. And President Biden made that clear last night. So at the moment, this continues to be a projection
of military force and possible intent to extract concessions. And those concessions so far aren't coming. So it seems the threat of force, for the
meantime, will continue.
ANDERSON: That force, 120,000 to 148,000 troops, amassed near the Ukrainian border.
Melissa, NATO wants more proof in Moscow of a deescalation.
Is it clear what they mean by that?
Russia touting the withdrawal of some of its troops at this point.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the time being, that's definitely not what NATO is seeing. And just picking up from what Nic was explaining
there, we heard clearly from the secretary-general of NATO ahead of this important meeting, where even now they are looking at the latest
intelligence and what it can tell us, both about troop build-up and intent.
NATO will not renegotiate its open door policy. It's willing to look at things like NATO- Russia relations, to re-examine the security arrangements
within Europe, to look at transparency mechanisms, confidence-building mechanisms.
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BELL: But it will not renegotiate the very thing that Nic was explaining Moscow has at the heart of its demands, that NATO will not expand further
east. In fact, it will retreat behind those lines that were the contours back in 1997.
Have a listen to what the secretary general understands about the claims of a Russian troop withdrawal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: We have heard the signs from Moscow about readiness to continue diplomatic efforts. But so far we have
not seen any deescalation of the ground. On the contrary, if the pressure (ph) that Russia continues their military build-up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Now the defense ministers of all NATO countries are in a meeting together, bringing together the intelligence and working out, on a very
concrete level, what would happen should Russia -- clearly Ukraine is not a member of NATO.
What NATO is preparing is, should there be an invasion, what would those substantial troops that it's been massing along the eastern flanks be
expected to do?
What we understand from NATO sources is a NATO rapid response course would only intervene on a number of points, if, for instance, a NATO member was
directly threatened, if there was an incident over the border by accident, for instance between Belarus and Poland, or to deal with what we expect
could be a flood of refugees coming across the Ukrainian border should an invasion take place.
ANDERSON: To our correspondents on the ground, thank you very much indeed.
That is the state of play. Amid the talk of what is continued diplomacy and claims of Russian troop pullbacks by Moscow, some Ukrainians not leaving
anything to chance.
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ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST (voice-over): This group of men meets to shoot. It was just a hobby. Now it's for something bigger, their country.
SVIAT KIVACHUK, PRACTICAL SHOOTING CLUB: And they're prepared to kind of work in case of a full invasion. So their main responsibility will be to
secure the streets, to secure the buildings and stuff like that, together with army and Ukrainian special forces.
BURNETT: But it is -- these are civilians that are willing to step into that role and to do that in the streets, if necessary?
KIVACHUK: Yes. Exactly. So it's something similar to militia.
BURNETT (voice-over): Sviat is a trained philologist. He now works in cloud computing IT here in Lviv.
Like many here, he has U.S.-based clients so the time difference allows him to practice shooting in the mornings and go to work afterwards.
Timor (ph) is also in IT. Demetriou (ph) is a doctor. And Mikhailo (ph) is a graphic designer. Ordinary citizens in the city of more than 700,000, now
practicing tactical advances in case they ever need them on the city streets. As Sviat and his friends take this motto on display at the
shooting club literally: Lviv, people of action.
KIVACHUK: If you look into Ukrainian history throughout the 20th century, and we were fighting against USSR so we have like local guerilla forces,
especially here on Western Ukraine. And we're willing to fight. So I guess that's like been our heritage.
BURNETT (voice-over): The president of the Practica Shooting Club, which has groups across Ukraine, tells us he used to get five calls a week from
people wanting to learn to shoot. Now, as Putin's army sit on Ukraine's borders, he says he gets more than 10 times that many.
Lviv Shooting Club adding more training, with 350 people coming this past weekend, people of all ages ready to defend themselves in needed.
Sviat says he taught one boy who was only 11 years old. His friends have multiple guns. There's no limit on the number of guns you can own in
Ukraine. He says his second will be an AR-15. He is hoping he will only need it for target practice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: That was Erin Burnett on the civilian preparations on the ground.
Still to come, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. The Russian skater at the center of a doping scandal says she knows how a banned heart medication got
into her system. We'll tell you her explanation in a moment.
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ANDERSON: And a city under pressure: the Chinese president is telling Hong Kong to get COVID under control by any means necessary. More on that
after this.
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ANDERSON: Welcome back.
The heads of the IOC met on Wednesday with members of the U.S. figure skating team. They discussed the situation regarding Russian skater Kamila
Valieva. She tested positive for a banned drug but is being allowed to compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
American Olympic officials have been vocal in saying she should not be competing. This comes in the wake of her first skate in the women's event
and new revelations about other drugs found in her system. Here is CNN's Selina Wang with the latest.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole situation, it's just devastating.
SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kamila Valieva, Russian figure skater and favorite to take individual gold at these
Olympics, raced into the lead at the women's single skating competition allowed that despite her testing positive before the games for a banned
drug.
Valieva defended her positive drug tests by saying it was cost by a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication.
DENIS OSWALD, CHAIR, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION: He presented the elements which brought some doubts. She was
in a very special situation that the Olympic Games take place only every four years and if she would miss the competition, in these games, the
damage would not be repaired.
WANG: The 15-year old stumbled on her first jump but she gave an otherwise stellar performance, sealing her place in Thursday's free skating program.
Valieva visibly emotional when she finished her routine.
Valieva returned the drug test on Christmas Day but it was only last week that the sample was reported to have come back positive for the drug
trimetazidine after she and her teammates had already won gold here.
The World Anti-Doping Agency says it will also be investigating her entourage and the team could still be spread of her medal, a glimpse behind
the glimmering surface into the murky world of Russian sports.
DICK POUND, FOUNDING PRESIDENT, WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY: Maybe it is time for Russia in the Olympics. Simply say, you will not be invited into the
next games.
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POUND: You will not be able to host any Olympic sport events and so forth. That will get their attention.
WANG: Team USA not holding back in a statement. Quote, this appears to be another chapter in the systematic and pervasive disregard for clean sport
by Russia.
The Russian Figure Skating Federation President labeling the decision, common sense and justice.
But though the Russian Olympic Committee says Valieva tested negative for banned performance enhancing drugs before and after the test in question,
inescapable is that clean athletes are performing against a competition favorite who tested positive once. At an Olympics dogged by politics and
China's rights record, this doping scandal tainting the sport here as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Selina Wang joins us now from Beijing.
She skates on Thursday in the finals.
What more have we heard from her camp or Russian officials about this?
WANG: The Kremlin say they are glad she continues in the competition and want her to continue winning.
New details are continuing to cast a shadow over the entire Olympics. She reportedly had three different test samples in her test sample and only one
was banned.
The CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said all three drugs have the performance enhancing capabilities, like improving endurance or reducing
fatigue. CNN and the CEO of USADA all reviewed this document, which showed Kamila Valieva declared the two substances that include Hypoxen and L-
carnitine.
They are not banned but do enhance performance. The fact that a mixture of these substances was used suggest a sophisticated and deliberate attempt to
improve her performance, which he says is not something a 15-year old would know how to do.
As mentioned before, there is going to be an investigation into the adults surrounding her entourage that may have played a role in what we have seen
play out -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Meantime, why did the IOC meet with the American figure skating team today?
WANG: We learned from Team USA this was to discuss the situation around the postponed medal ceremony for the team event last week. In that event,
the ROC took gold. The U.S. took silver. And now the medals all hanging in the balance because of this doping scandal.
No medals will be awarded if Kamila Valieva places in the top three and she is expected to place in the top three. She won't get a medal and the others
won't, either. The IOC says this is in order to make sure there's integrity here, to make sure the completion of the case is done before they give the
medals.
As you can imagine, huge frustrations from athletes, including from Team USA and athletes from around the world. They've worked their entire careers
for this moment and now they are being denied the opportunity to stand at that podium at the Olympic Games to receive their medal.
This is what many are say is ruining the integrity of the sport, Becky.
ANDERSON: Selina Wang, thank you.
How Chinese social media is reacting to athletes born in America but of Chinese descent, on our app.
Chinese president is urging Hong Kong to take all necessary measures to control its spiraling COVID outbreak. Mr. Xi's comments come as daily COVID
infections in Hong Kong top 4,000. That's a record.
Earlier the city opened up clinics for patients with mild COVID symptoms after overwhelmed hospitals started treating patients outdoors. The Chinese
central government reportedly also planning to help build treatment facilities. Will Ripley is covering this story.
I can't now remember the amount of time you've been in quarantine, going in and out of Hong Kong. The restrictions have been swingeing.
Just how significant is this, that the Chinese president is jumping in here with such a direct message about getting COVID in check?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Almost six months of my life in quarantine so far this pandemic. Look, I'm not going to
sugarcoat this. The fact that the Chinese president is so directly talking about Hong Kong, sending a message publicly to Hong Kong.
[10:25:00]
RIPLEY: This high level of intervention is something we haven't seen since the protest in the summer of 2019 and the subsequent national security law
that has changed the face of Hong Kong with the stroke of a pen, erasing many freedoms guaranteed for 50 years.
What could happen now that the central government has its eye on Hong Kong?
They don't have confidence in the local government; 7,000 preliminary positive cases on Wednesday and more than 4,200 confirmed cases, 31,000
cases total; 235 deaths in a country like China and a territory like Hong Kong that have a zero COVID strategy, that is just not acceptable.
What could this mean?
It could mean Mainland style lockdowns, some are saying, where the entire city is locked down for a period of weeks. They will test people over a
period of three weeks citywide.
Could Hong Kong start to look like other Mainland cities that have forced people to stay inside for weeks at a time, without being able to leave
their homes?
They are doing it on an isolated local level now.
Could it get bigger?
That's really the unknown question.
ANDERSON: Just because you've experienced this personally, how are people coping to date?
It's been really very restrictive.
How will people cope if things get more, not less, restrictive as we are seeing but more restrictive going forward?
RIPLEY: Hong Kong has really sacrificed a lot. They have -- this what was once an international travel hub. It is now sealed off from much of the
world. But there's fear. There's fear about these rising case numbers. There's fear about the low vaccination rates, which means that people in
Hong Kong don't have the level of immunity that people in other places might have.
People are not going to be allowed to protest or posting negative things about the government. That could put them in violation of the national
security law. The city is hoping people will cooperate with this compulsory testing so all 7 million-plus over a period of three weeks, possibly as
early as March, will get tested.
First test, one week; second test, the next week; third test, the week after that. Also, Becky, Hong Kong, as you talked about in the intro,
opening up the outdoor clinics to deal with the overflow of patients, they are trying to step up vaccines.
They have COVID specific taxis, where they seal off the inside with a big plastic sheet. And those are supposed to take people to these clinics. They
have also ordered 100 million rapid tests. That's enough to test everybody who lives in Hong Kong 14 times.
ANDERSON: Thank you.
Two realities at the Russian border: Russia says it's withdrawing troops as they finish military drills but much of the West isn't buying it..
And the British throne settles the civil sex abuse case Prince Andrew was facing.
How much did it cost and who's footing the bill?
We'll go inside just a moment. That's just ahead.
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ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Dubai. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.
We begin with exclusive new intelligence from the Ukraine military suggesting the Russian troop build-up near the Ukraine border continues. So
it's not sufficient for a full-scale invasion.
Russia, meanwhile, painting a very different picture, releasing this video that says it shows tanks and troops returning from Crimea on a train after
exercises. The U.S. isn't buying that. Secretary of state Antony Blinken says he's seen no meaningful pullback for Russian troops from that border.
NATO's secretary-general also skeptical, insisting he's seeing no signs of deescalation by Russia. Clarissa Ward is in Kyiv.
You've been reporting this tale of two realities, Russia claiming it's withdrawing some troops. It's been met with skepticism by NATO and across
the West.
What's the perspective where you are?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think Ukraine's leadership is also skeptical about Russia's claims that it's beginning to
withdraw the forces.
The question becomes where are they withdrawing them to?
If they are withdrawing them to a base that's relatively close to the border, then obviously that's less significant than if they were really
pulling them back further into central Russia.
I think the attitude from Ukraine's leaders is we don't believe it until we actually see it.
But when you talk about that sort of stark difference between realities, both from Ukraine's perspective and Russia's perspective, you also see it
now a little bit with Ukraine's perspective and the U.S.' perspective.
We heard President Biden say again an attack was a distinct possibility. And yet we see, with this new Ukraine intelligence report, that CNN's
Matthew Chance was able to look at, exclusively, that there's a difference of opinion on this with regard to Ukraine's intelligence officials.
They believe, while the number of Russian troops surrounding the country is roughly the same -- they put it roughly at 148,000, President Biden put it
at 150,000 -- they say they don't believe that's enough for a full-scale invasion.
What's important is, in some ways Russia is already achieving its intended objective in term of destabilizing Ukraine. This is one of the reasons we
see Ukraine's leaders try to tamp down the fear around the possibility of an imminent invasion, because they are already seeing the impact that it is
having on the Ukrainian economy.
They are already fending off cyberattacks that have been frequent as well as PsyOps and disinformation campaigns. And all of these are levers that
Russia has. It's not simply a case of whether Russia will launch a full- scale invasion; there are many different ways that they can have a negative impact on this country.
ANDERSON: Yes.
WARD: And I think that's why you're hearing a slightly different tone here than what you're hearing from the U.S.
ANDERSON: Yes, and with respect, this is consistent with the position that the Ukrainian president has had now for some weeks, he in response to the
initial reports from the U.S. of an imminent invasion.
The line was you're not here; we are. And this is what we see on the ground. But you make a very good point. This military build-up, whether or
not we are seeing a deescalation by the Russians, is not the only threat that Ukraine faces at this point.
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ANDERSON: Look, Ukraine's president declaring a day of unity in his country, which means what and how was it received?
WARD: This seemed to arise when he talked about how jokingly today the 16th of February was supposed to be Invasion Day and so his response was to
actually declare it National Unity Day and to have Ukrainians come out on the streets, wave Ukrainian flags, play the Ukrainian national anthem.
He went to the border with Belarus earlier to witness some military exercises. He's now flown to Mariupol in the southeast of the country, a
very important city, a port city; half a million, just over 20 miles away from the Russian border.
This is a city that, if Russia was trying to make a sort of land corridor between Crimea, the Crimean Peninsula and Russia, the people there would be
very quickly surrounded.
So clearly, I think what you're seeing is Ukraine's president trying to turn the narrative on its head, saying let's not make this a day of
invasion. Let's make it a day of national unity.
ANDERSON: Russia's ambassador to the E.U. suggesting that Wednesdays aren't days that we start wars or words to that effect, which was treated
with some disdain. Thank you.
Buckingham Palace is silent after Prince Andrew settled the civil sexual abuse lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre. Andrew has agreed to pay an undisclosed
sum to her charity for sexual abuse victims. Many British newspapers reporting the settlement is around 12 million pounds or around $16 million.
CNN's Anna Stewart is covering this.
This is a big settlement.
Who will cover this?
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we were given very little in terms of detail. We think this is a big settlement. The British newspapers
haven't hesitated to put a figure on it. We've got 10 million from the "Daily Mail;" from "The Mirror," 12 million pounds.
We really don't know. But there's a big question as to who pays for this. In addition to this, Prince Andrew will have racked up significant legal
costs. He has income and a very small naval pension.
Will the queen have to help?
He did sell a chalet recently in Switzerland. If she did help, I wouldn't expect that to be from the public purse. I would expect it to be from her
private estate, the Duchy of Lancaster. I don't expect we'll ever get details on that.
Additionally, a really carefully worded statement from both legal teams, in which it said Prince Andrew had never intended to malign her character.
That's a huge shift in tone and a huge victory for Giuffre, if you consider, even recent weeks, his team were calling her claims baseless,
frivolous. They suggested she was only motivated by money.
Quote, "She wanted to achieve another payday at his expense."
This statement today or yesterday from the legal teams very, very different to that. So I do see this as a victory.
Now Prince Andrew was stripped of his military and royal titles by the queen last month. I don't see any way back into public life for him, given
he's not had his name cleared in court and certainly not in the court of public opinion here in the U.K. -- Becky.
ANDERSON: So it doesn't look as if there is a rehabilitation of Prince Andrew in a public role any time soon.
What about Virginia?
There are many questions about whether -- and it wasn't clear from the statement that we got from the legal team yesterday whether this is it, as
far as she is concerned; whether she signed an NDA or whether we might expect to hear more from her going forward.
Is that clear?
STEWART: That was my immediate question when I saw the statement.
Has she signed an NDA?
Is there a clause in this?
Because the statement was very short. We got very little extra detail and no comment from either side's team. They just pointed us to the statement.
We don't know at this stage. If she hasn't signed an agreement, she could speak more about this in the future. We look forward to hearing more, if
and when we get it.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Anna.
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ANDERSON: Still to come, the hero of the hour at the Parc des Princes is...
More on that after this.
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