Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
U.S. President Says Russia Invasion Could Happen within Days; U.S. Receives Response from Russia on Security Guarantees; More U.S. Troops Arrive in Poland; Kamila Valieva Finishes Fourth in Women's Free Skate; WADA Investigates Valieva's Entourage; Ukraine Marks Day of Unity While Facing Russian Threat; Honduran Court Detains Former President, Weighs Extradition to U.S. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired February 17, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. We have breaking news this hour.
Strong words from U.S. President Joe Biden, who says every indication is that Russia will attack Ukraine in the next several days. Mr. Biden
addressing the crisis just moments ago. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have not moved any of their troops out. They have moved more troops in. Number one.
Number two, we have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they're
prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine. Number one.
Number two, I've been waiting for a response from Putin from my letter. My response to him, it comes to that Moscow embassy, there are facts
(INAUDIBLE), not facts (INAUDIBLE) here. I have not read it yet. I cannot comment on it.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Is it your sense this is going to happen?
BIDEN: Yes, my sense is this will happen in the next several days.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Are there any diplomatic paths still available?
BIDEN: Yes, there is. There's a clear diplomatic path. That's why I asked Senator -- senator --
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: -- Secretary Blinken to go to the United Nations and make a statement today. He'll lay out what that path is. I laid out a path to
Putin as well, I think Sunday. So there is a path. There is a way through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And we await that key speech to begin any moment now, from the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to the United Nations. Blinken is
expected to stress America's commitment to diplomacy and de-escalation.
You heard that there from the U.S. President. But he's also expected to convey the gravity of the situation.
Russia meanwhile continues to paint a very different picture of what is unfolding on the ground. Moscow saying again today that more of its troops
have wrapped up military drills and are heading back home to their bases.
Ukrainian forces and separatists report renewed shell fire in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine.
We have a team covering this unfolding crisis. Melissa Bell is in Brussels, as NATO headquarters, of course, where both the NATO chief and the NATO
defense ministers are gathered.
Our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Moscow; Richard Roth is at the U.N.
Let me start with you, Nic. There is a lot moving this hour. Joe Biden says Russia has not moved any of its troops, despite Moscow messaging to the
country. Biden says he has reason to believe that Russia is engaged in a false flag operation as an excuse to attack Ukraine. He says he expects
that in the next couple of days.
What has changed here?
What is your assessment of what we have just heard?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, let me give you a couple more of those moving pieces as well that have fallen, you know, in
the past hour or so.
We know that President Putin is expected to give an address to parliament. That's come across here. And not -- we don't have a date and we don't have
a time for that. And it may just be purely domestic issues and about the economy. But I think it is worth keeping an eye on, in the context of
everything else.
We know from the State Department that the United States' number two diplomat in Russia has just been expelled from the country. And we're now
getting a readout from that letter that President Biden spoke about.
The letter has been waiting for three weeks to get back from Russia on their response to what the United States has had to say about Russia's
security demands. And we know, of course, that the key parts of that were the United States and NATO have both said no to Russia's demand that
Ukraine be blocked from joining NATO and that NATO go back to its 1997 levels.
What we are now seeing -- and we have just been able to look at a few lines in this 11-page document that has been released by the ministry of foreign
affairs here -- one of those key lines says that the U.S. -- the United States' failure to address some of the core issues are going to force
Russia to measures that could include military technical measures.
Now we've heard Russian officials use this before to say, if they don't get what they want diplomatically, they'll resort to military technical
measures.
[10:05:00]
ROBERTSON: But this is coming in the context of the -- of what we heard President Biden lay out. And of course he said he hadn't had a chance to
read this document yet. So that kind of language coming at this moment perhaps bears more overtones than it did before.
Nevertheless, Russia is saying that. And one of the other things they're saying as well, that the atmosphere that is being created by the United
States and NATO, putting what they say is additional forces closer to their border while telling Russia to de-escalate and remove its troops from with
inside Russia's own territory that surrounds Ukraine, to de-escalate the tensions there, they say none of this is conducive to diplomacy and having
a positive outcome to the talks.
I think the general tone that we're getting from this document that Russia has sent back to the United States is a gloomy tone. We got a sense of it
from the foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, when he was speaking earlier, saying that Russia would not engage in talking about other smaller issues
and concerns without getting its key issues addressed. This is how he laid it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We have received a reaction to those interviews. We have waited for 1.5 months, by
the way. And now we're finalizing our analysis on the American letter.
And we hope in the nearest future you will find out how the situation unfolds. At least we will send our reply back to the U.S. today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: So what he also went on to say was that, you know, Russia is ready to talk about some of these things the United States wants to talk
about, which is, you know, arms control agreements, possibly transparency of where troops are on the other side of the border, these sorts of issues.
But he went beyond what President Putin had said two days ago. He said that, unless Russia's core issues, that I mentioned earlier -- Ukraine not
able to join NATO, NATO to go back to 1997 levels -- unless those are addressed first, Russia will not talk about those other issues.
So the bar is moving even higher for diplomacy in what appears to be a very dark and increasingly clouding over diplomatic atmosphere here, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely.
Melissa, Lloyd Austin is the U.S. Defense Secretary; he's in Brussels at a meeting of NATO defense leaders.
What did he say earlier?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's on his way now to Poland. He's going to be meeting with Polish and Lithuanian troops, getting those allied
positions we have been hearing about so much at NATO headquarters the last couple of days, to be reinforced, of course, on NATO's eastern flank.
As a result, says NATO secretary-general, of what has been happening the last few weeks, regardless of what happens going forward with Ukraine.
Similarly NATO has been reminding Moscow these last few days it is still time to talk, that they are happy to sit down and talk about some of the
periphery issues that Nic alluded to.
Also there is core demands of Moscow, also firmly rejected by NATO these last 24 hours, last couple of days, namely the idea that they would
renounce their open door policy or compromise that key fundamental of European security, that it is up to nation states, sovereign nation states
to decide for themselves what their security arrangements would be.
Clearly alluding there to Ukraine's hoped-for future membership of NATO. The Ukrainian defense minister talking to his counterparts today as part of
a series of meetings taking place here in Brussels.
And it is already a partner of NATO and it is enshrined in its constitution that it hopes to one day to become a member. That was at the center of
discussions as well.
But you're right. This was also an important opportunity for NATO allies to share their very latest assessment about the threat posed by Russia. Here
is what the American Secretary of Defense said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Even in the last couple of days, we see some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them
fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea.
We even see them stocking up their blood supplies. You know, I was a soldier myself not that long ago. And I know firsthand that you don't do
these sort of things for no reason. And you certainly don't do them if you're getting ready to pack up and go home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Now he said that he had never seen the alliance as resilient, as united and as resolute as he felt that it was now, this just before he left
Brussels to get to Poland.
[10:10:00]
BELL: We also heard from the secretary-general speaking about that optic of hostilities in Donbas being reported by Russia and in Russia. And he was
asked specifically about that.
And he replied this was exactly what NATO and other allies had been warning about for the last few weeks. They feared this would be the script, that
such kind of optics of hostilities might be used as an excuse for an invasion. And this was something they were keeping an extremely close eye
on -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Stand by, Melissa. I want to get to Richard Roth.
As both Nic and Melissa have outlined, there is a lot going on at present and a lot going on at U.N. headquarters as well. A senior U.S.
administration official telling CNN that the White House believes that Russia could try and use this meeting as part of an attempt to establish
pretext for a potential invasion. We're just getting that news in to CNN.
We are awaiting a speech by secretary of state Antony Blinken, who has been dispatched there by the U.S. President.
Richard, what do we know at this point?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, that senior administration official, in a conference call with reporters, warned that
he thought there would be a lot of finger-pointing at this meeting and he has echoed the comments of other U.S. officials, who have said the shelling
in the Eastern Ukraine region could be a pretext to an invasion and that the U.S. expects an invasion soon.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., on the record, said Russia is planning an imminent invasion. And the reason she has asked the U.S. secretary of state
to represent the U.S. at this meeting was to show the gravity of the moment.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield telling reporters that this is a critical moment. This is one of those rare places, where Ukraine and Russia will be
diplomatically in the same room and there will be a war but it will be a war of words.
We had a meeting regarding Ukraine a few weeks ago. There may not be as much high drama at this one. But because of developments today, with
shelling going on and the Russian letter returning back to the U.S. their comments, we may hear some fresh thoughts and reaction to these
developments.
Russia will be represented by a deputy foreign minister; Tony Blinken, U.S. secretary of state, who was going to fly earlier to Europe but delayed his
flight until this Ukraine meeting; Russia speaks fifth at the meeting. The U.S. speaks sixth. I think you have a about a half hour before the players
speak.
ANDERSON: Well we're keeping a keen eye on that. I know you are, too. Back to you as we hear from both the Russians and the U.S. at this meeting.
Linda Greenfield earlier, apologizing for breaking into a meeting to say that there was this extraordinary appearance by secretary of state Antony
Blinken; it wasn't scheduled. So we'll keep an eye on that and it is important stuff, as we've heard from the U.S. President, saying, really
ratcheting up the rhetoric against Russia.
It took three weeks of waiting but Russia has now just delivered its response to the U.S. proposals for de-escalating this crisis. And amid the
tensions, more U.S. troops have been arriving in Poland. They are stationed just about an hour from the border with Ukraine. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is
there and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): They don't really want you see this but it's hard to hide. These are U.S.
troops, landing near the Polish border with Ukraine.
High-end Black Hawks, C-17 cargo planes, dozens in the past days. Media haven't been given official access but they're pretty hard to miss --
trucks, pallets; signs these 82nd Airborne from Ft. Bragg are not here, an hour's drive from Ukraine, just overnight.
They even came this day with a Cessna Light aircraft, which seems to be innocently carrying top brass, who get onto a nearby helicopter. Moscow may
point to these scenes as NATO amassing troops on Ukraine's border.
But these are here with the approval of Poland, a NATO member.
WALSH: In a standoff that is all about messaging, these American troops are about ensuring the U.S. allies feel their presence.
WALSH (voice-over): The unit we saw decamped to a nearby conference center. They're here, just in case, to help stranded Americans in Ukraine,
if the need arises. These sorts of movements in NATO war games and drills have been practiced for years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
WALSH (voice-over): They don't really want us to see this, the larger base where they are.
WALSH: Are the Americans over here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the main base, yes.
[10:15:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't talk about this.
WALSH: I understand. Can we talk to somebody about this or --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WALSH (voice-over): They walk right by us.
WALSH: (Speaking foreign language).
Don't be afraid. It is all right.
WALSH (voice-over): And the size of the operation -- these are a lot of tents over a wide area -- is both what you might expect to support that
many soldiers but also something that is almost definitely not for show and betrays a lot of readiness, even if you hope they all stay bored and cold
under canvas in the weeks ahead.
The border with Ukraine, an hour away, is normally busy. But Sasha (ph) is on his way back in as his visa has run out.
"Ukraine is my country. I have to stay," he says, "yes, in the army if need be. But no running away."
At another crossing, Ukrainians returning are pretty blunt.
"He won't get as far as Kyiv. We won't let him," one says.
"We'll raise a resistance, fight him in the woods. It will be like Stalin. His own people will kill him."
Bravado running hot, far, far away from a front line that is still mostly cold.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joining me now, live from Poland. Matthew Chance is in Kyiv.
Let's start with you, Nick. Just watched your package, your piece; U.S. President Joe Biden has just said that there is every indication that
Russia is prepared to go into Ukraine, to attack Ukraine. He said that could be expected in the next couple of days.
How might that change what is going on in the ground where you are?
WALSH: To be honest, you don't get a feeling of imminent conflict here at all. What is surprising is to see the scale of the U.S. presence here. They
say they're here just in case. Well, you saw the tent encampment there. That is a lot of work. So certainly not a symbolic presence.
And it is interesting to have seen NATO war game this over the past decades or so. But actually now, to have American troops doing things for real,
because of an actual perceived threat.
Becky, I've just heard from a briefing from Western officials, increased concerns that Russia is in fact not moving back; in fact moving, it seems,
half of the forces in the borders near Ukraine are within 50 kilometers of that border, according to those Western officials and battle groups that
were headed in that direction, 14 of them in transit over the past week.
Well, a significant number of those have arrived. So the messaging still from Western officials is very much that this is in play. But that has been
the case for a matter of weeks.
Far, far away here, in Poland, things, as you saw there, it is almost a matter of joke for Ukrainians going back into Poland, about what may or may
not come next.
ANDERSON: Matthew, you're in Kyiv. Just unpick where you assess we are at this point. We have heard from Joe Biden ratcheting up the kind of sense,
certainly from his side, that he believes an invasion is in the next couple of days.
And he talks about the indications he has for that. We're waiting on this speech by U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken at the UNSC.
Where are we at the this point?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously, you listen to the comments and you think that, well, if you believe them,
the war could happen at any moment now, of course.
And I think we have been hearing the same message from the U.S. intelligence for the past several weeks, perhaps even longer than that. I
think it underlines what we have known from the outset, that Moscow, Russia, presents a credible threat.
It has gathered (ph) tens of thousands of troops and that number is increasing, it seems, near the border of Ukraine. And if it took the
decision to invade, it could definitely do that, it could do it right now, it could do it next week, it could do it in a month from now.
But what we don't know and what is not answered -- and we said this time and again -- is that it is not clear if Vladimir Putin, the man who decides
whether or not to invade Ukraine, has made that decision.
And the decision, let's be absolutely clear, it lies with him. At the 11th hour, at the 59th minute of the 11th hour, Putin can decide whether or not
to pull that trigger. And there is no one out there, at the moment, despite the preparations that are being made and look very convincing, that can
read his mind and can know what he's definitely going to do.
It is right that the region prepares for the possibility, because, as I say, it looks like those preparations for a conflict are underway. The --
all the preparations you'd expect to see, for an army that is poised to invade, are being made. But again, we're still left with that final issue
of intent.
[10:20:00]
ANDERSON: What do you make of what we are hearing out of Moscow in response to this U.S. response, to their demands in all of this?
I'm not just talking about the response that we have today but the atmosphere with which this is being delivered.
CHANCE: Well, to be fair, I haven't read closely the remarks that the foreign minister Lavrov has made.
I understand that they are underlining the fact that their core security concerns, about the expansion of NATO and about Ukraine never joining NATO
and about a rollback of NATO weaponry in countries that joined NATO since 1997, have not been met, as we expected by the United States and by the
Western military alliance.
And the Russians are dissatisfied with that. There are there are other areas of possible compromise between the two sides. But those core areas
remain outstanding and the Russians are annoyed by that.
And they will respond to it, they say. My understanding is -- this has been the phrase they have been using from the outset -- that they will respond,
including military technical measures or using a military technical response. Unclear what that means.
But Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, tried to define it to journalists last month. He said what that means is -- and I'm paraphrasing
it here -- we'll deploy military forces.
So we could see some kind of unexpected escalation in deployments. We could see some kind of recognition of the rebel states that are on the eastern
flank of Ukraine. That could happen. And we could also, of course, see some sort of either small- or large-scale incursion into the country by Russian
forces, Becky.
Thank you to both of you.
Busy hour. We await that speech by Antony Blinken at the United Nations. So that will be coming up, I would guess, in around 10 to 15 minutes. Well,
more on this as we get it.
In the meantime, in the midst of a doping scandal, Russian skater Kamila Valieva is carrying the weight of the world, it seems, on her shoulders.
We'll speak to my colleague, who just saw the women's singles skating final.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: Well, in a stunning turn of events, 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva failed to medal in the women's individual skating
final. She finished in fourth place, despite being the favorite going into the event.
Instead, her Russian teammate clinched the top spot. Valieva's performance has been eclipsed by testing positive for a banned substance. Her lawyer
says Valieva blames a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medications. Selina Wang joining us from Beijing.
[10:25:00]
ANDERSON: As I understand it, you were inside the arena; you watched the free skate finals.
Just tell us, what was it like?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, I just rushed back from the competition venue. It was a huge surprise. Valieva, she stumbled multiple
times during her routine. You heard people gasping in the stands.
But the Russian team officials continued to clap and cheer her on throughout her skate and at the end. But you could tell, Becky, the
controversy of the past week, it was weighing on her. She ended her routine in tears, clearly emotionally rattled.
And when she came off the ice rink, she put her head in her hands. And when she was waiting for her score, she was holding on to her coach, clutching
her stuffed animal. This was, again, a big upset. She was expected to come in first, considered one of the best figure skaters in the world.
But instead, two of her other teammates on the Russian Olympic Committee, they took first and second, with these gravity defying quad jumps and Japan
came in third. Now Becky, if she placed in the top three, the medal ceremony would have been delayed until this doping investigation was
finished.
So these athletes, they were not -- they will not be denied the chance to have that medal ceremony. But many say they were still denied the
opportunity to know that they were competing on a fair playing field. This doping scandal still casting a shadow over their Olympic moment.
ANDERSON: Yes. Her entourage said the athlete is innocent but this doping scandal is raising red flags over Russian figure skating methods.
What is the argument here?
WANG: Exactly. This has all shined a light on the Russian system that Valieva is a part of. They have controversial and brutal training methods
that push these young Russian skaters to new heights, landing these quad jumps.
Valieva became the first woman to land a quad jump at these games.
But the question is, at what cost?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WANG (voice-over): Global outrage over Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, under the microscope for testing positive for a banned substance
less than two months ago.
But she's just a child, 15 years old, often seen clutching her favorite stuffed animal. It puts the spotlight on the adults around her and the
alleged dark underworld of Russian figure skating beneath the glittering surface.
DENIS OSWALD, HEAD OF DISCIPLINE, IOC: A girl of 15 would not do something wrong alone.
WANG (voice-over): The World Anti-Doping Agency will be investigating her entourage. And at the center is Coach Eteri Tutberidze, the powerful woman
behind Russia's dominance in figure skating, infamous for her brutal training regimens.
And in this December interview, she said her skaters train 12 hours a day, saying they can, quote, "always do more, demand more from yourself."
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine. Tutberidze has defended a similar drug, meldonium, as harmless. But it is banned by the World Anti-
Doping Agency. She said in a 2019 TV interview, that it just, quote, "helps the heart muscles recover faster."
Earlier this week, she told Russian state TV, quote, "We are absolutely sure that Kamila is innocent and clean."
JIM WALDEN, ATTORNEY FOR GRIGORY RODCHERKOV, DOPING WHISTLEBLOWER: It is heart wrenching, right, to take this -- to take an example of this young,
really talented skater, who has clearly worked really hard.
The problem is that's not ever good enough for Russia.
WANG (voice-over): Jim Walden is a lawyer for Grigory Rodcherkov, the Russian doping whistleblower. He says another close adult to Valieva is
Filipp Shvetsky, the figure skating team doctor, who was punished in 2007 for doping violations on Russia's rowing team.
It is from this Sambo-70 sports club in Moscow where Tutberidze produced a string of Olympic medalists. Russian figure skater turned coach Anna
Pogorilaya briefly trained with Eteri at Sambo-70.
ANNA POGORILAYA, RUSSIAN FIGURE SKATER AND COACH (through translator): She's an iron lady. She's so dedicated to her vocation. To her, every
athlete is like her own child.
WANG: Do you think she would pressure her skaters to take performance- enhancing drugs?
POGORILAYA (voice-over): I'm 100 percent sure they're clean.
WANG (voice-over): But her best proteges had short-lived careers.
Take Yulia Lipnitskaya, who won gold in Sochi, retired at 19, suffering from anorexia and injuries; Evgenia Medvedeva took home silver at 18 then
stopped skating competitively a few years later, citing permanent back injuries. All of them coached by Tutberidze.
KIIRA KORPI, FINNISH FIGURE SKATER: The problem is that child abuse is so normalized in our sport -- emotional abuse, psychological abuse is one big
part of it.
WANG (voice-over): Reaching the pinnacle in any sport comes at a cost. The question is if the Russian skating world has gone too far.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[10:30:00]
WANG: We've reached out to the Russian Olympic Committee for comment, from the doctor and the team officials and the coach. We have yet to receive any
response.
Now what is clear, though, is, according to a conversation I had, from one former Russian professional figure skater, she said that this sport is not
about health. It is about pushing yourself to the limit and getting results.
And we see just how young these Russian figure skaters are and how soon they retire after their Olympic moment. It is a stunning reminder that,
when we're watching these beautiful figure skating performances, beneath it all is years of brutal sacrifice.
ANDERSON: Selina Wang is in Beijing for you. Thank you.
Still to come, rescuers racing against time to find survivors after devastating landslides and flooding. Emergency crews dig through a mountain
of debris as the death toll keeps rising.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. The time is half past 7:00.
U.S. President Joe Biden warning the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is very high and could happen within days. U.S. secretary of state Antony
Blinken set to address the U.N. Security Council any moment.
And a senior official says the Biden administration believes Russia could try to use that meeting as part of a pretext for a potential invasion. All
of this coming in, in just the past hour.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, meantime, met with NATO allies in Brussels earlier today. The U.S. and NATO are making it clear they see no
sign that Russia is pulling back its troops from the border with Ukraine, even as Moscow insists it is drawing down some of its forces.
Even as tensions mount in parts of Ukraine, a sense of calm continues to prevail. CNN's Sam Kiley in Kharkiv, where people don't seem all that
worried about a potential Russian invasion. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The chorus of Kharkiv opera house singing in defiance of this: Russia amassing what
the U.S. says are 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine's border.
In Kharkiv, 25 miles from the front here, a day of national unity is quickly marked amid dire warnings from Washington.
BIDEN: An invasion remains distinctly possible.
KILEY (voice-over): Here, though, a message of calm.
[10:35:00]
KILEY: Do you expect an invasion?
KILEY (voice-over): "No, we don't expect it," he says. "I think we should be ready for anything. But I'm also sure everything is going to be fine."
If the Russians did attack, they would have a short run to Kharkiv.
KILEY: We're driving north toward the border with Russia, which is now about 15 or 20 minutes away. About a half hour beyond that, is the city of
Belgorod. Now around Belgorod, according to Russian reports, there is the first guards tank army.
On paper, they're capable of mustering 50,000 or so infantry, 600 to 800 tanks. They have scanned their surface to surface missiles. But there isn't
a single sign on this road, north of Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people, of any kind of Ukrainian military activity.
KILEY (voice-over): Just trucks, waiting for routine crossing into Russia. And business as usual at the border crossing here. Russia's on the other
side of that fence. The locals here, relaxed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): Ludmilla (ph) says, "How is it that we're forced to quarrel with our brothers?
"I just can't comprehend it. On the contrary, we should not have borders at all."
"There is no will to fight with Russia and we don't see the will of the Russians to fight with us. There are no armed forces, not even a hint,"
says Oleksandr (ph).
In case Russia does send tanks into this vast landscape, Ukrainians insist that they recall the words of their national anthem, "Our enemies will die
as the dew does in the sunshine and we brothers will live happily in our land" -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Kharkiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: A reminder we are waiting for the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to address the U.N. Security Council. We're expecting that
in about 10 minutes' time.
In Brazil, at least 94 people are dead after floods and landslides ravaged a city north of Rio de Janeiro. Rescuers are still looking for survivors in
the city of Petropolis, where heavy rains triggered floodwaters and landslides on Tuesday. Shasta Darlington reports some video shows city
streets practically turning into rivers.
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A terrifying scene as rushing water carries a car down an embankment. Heavy rain drenched the
city of Petropolis, a mountainous region of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, causing deadly flooding and landslides. Emergency crews tossed debris out
of a giant hole racing to find
anyone left alive under the muddy mess. Dozens are dead including several children. The Rio de Janeiro firing Civil Defense Department says it's
unclear how many people are still missing.
Rio's governor visited the area to assess the damage
GOV. CLAUDIO CASTRO, RIO DE JANEIRO: I think that it's not time yet to discuss numbers. Our work now is to try to find survivors in this horror
scene, to clean and to rescue any bodies that are here.
DARLINGTON: A rescuer carries a dog to safety and residents look on what's left of their neighborhood.
More than 1,500 families have been displaced as the property destruction is enormous. The city has declared a state of public calamity. One shopkeeper
says he lost everything in a matter of minutes.
HENRIQUE PEREIRA, SHOPKEEPER: It arrived by surprise. It started flooding gradually. The wall here in front was taking everything. The water pressure
was taking everything. Everybody on the street had 100 percent damage. It was very difficult. Now to start over.
DARLINGTON: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro who's on a trip to Russia tweeted that he has asked for immediate assistance to be sent to the
victims. Rio's Civil Defense says that Petropolis had more rain in one afternoon than the historical average for all of February. Officials are
urging residents to relocate to safe areas or shelters until the debris can be cleared away -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: The Honduran court has detained former president Juan Hernandez after an extradition request by the United States. Hernandez faces multiple
charges in the United States, including drug trafficking and firearms possession. CNN's Matt Rivers with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been a dramatic week so far in the country of Honduras, which began on Tuesday, when we saw the
arrest of the country's former president, Juan Orlando Hernandez in some dramatic video. You can see Honduran national police arresting Hernandez
outside his own home.
[10:40:00]
RIVERS: They put shackles on both his ankles and his wrist and then they take him to a waiting police car where he is then brought to a detention
center.
Honduran National Police say they did so, they arrested him on this at the request of the United States.
They said the United States put into extradition request for Hernandez, where they say he is facing drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
Fast forward to Wednesday morning, where Hernandez made his very first appearance in a Honduran courtroom for his first extradition hearing. It
was in that hearing that the Honduran judge basically said that Hernandez needs to remain in detention on a provisional basis.
As these extradition hearings play out, the next hearing is set for the middle of March. Afterwards, you could eventually see Hernandez extradited
to the United States.
And as dramatic as it is, to see a former president of a country like Hernandez being put into shackles and being discussed at being extradited
to the United States. In some ways, this has been the writing on the wall for some time now because of what we have seen happen in the United States.
Hernandez's brother, Tony Hernandez, is currently serving a life sentence in a United States prison for drug trafficking. In the court filing
surrounding Tony Hernandez's case, U.S. investigators actually identified one Orlando Hernandez, the former president, as a co-conspirator, basically
saying that he funded, in large part, some of his presidential campaigns over the past decade using money from those drug trafficking operations.
It is a stunning downfall for a former president of Honduras, who, just a few weeks ago, was still the president of that country and is now sitting
in a Honduran detention center -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Hernandez has repeatedly denied being a co-conspirator in his brother's alleged drug trafficking operation and said in a message on
Tuesday morning that he would, quote, "face the situation and defend himself."
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: Let's get you up to speed on the other stories on our radar right now.
French led forces begin a withdrawal from Mali. Since 2013, Western forces have been conducting anti-terror operations in the region. But relations
deteriorated after the 2020 coup and President Macron said they cannot stay militarily engaged alongside de facto authorities, whose strategy and
hidden objectives, he said, they do not share.
Iran's nuclear talks could be inching closer to reviving the 2015 deal.
Tehran's top nuclear negotiator tweeted, quote, "After weeks of intensive talks, we are closer than ever to an agreement."
The Iran nuclear deal was abandoned by the Trump White House in 2018. Tehran and the U.S. have resumed indirect talks in Vienna to try to revive
the deal with other world powers.
Police are demanding protesters leave the Parliament Hill area of Ottawa or face charges. Their weeks-long demonstrations against COVID regulations
have paralyzed the Canadian capital. The so-called freedom convoy has taken over public spaces and angered many local residents.
We're going to take a very short break. It is a busy news hour, an awful lot going on. We're waiting for Antony Blinken to address the U.N. Security
Council and the crisis on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
These are a couple of speakers ahead of him at the U.N. today. We are keeping a close eye on what's going on. We'll get to that just as soon as
we see either Blinken or the Russian ambassador address the room.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
ANDERSON: And it is a busy hour of news. Back to the very important breaking news.
The United Nations Security Council has been meeting about the crisis in Ukraine. A short time ago, the U.S. President spoke out about Russia's
involvement, Joe Biden saying every indication is that Russia will attack Ukraine in the next several days.
This coming into us in the past hour. Have a listen to what he said from outside the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: They have not moved any of their troops out. They have moved more troops in. Number one.
Number two, we have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they're
prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine. Number one.
Number two, I've been waiting for a response from Putin from my letter. My response to him, it comes to that Moscow embassy, there are facts
(INAUDIBLE), not facts (INAUDIBLE) here. I have not read it yet. I cannot comment on it.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Is it your sense this is going to happen?
BIDEN: Yes, my sense is this will happen in the next several days.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Are there any diplomatic paths still available?
BIDEN: Yes, there is. There's a clear diplomatic path. That's why I asked Senator -- senator --
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: -- Secretary Blinken to go to the United Nations and make a statement today. He'll lay out what that path is. I laid out a path to
Putin as well, I think Sunday. So there is a path. There is a way through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: This as we await that key speech, to begin any moment from the U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken to the United Nations. He's expected
to stress America's commitment to diplomacy and de-escalation -- that would echo what you heard there from the U.S. President -- but also to convey the
gravity of the situation.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to paint a very different picture of what is unfolding on the ground. Moscow saying again today that more of its troops
have wrapped up military drills and are heading back home.
They say this is the train that they are moving troops back home from, their bases, on all of this as Ukrainian forces and separatists report
renewed shell fire in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine.
I want to discuss that and its significance in all of this. Got our team covering this unfolding crisis. Melissa Bell is in Brussels; international
diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is in Moscow and Richard Roth at the U.N.
Richard, as we understand it, we are about 10 minutes or so away from Antony Blinken. We have a sense from a senior U.S. official about what the
U.S. expects from this meeting, not least from the Russians.
What is it?
ROTH: Senior U.S. officials saying that he expects a lot of finger- pointing at this meeting. He expects Russia to, in effect, fabricate what is happening on the ground and dangerously lead the region and the world to
a very sticky situation.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, quote, "invited" Secretary Blinken, who was due to fly to Europe, to delay the trip and appear at the
Security Council. He's in the building now.
This is a Ukrainian civil society activist, about to speak after some microphone trouble. But next will be a Russian deputy foreign minister and
then Secretary of State Blinken.
Russia is the president of the Security Council for the month. I think people know very well that they should not expect a united Security Council
on any development that happens in Ukraine.
Even just a statement to condemn any fighting, if that breaks out, could take hours or days here at the U.N., where the major powers have been at
odds for months, years now, on a wide range of global issues -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Let's get to Moscow. Joe Biden --
-- thank you, Richard --
-- as we await that speech.
[10:50:00]
ANDERSON: Joe Biden, Nic, believes Russia is enacting a false flag operation now as a pretext to go into Ukraine.
Explain what Joe Biden is referring to here if you will.
ROBERTSON: We've heard a lot from U.S. and British officials in particular, saying that they think that Russia will use a false flag
operation. That is an event -- a military event, most likely, that will cause civilian casualties, perhaps on the side of the pro Russian
separatists.
And they will make it look as if the Ukrainian forces were responsible and that, therefore, they would be able to use that as a pretext to come in to
Donbas militarily and support the pro Russian separatists there, of whom Russia has given over 600,000 Russian passports, giving them the sort of
citizenship status, if you will, that Russia says is a priority for it to protect its citizens.
So there is that context that is in the air here. The concern is that Russia will essentially play dirty with the facts, create some facts that
are not -- that are not credible, that are not in fact true, that are not in fact accurate and use that as a pretext.
So that's the concern here. And I think to add to that context of what we're hearing at the moment, we've heard now from the State Department
about their concerns now that Bart Gorman, the DCM, the number two at the mission here in the U.S. embassy here in Moscow, has been expelled.
They're saying it is unprovoked and at a time now when diplomacy is needed at its most, this is not a helpful or conducive to good outcomes move.
ANDERSON: Let's bring Nick Paton Walsh in.
You're international security editor. And if you -- step back for me, if you will, for a moment, we're hearing, you know, this expulsion of a U.S.
diplomat from Russia. You heard Nic and I discussing these red flag operations, that the U.S. President certainly believes Russia is operating
as we speak.
What do you infer is going on here at this point?
WALSH: It is important to recognize that the false flag operations people have talked about have been a consistent pattern of behavior in the
separatist areas over the past years.
There have been these consistent -- I remember reporting on it myself in 2015 -- a lot of instances in which allegations have been made that
civilians have been killed by the Ukrainians and vice versa.
It's been information wars, often been hard to work out what on Earth has been going on. It seems very confusing, frankly, the situation on the
ground of today. And in fact speaking -- hearing from a briefing from Western officials earlier, they said that their sense is, looking at that
area, had not seen an uptick in artillery fire over the past day or so.
But this is what they were concerned about, the possibility that this might be the pretext that was used. The narrative can be built by state-
controlled Russian media and those social media loyal to it to foment the need for Russia in its eyes to intervene here.
But to be honest, this is an old game that has been played many occasions over the past months, was played in much of the time around the first two
invasions, particularly the second one into the Donbas area, where Donetsk, Lugansk are, those separatist territories.
So quite why after this sort of broad dance necessarily Moscow would feel the need to invoke something like this, when it's amassed troops after such
an extensive period of time, we'll have to wait and see.
But it feeds into the broader, persistent picture that, at moments when we hear the possibility for diplomacy to come through, President Putin
suggesting he might be open to hearing where talks could go, we see this exchange again of letters, again the drumbeat comes back of Western
perception that, frankly, the Russian forces are moving in a completely opposite direction.
At times there is evidence to back that up; at times there is certainly not. I did hear from the briefing from Western officials here, who answered
a question of how long could this go on for, the idea that we could be talking about weeks or months.
So is this necessarily a short standoff, about a specific window, where Western officials initially talked about, about the ground being suitable
for an invasion, forces being in position?
Or are we looking now at a more protracted crisis possibly in the weeks and months ahead, where the Russians talk about withdrawal or repositioning?
But so many of their forces in fact are permanently stationed near the border. They could do that for some time and they slowly try and grind down
the West's division on certain policies.
Could Ukraine ever be a member of NATO?
Is it worth even discussing that possibility or allowing that option still to be there, if, by removing it from the table, they could potentially
diffuse this crisis?
[10:55:00]
WALSH: All these little divisions could possibly be exploited by Moscow here as well. And throughout all of that is the possibility for an error,
for miscalculation, for false flag events like we seem to be seeing today here and very confusing circumstances that might somehow be used by
misinterpreted or completely miscuing by Russia to justify some kind of military action.
Becky, here in Poland, it is extraordinary to be so far away from what is happening in the east of Ukraine on its other western border but still
seeing the volume of U.S. troops and hardware that is turning up here, just in case. And that brings you I think a sense of perspective as to how
serious this is being taken in Washington.
ANDERSON: Yes.
And in Brussels, of course, which is where Melissa is.
Melissa, as Nick has been suggesting, none of this is unfamiliar. You could suggest this is straight out of a Putin playbook, as it were. You would
expect the U.S. president to be very careful with his words and he has in the past hour or so said he expects a Ukrainian -- a Russian invasion of
Ukraine in several days.
What do you hear where you are?
Is there a sense from these NATO defense ministers that there is a ratcheting up by Moscow at this point?
BELL: There is a sense here that certainly the rhetoric, the fear is being ratcheted up. We heard from several defense ministers, the American and
British ones and the secretary-general of NATO, who was asked about that, the fear of a false flag operation and what it might mean.
He explained this was straight out of the Russian playbook and that NATO was therefore keeping a very close eye on any Russian disinformation.
It was then put to him that perhaps there had been disinformation on the other side, perhaps there had been too much warning about the imminence of
this invasion from NATO, from NATO allies, like the United States.
And what Jens Stoltenberg replied was, look at the military buildup around Ukraine and we have a clear picture and the facts from the ground are
agreed upon by pretty much everyone in terms of the weaponry and manpower there gathered around Ukraine.
Look also at what Russia has been saying. It has been warning since December that if its demands are not met, security demands are not met,
there will be military technical consequences.
And he said you need to look at its form and this is something we have seen from it before.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Antony Blinken, ahead of him at the U.N. This is the Russian Federation deputy minister for foreign affairs. Let's just listen in.
SERGEY VERSHININ, DEPUTY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, RUSSIAN FEDERATION (through translator): And we are grateful to Ms. Patia Namanjan (ph) for
her valuable information firsthand about how the Security Council decisions on implementing (INAUDIBLE) Ukrainian conflict are being implemented in
practice.
The date of the meeting today is not random. This is a day when, seven years ago, the Security Council of the United Nations passed resolution
2202 and it unanimously adopted the package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreement as the only international legal basis
to settle the civil (ph) conflict in the east of Ukraine.
That is why the main goal for the meeting today, we see in reaffirming by the Security Council, of the fact that there is no alternative for this
momentous for Ukraine document.
Unfortunately, seven years down the road, we're increasingly thinking that the implementation of the Minsk agreement is not something that in the plan
-- that is in the plans of our Ukrainian neighbors. They're stating that opening now.
Let me give you some examples. As recently as yesterday, the vice prime minister of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, stated that there will be no new
laws on the special status of Donbas or no direct agreements.
And this took place after Zelensky had a meeting with Chancellor Scholz. She also acknowledged there is no pressure exerted by West on them to
implement the Minsk agreements.
On the 4th of February, there was an interview by the Ukrainian channel 1+1 (ph) by the minister of foreign affairs, Kuleba. He said that the Minsk
agreement cannot be implemented on Russian terms and, in those terms, he thinks there is a direct dialogue between Ukraine and Donbas.
Despite the fact that this is clearly stated in the package of measures. This same idea was expressed by the head of presidential -- Ukrainian
presidential administration Yermak (ph) at their recent meeting in Normandy.
Earlier on the 2nd of February, Mr. Kuleba said that no Ukrainian region will have the veto right on the state decision. This is cast in stone. So
there will be no special status, as Russia says, no veto.
One day earlier, on the 1st of February, Zelensky also recalled for the world entire Ukraine's instability to negotiate.
END
