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American Israeli Man Killed in West Bank; Putin Tells FSB to Step It Up; Nigerian Voters Complain of Irregularities; World Bank Estimates $34.2 Billion Damage in Turkey-Syria Quake; U.S. Energy Department COVID-19 Origin Theory at Odds with Intel Community; Murdoch Comes Clean on FOX Propaganda; U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Visits Kyiv; Experiments Show Some Aging is Reversible. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 28, 2023 - 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): Another killing in the West Bank, this time the victim an American Israeli. Growing questions over Russia's

losses in Ukraine. Sunak visits Northern Ireland after a historic deal. And later in the show, how Lionel Messi caps another stellar year.

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ANDERSON: An American Israeli citizen is the latest to die during a violent month in the West Bank. Elan Ganeles was fatally shot while driving

near Jericho in what is being called a terror attack.

This happened a day after two Israeli brothers were killed in similar fashion. Their deaths set off a fatal rampage by Israeli settlers that

Israel's military described as actions of terror. Hadas Gold connecting us from Jerusalem.

Who was the latest victim and what do we understand the details to be?

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky, Elan Ganeles was essentially in the wrong place at the wrong time, his friends say. He was

an American born and raised in Connecticut, moved to Israel a few years ago, served in the Israeli army before actually returning to the States in

2018, attending Columbia University, only graduating last year.

He was only in the area to visit friends and to be here for a friend's wedding. Where this attack happened is not far from the main road that many

people use to get to places like Jericho and tourist spots like the Dead Sea. In fact, tourists often use this route.

In the past, it's been a peaceful, quiet area that people regularly drive along. What the Israeli authorities say happened is, as Elan Ganeles and a

few other cars were driving along that route, just near Jericho, some attackers in cars began shooting at passing vehicles.

One of those shots hitting Elan Ganeles in the upper body. Medics say he died and the attackers fled and ended up burning their vehicles in the

process. They are still on the run. The Israeli military is searching for them.

We've heard from Palestinians that the military has set up essentially checkpoints in and around Jericho, trying to comb the area for them. This

is kind of a similar attack to what we saw on Sunday to those Israeli brothers, you mentioned, who were shot while they were driving, while they

were sitting in traffic.

That was in more of a flashpoint place near Huwara in the West Bank. That area, that route especially has been the scene of clashes before, of

attacks before. Then of course, as you noted, that rampage by Israeli settlers, setting homes and cars on fire. One Palestinian shot and killed,

several others injured as a result of those rampages.

As you noted, the Israeli military is sort of in a unique moment, calling them acts of terror. This is a very tense time right now, especially many

people are looking at sort of what happened around Jericho.

In recent weeks, it has actually seen a bit more activity around Jericho, if you remember, there was an Israeli military raid there that killed five.

It is hard to emphasize, you know, we often talk about the occupied West Bank and the military activity there, the violence, the deaths.

So much of that that is really focused in places like Nablus and Jenin. But to see these things spreading to places that are typically very peaceful

and quiet, like around Jericho, like around the northern Dead Sea, that is very concerning, Becky.

ANDERSON: Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem reporting to you from there. Hadas, thank you.

Let's connect you to Russia, where Vladimir Putin has been addressing a key meeting of the country's federal security service. That is where he

admitted, quote, "losses in our ranks," saying the organization must do everything to support the families of troops killed in Ukraine. Fred

Pleitgen is in Moscow.

What else did Putin have to say today, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky, well, it was really a speech that was laced with obviously a lot of anger

toward Ukraine and the West as well.

Also some pretty interesting things Vladimir Putin said. He admitted, first of all, there were those losses, as you just mentioned. But he also said

that -- he praised the FSB operatives who were on the front lines in Ukraine.

So he is saying that they're active on the front lines in the Ukraine war, even behind enemy lines as he put it, so, obviously trying to infiltrate

Ukrainian held territory as well. Those are two things that are quite important about Vladimir Putin's speech.

He was also talking about how all of that would continue. He was saying that he believes that the federal security service, the FSB, needs to

become stronger in the areas that are occupied by Russia.

Obviously, the Russians consider those -- or the Russian government consider those to be territories of the Russian Federation themselves. He

believes they need to get a lot stronger there, simply because those territories, obviously very important, very close to the front lines.

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PLEITGEN: The other interesting thing that we also picked up, Becky, is that Vladimir Putin essentially also called on the federal security service

to up its game, vis-a-vis the West and Ukraine as well. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): The Russia- Ukraine part of the state border should be under special control of the FSB's border unit.

Now we deploy border guards. FSB aviation, Russian military forces and the Russia national guard there. Your task is to build a wall in the way of

sabotage groups and stop all attempts to bring weapons and ammunition illegally into Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So obviously, he's talking about infiltration efforts. It was interesting, later in the speech he talked about the West essentially

aiding the Ukrainians. He talked about Western intelligence services being active in Russia as well.

Clearly that also is something that's very important for Vladimir Putin to point out. One of the things that we also -- I think it's key as well--

this seems to be a pattern of Vladimir Putin right now, to up the morale of those special services.

He had the speech today to the FSB. Yesterday he spoke to Russia's special operations forces on Special Operations Forces Day and also talked about

how important their work is, especially, of course, in the war in Ukraine, Becky.

ANDERSON: Well, I've got you a brief closure of St. Petersburg airspace earlier today.

Do we understand why that was?

What has been said?

PLEITGEN: Yes, not fully. We don't fully understand why that was. But you're right, it was closed for quite a while, around Pulkovo Airport, the

main airport in St. Petersburg. Quite a big amount of airspace was actually closed. At the beginning, they were talking about unidentified flying

objects there.

So unidentified aircraft around there. It's unclear what action the Russians took, except closing the airspace, obviously. Later, the Russian

authorities came out and said that there were radio stations that were hacked. There were messages broadcast, talking about air raid alarms.

Those were fake. Apparently those air raid alarms sounded like the ones that Ukrainians hear so often when they're under attack from Russian

missiles and Russian drones in a lot of towns in Ukraine.

Whether or not that was some sort of action that was going on there, the Russians are saying it was fake, the airspace is now open again. I did hear

from Aeroflot a little bit earlier and they obviously say that they have big scheduling issues now because of that closure. But they're trying to

get things back on track, Becky.

ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow for you, Fred, thank you.

Well, the president of Belarus spending the next few days in China after being invited by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. Lukashenko is a key

ally, of course, of Vladimir Putin and the visit comes after Beijing released a paper on the war.

Ukraine calling for dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv. The visit will focus on diplomatic and economic matters, with Belarus looking to get full

membership of the Shanghai cooperational organization, one of the largest regional organizations in the world.

About half the votes have been counted in Nigeria's national election and Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC party is leading although it is still way too

early to know who will win the presidency.

Opposition parties are already crying foul, several of them calling for a new vote, saying the one that happened on Saturday is tainted by fraud and

mismanagement. Observers from the E.U. say the election has been problematic and lacked transparency. Let's get right to it. CNN's Larry

Madowo is in Lagos in Nigeria.

How close are we to getting a clearer picture of this election at this point?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think we might still be a day, maybe two days away, Becky, until we know who will be the next leader of Nigeria.

So far, only 14 states have been announced. We still have something like 14, actually, more than that. There are 36 states in Nigeria. So we're in

the 20 zone. They're going rather slowly, they don't go overnight. Might be a few days from that.

In the meantime, three main opposition parties are calling for a full redo of the presidential election. They say it was irretrievably compromised and

that the electoral commission here must do it again.

They're also calling for the resignation of the chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission or INEC. They say they want someone else

outside the commission to take care of that new election.

I want to read a section of the joint statement, extraordinary really, that came from these three opposition parties today in Nigeria.

They say, in part, that the people of democratic party, the Labour Party and the ABC and other aligned parties shall not be part of the process

currently going on at the national coalition center. And we demand that the sham of an election should be immediately canceled.

We're also calling for a fresh election, should be carried out within the window allowed by the electoral act and in accordance with an INEC (ph)

procedure for the (INAUDIBLE) to the 2023 elections.

They've already gotten responses from the All Progressives Congress.

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MADOWO: That is the ruling party and their candidate Bola Tinubu is currently leading by around 1.5 million votes ahead of his nearest

challenger. They say this is the fourth narrative around the election and that it's a recipe for anarchy by the PDP, by the Labour Party and others

who are losing in this election and that this process was perfectly (ph) fair and there should be no need to redo it.

So a battle of a war of words really between the main opposition parties here, the ruling party. And what the opposition parties are saying is not

new. Many voters we've spoken to feel that they were disenfranchised by violence, by voter intimidation.

That this is where politicians (INAUDIBLE) did not show up and that whatever the outcome will not represent their way out (ph).

ANDERSON: Larry Madowo is in Lagos in Nigeria. Thank you, Larry.

British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is in Belfast in Northern Ireland today to discuss the Windsor framework, what he calls his breakthrough deal

between the U.K. and E.U. on post Brexit trading rules.

Now this could resolve one of the most challenging aspects of Britain's split from Europe, imports and border checks in Northern Ireland. Have a

listen to how he described the deal, which some commentators have pointed out sounds an awful lot like what the U.K. had before it left the E.U.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position, unique position in the entire world, European continent

in having privileged access, not just to the U.K. home market, which is enormous, fifth biggest in the world, but also the European Union single

market. Nobody else has that. No one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well Britain did before it left the E.U., of course.

Meanwhile, British shoppers are facing critical shortages of some grocery store staples. That has led to rationing, which a major food producer says

could last until May. CNN's Isa Soares has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Row upon row of empty baskets, empty shelves. A supply gap in fruit and veg has hit U.K.

supermarkets. The shortages affecting shoppers nationwide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went for lunch and I could not find, like, tomatoes, cucumber or lettuce.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was quite annoying when you want to have a day in (ph) and you can't actually get it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fruits are (INAUDIBLE) they are gone. Nothing there.

SOARES (voice-over): To deal with the shortages, major British supermarkets are imposing limits on items like tomatoes, cucumbers and

peppers. The U.K.'s minister for the environment, food and rural affairs said the disruption should only last a few weeks and meanwhile, encouraged

people to eat more seasonally.

Let them eat turnips, she said.

THERESE COLLEY, BRITISH MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS: I'm conscious that consumers want year-round choice and that is what our

supermarkets and food and growers -- food producers and growers around the world are trying to satisfy.

SOARES (voice-over): Supermarkets are blaming the recent shortages on poor weather conditions in key growing regions. Britain produces a fraction of

the food it consumes, relying instead on overseas imports.

And key suppliers in southern Europe and North Africa, in particular Spain and Morocco, have seen harvests hit by extreme weather conditions.

While climate change plays a significant role in warmer than average temperatures, the government faces another inconvenient truth: Brexit, the

cause of widespread supply chain disruption.

LIZ WEBSTER, CHAIR, SAVE BRITISH FARMING: Because of the interruption with trade in Europe that underpin our food supply, it means that there's less

food coming in from Europe; we're producing less food. So basically, our food security is in real trouble.

SOARES (voice-over): Labor shortages due to a lack of migrant workers and soaring energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have pushed

the gap even wider as farmers struggle with front end costs.

And those costs are passed on to the consumer. Consumers are already grappling with record high grocery prices and the worst cost of living

crisis in decades -- Isa Soares, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. Coming up, a rich intersection of culture and history wiped out by an

earthquake. We're going to take you to Antakya in Turkey, one of the few places where Jews, Christians and Muslims once lived peacefully.

And mixed messaging out of the United States on the origin of COVID-19.

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ANDERSON: We are getting a clearer picture now of the extent of the earthquake damage in Turkey and in Syria. The World Bank estimates more

than $34 billion in direct physical damage in Turkey alone. That is equal to about 4 percent of Turkey's GDP in 2021.

The World Bank says it will cost twice as much to rebuild. Nada Bashir joins us live from Istanbul.

It is not just the cost; it is the challenge that Turkey faces in rebuilding in such a wide area.

The extent of this really is hard to imagine, isn't it?

You've been on the ground now for nigh on three weeks. Just describe how difficult this is going to be.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, a challenge is an understatement. The scale of the destruction is huge, to say the least. The Turkish

government is now facing mounting pressure of finding those long term solutions.

We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced by this earthquake. Huge swaths of land completely flattened

across southeast Turkey.

For those buildings that haven't collapsed, they're simply too unsafe to return to. That is the key question now, the safety of these buildings. A

lot of reports around building amnesties, offered to those where buildings didn't meet the safety standards, whether or not the Turkish government

should be held accountable for those actions.

That is the concern as the government now begins to oversee a rebuilding process. Now President Erdogan has already pledged to rebuild the affected

areas within one year although, many are saying it could take far, far longer than that. We're already beginning to see that work underway in

parts of Gaziantep.

Excavation work is already begun for the construction of more than 800 residential buildings for those have been displaced by the earthquake. The

government says it's planning to get underway with building in March for another 38,000 apartments.

So there are efforts already underway to create permanent homes for those who have been displaced. Of course, that has also drawn backlash, because

we are hearing criticism of the government now, saying it's simply too hasty for the government to begin thinking about rebuilding in these areas.

We're still seeing bodies being pulled out of the rubble. The destruction is so vast and there are real concerns around the safety of these areas,

considering that they still lie on these fault lines, that we are still seeing these powerful aftershocks.

Now the union of engineers and architects here in Turkey says there needs to be further geological investigations to assure that these areas are

safe. Of course, the government is under this immense pressure because of the scale of the displacement.

We visited some of those camps -- and there are dozens of those camps now dotted around southeast Turkey, people living in tents, many of them

sharing those tents with numerous people, three generations in some cases.

And they are in desperate need of long-term solutions or long-term shelter. Some of the families that we met still don't have tents, they still don't

have shelter.

[10:20:00]

BASHIR: Of course, with elections looming, pressure on the government is only expected to grow -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Absolutely. Nada Bashir is on the story out of Istanbul.

Hard hit regions like Antakya in Turkey facing a very, very long road to recovery. The culture and religious sites where tourists once flocked are

now in ruins. Jomana Karadsheh shows us the extent of that loss in Antakya and how some concern the city will never regain its rich heritage. This is

her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fewer the souls that roam the streets of what's left of Antakya. Ancient Antioch, where empires

once stood, now a decimated ghost town.

KARADSHEH: The scale of the destruction here is just immense. Damaged and destroyed buildings everywhere you look. You've got mountains of debris

that stretch for miles and miles.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Gone are the streets of the vibrant old city, once lined with boutique hotels, restaurants and antique shops.

"One morning I woke up, my home, my friends, my city, everything I lived is gone," he says.

Mother Nature's unforgiving force has wiped out history, heritage sites spanning centuries and culture is now lying in ruins.

Like the 7th century Habib-I Nejjar Mosque, one of Anatolia's first.

And this 14th century church, once the seat of the Greek orthodox patriarchy reduced to rubble.

It's not the first time earthquakes have damaged the church but never has the future of its people been so uncertain.

"It is from Antioch where Christianity spread to the world," farmer Dimitri Doheme (ph) tells us. He's now mourning 40 of his dwindling 1,000 member

congregation.

"We will try to return to this land our history. The books will remain," he tells us, "but right now, our history is gone, the city is gone. I have two

sons. There is no future left in this city now for our children."

Antakya was one of the few Turkish cities where Muslims, Christians and Jews still lived side by side. That may be no more. Its synagogue was badly

damaged and the 500-year-old Torah scrolls rescued by the beloved Jewish leader and his wife didn't make it. Saul and Fortuna Cenudioglu were among

the last Jews of Antakya.

ELA CENUDIOGLU, SHAUL'S NIECE: He really worked hard to keep up the Jewish values and the community together. He was the leader of the Jewish

community there, the tiny community of 15 people. The other uncles, they all moved to Israel. And this uncle, he really loved Antakya. He was very

connected to his roots.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): In her Istanbul apartment, the grieving Cenudioglu family sip a cup of Antioch coffee, a taste of a home they left years ago.

CENUDIOGLU: My past is gone (ph). Hopefully this, too, will be rebuilt and it will recover my time. But there was the certain flair to it, the

community, the feeling of diversification and everyone living peacefully together. And I always believe it is reflected, like Turkey, to be honest,

I am worried that it will fade away.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): As the sun sets up on Antakya, no one knows when and how Antioch and its people will ever rise again -- Jomana Karadsheh,

CNN, Antakya, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, next hour, I'll have an in-depth conversation with a member of Turkey's national assembly, Unal Cevikoz. Hear what he has to say

about Turkey's response to the earthquake and how the disaster could affect the country's upcoming elections.

Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.

And French police are reportedly investigating the football player, Achraf Hakimi, following rape allegations. The Moroccan international who helped

his team to reach the World Cup finals in December of 2022 plays for Paris Saint-Germain.

More bodies have been pulled out of the Mediterranean Sea after a migrant boat sank on Sunday off Italy's southern coast; 64 people are now dead,

including women and children. Over 80 people, many from Iran and Afghanistan, survived. The boat was traveling from the Turkish city of

Izmir.

Elon Musk once again the richest person in the world, with over $187 billion. The Tesla CEO was bumped from the top spot last December by the

CEO of French luxury brand LVMH. A rally in Tesla stock on Monday lifted him back to the top of Bloomberg's billionaires index.

There are mixed messages from the U.S. intel community over the origin of COVID-19. Multiple sources tell CNN, the theory, a Chinese lab leak started

the pandemic, is still the minority opinion in Washington.

[10:25:00]

ANDERSON: The assessment from the U.S. Energy Department is based in part on information that China's Centers for Disease Control in Wuhan was

studying a coronavirus variant around the time COVID first appeared.

CNN's Brian Todd explains why the Energy Department's assessment has been met with skepticism both in China and in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): The mysteries surrounding the origins of the virus that's killed nearly 7 million people worldwide growing deeper tonight.

The U.S. Department of Energy in a newly updated classified intelligence report says the COVID-19 pandemic likely started from an accidental leak

from a lab in Wuhan, China. But at the same time, sources tell CNN, the Energy Department said in that report that it has quote, low confidence in

that conclusion.

Our intelligence analyst Beth Sanner says what that really means is the Energy Department thinks the virus came from that lab but admits it could

be wrong.

BETH SANNER, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Low confidence means that they have such fragmentary and inconclusive evidence.

They don't have a lot of corroboration of reporting.

They don't have anybody in the lab itself saying it's definitely happened. It adds up to looking like that but they can't say definitively it is.

TODD: And this latest report only adds to the divide within the U.S. government over whether the virus began with a lab leak or was started more

naturally. Many in the scientific community believe a large outdoor wet market in Wuhan is the most likely place where the virus started, jumping

from animals to humans.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: For me, the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports

natural origins. We know where the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in this pandemic and they're all clustered around a specific seafood market in

Wuhan.

TODD: The Chinese government also firing back at the idea that the virus came from a lab leak.

MAO NING, SPOKESWOMAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY: The relative party should stop stir frying the argument of laboratory leak, stop vilifying China and

stop politicizing the issue of origin tracing.

TODD: But analysts say the Chinese government actions are a big part of why the mystery lingers.

HOTEZ: The problem is the Chinese are not being transparent. They're not allowing the full outbreak investigation. They destroyed the wet market

after the virus emerged there. So it's going to get harder and harder to trace.

TODD: Also muddying the picture, some Republicans in Congress believe American funding for that Chinese lab, money from the National Institutes

of Health, could be tied to coronavirus experiments at the lab.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): We need to stop using NIH in experiments in Wuhan at this lab. And I think the people involved in this should be held

accountable for what they did.

TODD: Some Republicans have blamed Dr. Anthony Fauci for spearheading the funding of the Chinese lab. Fauci has said this.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Maybe there's a lab leak but it's not with the viruses that the

NIH was funding. That's almost certain that that's the case.

TODD: Despite the ongoing intelligence debate over the origins of COVID- 19, the U.S. intelligence agencies do have a consensus that, as of right now, they don't believe there's evidence that the coronavirus that causes

COVID-19 was created deliberately as part of a Chinese biological weapons program -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Still to come:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: They see our determination to make them pay the price.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Another show of strong support for Ukraine. In Kyiv, the U.S. Treasury Secretary says the message of global moral outrage

is getting through to Moscow. That is after this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ANDERSON: Welcome back, I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD from our brand new studio here in Abu Dhabi. Your

headlines this hour:

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ANDERSON (voice-over): An Israeli American was shot and killed in the West Bank Monday while visiting Israel for a friend's wedding. His death follows

weekend violence, in which three people were killed and Israeli settlers torched Palestinian homes.

FOX News owner Rupert Murdoch admits that some of the network anchors peddled false claims about the 2020 U.S. election. His deposition was taken

for a defamation case against Fox Corporation.

Nigeria's ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu leads the presidential race with nearly half the vote tallied. Election observers and registered voters

say the election lacked transparency.

ANDERSON: The war is crippling Ukraine's economy. The country's deficit this year is expected to reach a whopping $38 billion. The U.S. will

provide more than a quarter of that sum.

The news announced while U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Melissa Bell spoke exclusively with Janet

Yellen. This is part of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The optics have been the message, from the president himself to the secretary of state

and now to the Treasury Secretary; unwavering American support delivered in person to Kyiv.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you so much.

BELL (voice-over): From a divided and testy G20 in Bangalore, where she chastised the Russian delegation, Janet Yellen came to see for herself the

impact so far of about $50 billion of American aid to Ukraine.

BELL: The comments you made to the Russian officials in India, do you get a sense that Moscow's listening?

YELLEN: I think they are listening. I think that we have imposed very serious costs on them. And they hear from not only the United States but a

large coalition.

BELL (voice-over): On the Treasury Secretary's tour, an invincibility point, where warmth and power are provided when neither are available. Here

Ukrainians shelter, even as allies try to punish Moscow.

YELLEN: We will not tolerate systematic violations by any country. Of the sanctions that we've put in place that are intended to deprive Russia of

access to military equipment to wage this war.

And we've been very clear with the Chinese government that the consequences of violating those sanctions would be very severe.

BELL: I'd like to move on to more domestic matters, if I may. We've seen the fight against inflation take a hit; PCE hitting 5.4 percent.

Do you believe at this stage that the Fed is behind the curve or that a soft landing is still the most likely scenario?

YELLEN: I personally believe that it's possible to bring inflation down while maintaining. We have a very strong labor market. I think we can

maintain it. I would say so far, so good.

BELL (voice-over): But back home, the cost of the war in Ukraine, including its inflationary pressures, was more contentious. As the war

enters its second year and with an American election year beginning to loom, there are questions about how long the West's unwavering support can

last.

YELLEN: So I think there is broad support among our allies. Many members of Congress have been to Kyiv to visit.

[10:35:00]

YELLEN: And I think all of us are inspired by that. And we'll be ready to support it for as long as it takes.

BELL (voice-over): So for now, a further pledge of the support that's allowed Ukraine to come this far.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: CNN's Melissa Bell joining me now from Kyiv.

I was interested to listen to what the Treasury Secretary told you. Former Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, speaking to our colleague, Fareed

Zakaria, on the weekend, suggesting sanctions on Russia simply are not as effective and should be stiffened.

What else did Janet Yellen have to say?

BELL: Well, I asked her exactly about that. There are these differing views of just how hardhit the Russian economy is. The IMF predicting this

year it will perform better than either the German or British economies.

Of course, it has been able to weather the storm, partly because of the supply routes and its free trading with countries like China and India and

Iran and Turkey. So I wanted to ask the Treasury Secretary exactly that.

How badly hit is it?

Her view was it is being extremely hard hit. She was speaking specifically to the latest 10th round of sanctions that Washington has described as the

most significant yet, explaining that it was their ability to try to cut off those supply lines into Russia that are allowing the country to

prosecute this war.

So making it more difficult for the country to replace the weaponry that it has lost here so far. But also, she said, it was the sanctions, as they

stood now, these 10 rounds that have taken place, not just from the United States but from all the allied partners, mean that it is severely hampering

Russia's ability to run a modern society.

And she believed that allies would continue to crack down hard in order to make that more difficult -- Becky.

ANDERSON: I was fascinated to hear -- or interested to hear her repeating that the U.S. will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. That, of

course, is the, fear, that this could go on for a very long time.

If we needed reporting, we can hear those sirens behind you there in Kyiv, I Ukraine. This is a war that grinds on. Melissa, we'll let you go, thank

you very much indeed. Fascinating interview with Janet Yellen. Thank you.

Still ahead, it was a who's who of the best and brightest in the world of football, Messi, Mbappe and Putellas all there but there was one coveted

award they didn't win. We'll tell you who did after this.

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