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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Russia Claims It's Reducing Forces, U.S. Says They're Increasing; Biden Officials Sent to Saudi Arabia to Discuss Energy Concerns; Russian Skater Kamila Valieva Favored to Win Individual Event. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:26]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, February 17th. It is 5:00 a.m. here in New York. Thanks so much for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We begin with new doubts this morning about claims, those claims by Russia that it is pulling back some of the forces now surrounding Ukraine. Senior U.S. officials say the Kremlin has added more Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, another 7,000 in recent days.

This as the Russian defense ministry says more troop units are returning to their bases after completing military exercises near the border.

Meantime, in just a couple of hours, Vice President Kamala Harris leaves on a high stakes trip to Germany where she is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference.

We have live reports this morning as only CNN can from Moscow, Brussels, inside Poland and Ukraine which is where we begin our team coverage with CNN's Alex Marquardt.

Hi, Alex.

Russia says it's reducing troop levels. The U.S. says, no, it's adding forces and, of course, Ukraine caught in the middle of this information war right now trying to send a message of its own.

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Christine. NATO saying they're not seeing any sign of Russian de-escalation. The U.S., as you noted, says that they have, in fact, added troops in the last few days, 7,000. We've just gotten the U.K. defense minister saying they are seeing the same thing.

You'll remember that just a couple of days ago, President Biden said the troop levels is around 150,000. So, it is believed to be around 150,000, 160,000. That is backed up by satellite imagery that we're seeing of Russian forces adding and consolidating the forces around Ukraine. One image in particular shows this pontoon bridge built overnight along a key southern river in Belarus.

That is where Russian forces are carrying out exercises. That bridge will allow Russian troops and vehicles to get into Ukraine a lot faster and that border is very close to the capitol, Kyiv.

Christine and Laura, I spoke with a European defense official who says it is clear that this is a repositioning of Russian troops. He said the trick did not work. Russia used a standard move to fake a de- escalation.

Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian front, we have heard from President Zelensky who is in Mariupol just yesterday, he said, no matter what happens, Ukraine is ready to defend themselves. Their military is much stronger. At the same time, we have heard from multiple Ukrainian forces who say the current Russian force is not big enough for a large scale successful invasion of Ukraine -- Christine, Laura.

ROMANS: All right. Alex for us in Ukraine, thank you so much for that.

As we mentioned, Russia has claimed it is pulling those forces out making several different announcements over the past 24 hours or so. CNN has yet to confirm if that's true.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Moscow.

What do we make of this announcement? The fact that U.S. side is saying it's the opposite here, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. And the British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace used the Russian word vranyo, appearing to indicate, you know, that's a Russian word for lies, if I'm pronouncing it correctly. He used that word to describe Russia's claims that it's downsizing its forces around Ukraine.

Huge amounts of international skepticism around this. Russia not presenting enough information to verify easily or readily what they're claiming. They're claiming that a number of units have gone back to their permanent base. Some of them they are saying have gone over 900 kilometers, back to where units will undergo cleaning and preparations for more military drills.

It is hard to square those claims through the video that the Russian media defense is releasing. So that seems to be, you know, a position that Russia is taking to try to say that it is doing what the international community wants it to do, which is to de-escalate, because that's a pathway to get into negotiations. The Italian foreign minister is meeting with the Russian foreign minister today. That's been the message that he has bought. Russia, if you want to get into a dialogue, then you need to de-escalate.

I think we've seen the emergence of what often happens here in Russia while everyone is focusing on the issue of diplomacy, of Russia's indications that they're drawing down may not be drawing down, examining that.

[05:05:16]

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov just announced that Russia is finally after more than three weeks responding with a written response to the United States response to Russia that Russia demanded to their initial demands. This is what happens in Russia a lot.

This will be potentially a distraction and why do I say that? Because Russia is not just sending this letter, this formal response back to the United States about its new position. It's going to make it public. They say to avoid more disinformation, which is what they're accusing the United States of over the issues of buildup and the possibility of an incursion being imminent.

ROMANS: All right. Information war, if you will, at the moment right now.

Nic, thank you so much for that.

JARRETT: So with the threat of a Russian invasion looming, the U.S. military and NATO are ramping up their presence along the border between Ukraine and Poland which is where we find CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

Nick, good morning.

U.S. and NATO officials have stressed that their troops will not fight in Ukraine if Russia invades. So what's the purpose of increasing the troop levels there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Well, in short, they are here just in case. Just in case there is a war inside Ukraine. Remember, I am standing on the border furthest away the western end of Ukraine. So, very quiet here. No refugees at this point, as many have feared. But the troops are here in case American citizens have to be pulled out in the event of a conflict.

What I have to tell you we saw yesterday they are here in quite significant numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH (voice-over): They don't really want you to see this, but it's hard to hide. These are U.S. troops landing near the Polish border with Ukraine. Iron Blackhawks, 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 Fort Bragg are not here an hour's drive from Ukraine just overnight.

They even came this day with a Cessna like aircraft which seems to be innocently carrying top brass who get on to 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.

In a standoff that's all about messaging, these American troops are about ensuring the U.S. allies feel their presence. 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 sort of movements in NATO war games and drills have been practiced for years. They don't really want us to see this, The larger base where they are.

The Americans are there? This is their main base, yes?

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: We can't talk about this.

WALSH: I understand. Can we talk to somebody about this or --

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: No.

WALSH: They walk right by us.

Don't be afraid. It's all right.

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 most definitely not for show and portrays a lot of readiness even if you hope they will stay bored and cold in the canvas on the weeks ahead.

The border with Ukraine, an hour away, is normally busy. But Sasha is on his way back in as his visa has run out.

Ukraine is my country. I have to stay, yes, in the army if needs 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 race a resistance. Fight him in the woods. It will be like Stalin, his own people will kill him.

Bravado running heart far, far away from a front that is still mostly cold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH (on camera): I have to say after years of seeing NATO do these drills, these practices across Europe since the 2014 invasion of Crimea by Russia, it is startling to see this for real because of the perceived actual threat in Europe in 2022 -- Laura, Christine.

JARRETT: All right. Nick, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: So, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is meeting right now with other NATO defense ministers in Brussels at high stakes meetings there.

CNN's Melissa Bell is here. What are we hearing from the NATO leaders?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, day two of meetings. [05:10:00]

And what we've been hearing so far is very much that as far as NATO assessments are concerned, there has been no withdrawal of any significance from Russia's positions around Ukraine. Clearly, defense ministers gathered here keeping a close eye on that. We expect to hear both from the American defense secretary later this morning, but also from the NATO secretary general as well with their latest assessment. But, really, these last couple of days of meeting have been about showing that NATO is unified and prepared to get stronger.

The message being that regardless of what happens in and around Ukraine going forward, the decision has already been made beyond the reinforcements that Nic was talking about there to more permanently reinforce the eastern flanks with battle groups that will be sent to countries like Romania where there have been none before.

The message very much that if Vladimir Putin's intention had been to weaken it and divide it, then that has backfired and quite spectacularly. They've also been hearing from the Ukrainian defense minister. Of course, at the heart of this, Christine and Laura, is the idea Ukraine may be trying to do that. Those discussions continued this morning and we wait to hear more later on about what the defense ministers have agreed with regard to Ukraine and what happens next, Laura and Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Melissa, thank you so much for that.

JARRETT: All right. Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel, good morning.

ROMANS: Good morning.

JARRETT: Just yesterday, we asked you if the U.S. could trust Putin and you said no. Now we learn Russia has added 7,000 more troops along the Ukrainian border after saying they were pulling back. Seems that that tells us everything we know. It speaks volumes.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Good morning, Laura. It sure does. You know, when you look at these kind of troop movements, there's a lot of theater going on here on both sides really, but especially when you look at the Russian side. You're seeing a lot of different movements that don't take them back to their permanent bases.

If they go back to a base, it's fairly close to the Ukrainian border. It can be used as a staging area to move them to another part of the border or back where they were before. This is really a lot of theater for no real movement at all.

ROMANS: Let's look at the satellite images that we've been seeing over here. They show the construction of a new pontoon bridge in southern Belarus. This is just four miles from the Ukrainian border.

What do you make of this? What's the significance of this?

LEIGHTON: So, building a bridge obviously means, you know, not metaphorically but in this case concretely that the Russians are prepared to move their forces a lot quicker into areas that they couldn't have accessed otherwise. Bridges are all about access, they're all about moving forces. They are used to move tanks, armored personnel careers, mobile artillery units, anything from that kind of movement and where the infrastructure doesn't have.

So, this is a development from a tactical standpoint and it also shows that the Russian strategy seems to be to get forces ready to go after Kyiv.

ROMANS: And you think that's what he wants? He wants -- Putin wants Kyiv, he wants to destabilize the current democratic government and he's losing patients short of invasion.

LEIGHTON: That's right, Christine. I see a three-pronged movement to Kyiv as a possibility. Now he may decide that's just a thing that he doesn't want to go that far. But, Ukrainians have to be prepared for something like that. If I were sitting in Kyiv, I would tell him to prepare to defend Kyiv but to be careful on the other fronts as well watching the east for a false flag operation, watching even the western part of the border with Belarus because there is also the possibility that they might try to do something there and cut forces off from getting close to the Polish border, doing things like that.

So it's one of those things where you have to look for all kinds of possibilities. Yes, I think Putin will do that.

JARRETT: Certainly, a lot of ground to cover there.

Cedric Leighton, appreciate it. We really appreciate your analysis.

ROMANS: Thank you.

JARRETT: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right. Pump more oil. That's the message the White House is sending to the Saudis in person this week. They were sent to Riyadh by President Biden who's concerned a Russian invasion of Ukraine could send gas prices skyrocketing even higher here in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're coordinating with major energy consumers and producers.

[05:15:04]

We're prepared to deploy all the tools and authority at our disposal to provide relief at the gas pump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There's no relief right now. Gas in California hit a record high of $4.72 a gallon. Many analysts say $5 a gallon is months away if not sooner. By memorial day you're looking at a $4 average likely for the average. Tends to rise in the springtime but all of these other geopolitical issues here.

JARRETT: Just when people are hoping to get out. COVID is subsiding even more.

ROMANS: Exactly.

JARRETT: All right. Still ahead for you, the Russian skater at the center of a doping scandal about to take the ice again at the Olympics. We will take you live to Beijing.

ROMANS: Plus, why a judge won't release Bob Saget's death records. How much does the public have the right to know?

JARRETT: And the threat of tornadoes looming in the South. Who's on the lookout for storms today and when?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:21]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

In just a few hours from now, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva, the Russian skater at the center of the doping scandal, is set to compete in the marquee women's event, the free skate final.

CNN's Selina Wang is live in Beijing for us.

Selina, Valieva is favored to win here. So, what's the mood like for everyone else?

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, I'll be in the stadium in just a few hours. And the mood is mix. There's outrage, anger, amazement, and sadness, outrage, of course, that someone who tested positive for a banned substance less than two months ago is allowed to compete at these games. Some athletes say it's a slap in the face to clean competitions, tainting the entire Olympics.

But also sadness here that we are talking about a 15-year-old. The World Anti-Doping Agency is conducting an investigation into the adults around her and the role they may have played. She is skating but it doesn't exactly count. If she places in the top three, which she is expected to, no medals will be awarded until that full investigation is done and that could take months and months.

This is the last time Valieva will take the ice here in Beijing. She's already considered one of the best figure skaters in the world, the first woman in history to land a quad at the games.

But I've been speaking to other professional figure skaters who say that Valieva is part of a controversial Russian figure skating system where brutal training regiments are pushing these girls to higher and higher heights but at a big cost to their mental and physical health. Now, all of this, this whole doping scandal certainly tainting her

phenomenal athletic abilities. But not only that, it is also just ruining this moment for all of the other athletes who are being deprived the chance to stand on the medal podium -- Laura, Christine.

JARRETT: Yeah, something they train for years, something they look forward to and they work so hard. And now, to have this happen. Really, it's such a shame.

Selina, thank you for being here for us.

ROMANS: It calls into question the very integrity of the Olympics.

JARRETT: Yeah.

ROMANS: I mean, it really does. I mean, the conversation around the Olympics is cheating and lying. If you are on the Olympic Committee, you're one of the organizers, you're a host country, I mean, is that the headline?

JARRETT: That's a black eye for them.

ROMANS: All right. Millions of people in the south facing severe thunderstorms this morning with the threat of tornadoes now, damaging winds and large hail in the mix.

Let's get right to meteorologist Derek Van Dam for the latest.

What are we talking about, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, very busy. We've got a very dynamic multi-faceted storm impacting about a third of the country from today, right through the early parts of the weekend. Let's get right to it.

First and foremost, the severe weather threat as we mentioned -- damaging winds, isolated tornadoes. Keep an eye to the sky if you're located in Nashville, Memphis, all the way to Little Rock. This is the area where the storm pictures are high level, the greatest risk of severe storms. We have an enhanced risk where you see shading of orange.

The cold side of the storm, over 40 million Americans feeling the impacts of winter weather. We have winter weather warnings stretching from St. Louis. And then on the warm side, the warm sector of this very dynamic front and low pressure system there is the potential of flash flooding. Forty million Americans under winter or I should say flood watches as we speak.

Just to make things more concerning across the deep south where severe weather threat looms, we have wind advisories toppling trees and taking down electricity lines, and that extends all the way to the Northeast. In fact, if you stretched an arrow from New England all the way to the deep south, we're talking over 1,500 miles of weather alerts as we speak right now.

ROMANS: Wow.

VAN DAM: So very multi-faceted storm.

ROMANS: OK. We know you'll keep an eye on it for us. Thanks, Derek.

JARRETT: Just ahead for you, should unruly passengers be black-listed from planes? The debate raging right now between the airlines and some lawmakers.

ROMANS: And what you will not need to bring when you watch Harry Styles and other stars at Coachella this spring.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:28:42]

JARRETT: The family of comedian Bob Saget has been granted a court order blocking public release of records from the police investigation into his sudden death, at least for now.

Let's bring in CNN's Chloe Melas here with us.

Chloe, what is behind this ruling from the judge? It's interesting.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes. We knew the family wanted to block any photographs, any audio recordings, any of the physical materials that were gathered during the investigation. They didn't want what happened to Kobe Bryant. They didn't want leaked photos of Bob Saget. They said it would cause irreparable damage to their family while they're in the midst of grieving and tarnish his legacy.

But there was no secret behind it. We know that Bob died due to head trauma. We know it was an accident. We know there was no foul play involved, no drugs or alcohol. This was simply the family wanting their privacy.

But the sheriff's department came out and said although we respect your privacy in a statement, the public has a right to know. We have to comply with the law and there has to be transparency.

Well, the family filed an injunction, their attorney did of Bob Saget, of his widow Kelly Rizzo and his three daughters and the judge granted it. So, the judge has now, at least temporarily -- you're the lawyer who can explain this -- has granted this injunction to prohibit the release of any photographs or any of those materials so siding with the family after this statement which was really against the family.

ROMANS: Let me ask you about the other big entertainment story we're following this morning.

[05:30:00]