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CNN Live Event/Special
World Leaders Differ On How To Approach China; Biden Meets With Allies Ahead Of Putin Meeting; Danish Soccer Player Collapses During Match; Prime Minister Johnson Casts Doubt On Lifting U.K. Restrictions; Moscow Announces "Non-Working Week" To Slow New Cases; Queen Elizabeth Marks Birthday With Scaled-Back Ceremony. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired June 12, 2021 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:00:16]
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone and welcome to our continuing special coverage of the G7 here in Cornwall, England. I'm Hala Gorani. Welcome, a busy agenda on this second day of the Summit.
Let's bring you up to speed, the French and U.S. presidents held their first formal in person meeting today. Emmanuel Macron was highly complimentary of Joe Biden calling him quote, part of the club. G7 leaders have also held a session on health today. Earlier they discussed China and there were some serious differences on how to best approach China.
The U.S., Britain, and Canada called for stronger action against Beijing, while other countries emphasized cooperation. Our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward sat down for an interview with the British Prime Minister who is hosting the G7 this year. She asked about next week's meeting between Mr. Biden and the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I certainly think that President Putin has done things that are unconscionable in the -- I'm fairly certain that he authorized the poisonings in Salisbury that led to the death of a innocent, wholly innocent member of the British public, the attempted poisoning of the screech-owls (ph).
You've seen what's happening to his leading opponent Alexey Navalny, who's in prison on trumped up charges, and facing and is effectively being tortured. And so I think that what Joe Biden will be doing when you go to see Putin will be giving some pretty tough messages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, welcome to Clarissa Ward, who's with me here in person in a very windy Falmouth, England. So we heard there, Boris Johnson talk about let him hear Putin about Russia. There were some differences on China. We'll get to that a little bit later in the program. But what else did the U.K. Prime Minister tell you in this interview?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, like you were saying about Emmanuel Macron, he was full of praise for President Biden saying that it was tremendously exciting to have him here, that the two leaders share some real passions, namely, climate change. He also talked about how he was very pleased that President Biden really valued the transatlantic relationship.
And when I pushed him a bit to say, well, what about President Trump? Are you implying that he didn't value that? He really did not want to be drawn on the subject of President Trump. All he would say is, listen, it's our job as Prime Minister in the U.K. to get along with whoever is the U.S. president. And that's exactly what we do.
But I will say the relationship is getting better and better all the time, so clearly feeling pretty optimistic about the state of this special relationship.
GORANI: Now, there are big disagreements between the U.K. and the E.U. Boris Johnson is at odds very much with E.U. leaders. But these are not disagreements that we've necessarily seen come to the floor during this Summit is that by design?
WARD: I think it's interesting you touch on that. And you know, certainly today, the Prime Minister really wanted to downplay those differences, saying, look, I'm very optimistic that we can come up with a solution, we can come up with a deal, particularly with the whole issue of Northern Ireland by the end of June.
But you definitely had the sense talking to him and talking to others behind the scenes, that there's a very strong message being impressed upon everybody here, which is the absolute importance of showing a united front.
Everyone understands different countries have different strategic, objectives, different approaches to different crises. But on the face of it, there's a strong sense that everyone needs to show this united front that we're working together and that this has been a very positive meeting.
GORANI: For Boris Johnson, in particular, the beginning of the pandemic was disastrous --
WARD: Yes.
GORANI: -- in terms of his reputation. I mean, the death toll in the beginning was one of the highest in the world and still remains one of the highest. I guess, in some ways, you could say the U.K. got lucky because it's a British company, one of the ones that came up with a -- the formula, a successful formula for a COVID vaccine, AstraZeneca. And their vaccine rollout was successful. Now, the G7, this is something that has to be good for him in terms of his reputation.
WARD: I think it absolutely is. And he sees this as a moment to sort of shift the narrative a little bit from, you know, previously President Biden saying he's an emotional and physical clone of Donald Trump to now him sort of trying to cast himself almost in the role of Winston Churchill. And we did ask him, you know, because, of course, he brought up in the context of this Summit, how important it was to be showing a united front on coronavirus.
And I asked him, do you accept the fact that your government mishandled the early stages of this pandemic? And to give him some credit, he didn't try to obfuscate. He said, listen, you know, I think all of us were completely caught off guard by the unprecedented nature of this. And there is going to be a time to sit down and have a real think about what mistakes were made. But for now, of course, we're very proud of our commitment to give the vaccine to 1 billion people around the world.
[13:05:23]
GORANI: Interesting that he would say, all of us when other countries in fact handle that a lot better than the U.K. in the early days. What about other topics? I mean, we know that China is a very important one for Joe Biden.
WARD: Yes, yes. It absolutely is. And a big part of today has been about the Biden administration trying to corral other G7 leaders around them to take a tough tone on China. And what we're seeing, as you pointed out, is that not every European country thinks that's the way to go.
GORANI: Right.
WARD: Some people are more interested in striking a more conciliatory tone in, you know, putting emphasis on cooperation, as opposed to areas of division. So it'll be very interesting to see the final language when it comes out. Because I have the sense that not everybody agrees on the tone.
GORANI: Well, you have countries that have a business relationship with China. And they're perhaps a little bit more reluctant to forcefully condemn Beijing on issues like human rights. Thanks so much, our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward.
And our chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan, lots of chief correspondents today. I'm lucky at the top of the hour. Chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins is covering the U.S. President. So let's dig a little bit deeper here on some of the disagreements that were not highlighted, of course, as this G7 meeting was meant to send the message that these leaders are united, but particularly on China. We know Germany, for instance, is not necessarily on board with the U.S. and Canada on sending out a strong message condemning China.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They're not. And the -- what the interaction basically was during this meeting earlier today, according to officials who later briefed the reporters is that it's not that they don't agree that China is a threat. The question is how much of a threat do these countries see China is and what do they think is the appropriate response?
And we know President Biden has tried to take a really tough tone against China, since he took office. He's saying that essentially, if we don't step up, when it comes to infrastructure and technology with the United States specifically that China is going to eat our lunch, that's the quote that he uses so often.
So it's not surprising that this is something they disagree with earlier today, because we essentially been forecasting this because yes, they are getting along better, more diplomatic than it was when Trump was a presence here.
But they still do not see eye to eye on China and the rising power of China and the aggressiveness of their nature. And so essentially, what we were learning about this meeting today is that it was the United States and the U.K. and Canada that were in agreement about how to respond to China, how forcefully to respond. But it was Germany and Italy and their leaders that in the E.U. that did not agree and see eye to eye with them on it.
And this meeting became so sensitive that at one point they shut all the internet off to the room, because while they were having this discussion about China. And I do think that is the question going forward, because part of what Biden wants to do by rallying this Western alliance here is have a united front for Russia and for China. And if he can't get that united front that is going to make it a lot harder for him to push forward and have the China policy that he wants to have.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: We have to deal with this pandemic and the COVID-19. We have to face a lot of challenges, a lot of crisis, climate change, and for all this issues, what we need is cooperation. And I think it's great to have the U.S. President, part of the club and be willing to cooperate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So that's sound bite there from the French President is notable because he is saying that Biden is in the club. And then he is willing to cooperate that without even mentioning Trump's name is obviously a pointed jab at Trump who was never really in their club.
He was not someone who they felt like wanted to cooperate with a lot of their shared priorities, and instead saw them as not enemies, but certainly country with differences at some point in times and often undermine the alliance that had been building for so many years.
And so I think that plays a factor into what it's going to look like when they do confront China after this. But of course, it remains to be seen how today's meeting goes, how the meetings tomorrow go, and what it looks like when he does go to meet with NATO allies and to meet with E.U.
GORANI: All right, and let's talk about Russia, of course, was there more agreement on how to confront Vladimir Putin among the allies at this Summit? COLLINS: I think that there is a shared sense of Russian aggression among them. Of course, we've seen the military buildup on the Ukrainian border. We have seen the attempts at election interference, the ransomware hacks. That is something that is not just concerning to U.S. officials, but to all of the officials who are here because of course you see just how vulnerable systems that are critical infrastructure really are.
[13:10:09]
But there are disagreements here. And this is actually a big question for President Biden, because he recently waived sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Of course, that is something that Germany has had an enormous stake in, they have not wanted to see sanctions happen there as U.S. leaders have come out against it.
And once when I asked the Press Secretary, what are the national security reasons you have for waiving these sanctions? Because that's what they signed it and kept it pretty vague, and they said, essentially, part of that was the relationship with Germany and not wanting to irritate the German Chancellor, of course, she is outgoing, she has a replacement coming in, what is going to happen forward with that.
And so that is something that is significant here, because his Biden has all this tough talk on Russia, Nord Stream 2 is something that they've said will only empower Russia, it'll only Ukrainians have complained about it, of course. And so what that actually looks like going forward is still a major unanswered question, and we'll see what the outcome of it is after that stump, that Summit in Geneva.
GORANI: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much, our chief White House correspondent.
While President Biden's Summit with Vladimir Putin will come as we just mentioned at the tail end of his week-long trip and after he attends the NATO Summit in Brussels, and the White House says Mr. Biden will hold a solo press conference following the meeting.
It will now be a joint news conference with the two leaders answering questions together on a stage. Neither Russia nor the U.S. is expecting any momentous developments from the Summit. But the Russian leader says relations are the worst they've been in years. So a Summit is probably necessary to clear the air. The Russian President spoke highly, a former President Trump in this interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I believe now, I believe that former U.S. President, Mr. Trump, is an extraordinary individual, talented individual, otherwise he would not have become a U.S. president. President Biden, of course, is radically different from Trump, because President Biden is a career man.
He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics. Just think of the number of years he spent in the Senate, a different kind of person. And it was my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse based movements on behalf of the sitting U.S. President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, we have the latest from CNN, Matthew Chance.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russians are going there, they say, to explain the situation, not to negotiate it, not to discuss it. I put it to Dmitry Peskov who's Vladimir Putin's spokesman, that the fact that wasn't going to be a joint news conference at the end of the Summit, which would be usual and which is something the Russians say they wanted initially when they set ties on this journey towards developing this Summit, was a major setback for Russia because one of the reasons the Russians wanted this Summit is to show Vladimir Putin on the international stage sharing a platform with the U.S. President.
But the Kremlin pushback on that saying that was not the reason that they were having this Summit at all. Take a listen to what Dmitry Peskov had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESMAN: The main reason for him is a poor state of relationship between our two countries. And a critical level of his relationship that demands -- that demands a Summit between our two countries because this is the only way to -- this is the only way to arrange an evaluation of the situation in our relationship to prevent further, further degradation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: There you are. Dmitry Peskov saying that basically the relationship is bad and a Summit is the only way really to start the process of addressing that, there is a list as long as your arm when it comes to fraud issues between the United States and Russia, whether it's the military buildup in Ukraine, cyber-attacks against the United States, whether it's the crackdown on democracy here and the crackdown on dissidents here.
But none of those issues, the sense I got from Dmitry Peskov there is Vladimir Putin going to the Summit prepared to back down in his words, don't expect any breakthroughs in this Summit.
GORANI: All right. That was Matthew Chance reporting.
We have some news just in and a very scary start to a Euro 2020 match in Copenhagen, Denmark today. Danish football player Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field as his team was playing Finland today. Medical units were seeing trying to resuscitate him. So obviously he lost consciousness. CNN's Don Riddell joins me now with more on what we're learning on the condition of Christian Eriksen. What can you tell us?
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hala, we have just been watching the match and following the action and for the last 15 minutes or so, I think the world of football has been holding its breath. The details that we know are pretty much as you have already described them, Christian Eriksen collapsing on his own in the corner of the stadium in Copenhagen in the 42nd minutes, three minutes before what would have been half time.
[13:15:13]
He remained on the ground for a considerable amount of time. There was a great deal of distress and emotion within the stadium. The Danish players were absolutely beside themselves, many of them actually formed a kind of a protective cordon around their teammate, so that the photographers and the broadcast cameras couldn't see what was going on.
It seemed as though CPR was being performed on Eriksen. This continued for a considerable period of time, before a protective screen was brought in and Eriksen was taken from the field. The match by that point had been suspended. And truthfully, we don't know any more than this. Players on both sides were absolutely distraught. The broadcast cameras were showing supporters in the stadium who many of whom were in tears, many of them couldn't even watch.
And we're all now just waiting for news of Christian Eriksen and his condition. He is a very experienced international footballer. He's played for some of the biggest clubs in Europe, IX in the Netherlands, Tottenham Hotspur into Milan, with whom he's just won the Saudi title domestically in Italy. He's played for Denmark for many years, winning more than 100 camps.
You can see how everybody is reacting to this situation. And this news, however it plays out will profoundly impact I think many people within this tournament given how many people he will know within this tournament and how many people will know him and who will have played with him.
And I repeat again, Hala, we really just don't know what the situation is. All we can tell you is that the game has been suspended. Christian Eriksen has been taken off the field. We hope and pray that the medical teams are working on him and doing their best and that's really all we can say at the moment.
GORANI: Yes, we don't know much. Some reports indicating that he was on the field for nearly 20 minutes before he was transferred to a stretcher, which tells us that medics were doing everything they could to work on him on the field.
RIDDELL: Yes, that's exactly right. And for many of us, as soon as this incident began playing out, our thoughts went back to 2012 in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, where the Bolton player Fabrice Muamba found himself in a very similar situation. He was playing for Bolton against Spurs, and he collapsed. And the scene was very, very similar.
He survived it, but he was, I believe, technically dead for 78 minutes on that occasion. Many people thinking of Fabrice Muamba today and what he was able to pull through on that occasion and hoping that we can have a similarly positive outcome here.
GORANI: All right, thanks very much Don Riddell. We'll keep our eye on this story --
RIDDELL: Yes.
GORANI: -- really, really scary start to Euro 2020 at the 42nd minute the collapse of the Danish player Christian Eriksen there on the field with medics working on him and then eventually carrying him off on a stretcher. We're going to keep our eye on this story. We'll keep following it and bring you the very latest as news becomes available to us here at CNN.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll have a lot more news on the other side. Stay with us.
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[13:20:46]
GORANI: Welcome back following the G7 Summit live from Cornwall here for you disagreements over China, causing some friction among G7 leaders. According to a White House official, U.S. President Joe Biden is pressing for tougher action against Beijing over its authoritarian practices.
Canada, Britain, and France agree with Biden. But E.U. leaders want to focus on areas of cooperation with China, well, they some countries like Germany do quite a bit of business with China.
However, the leaders did agree to push ahead with a global infrastructure plan to compete with China's Belt and Road Initiative. Let's get more analysis on the Summit so far. We're joined by CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen. Nice to see you, David, thanks for being with us. First of all --
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks.
GORANI: -- overall impression on Joe Biden's first foreign trip since taking office and this sort of America is back global tour. Has he succeeded in sending that message?
GERGEN: I think the White House should be very -- should be very, very happy so far with the results from the trip. It's if anything exceeded expectations going in. America is not only back at the table, but from the White House point of view it what America is now exercising leadership again, if you think they -- on the front for helping people on the coronavirus.
Indeed, it was the United States and under Biden who said first and foremost, we're going to send 500 million doses to developing world and those doses are going to come from an American manufacturer, and from Pfizer. That plan, pleases everybody.
But it persuaded the rest of the world to come in with another 500. But we have a billion, billion as far short of what is actually needed probably 10 or 11 billion are really -- is really needed. But it's a big, big, big start, big start for Biden, 15 percent agreement on having a minimum corporate PAC, global PAC.
That's something that will be welcomed in a number of countries. And once again, I think Biden shows some leadership. This is not to say that there are big challenges ahead. There are some rough days are ahead. But I think from Biden's point of view, he is going in now to meet Putin much strengthened by the kind of support that he has gotten a year and by his leadership.
And in addition, he's helping him at home. It really helped have the other G7 members to support the Biden economic program, basically tp carry on as the lead story in the "Financial Times" today, how the other nations are going to persist.
And such strength news is handled Congress. So overall, yes, there are differences, serious differences with China, yes, are serious differences with Russia. But Biden goes in with a strengthened hand against both Putin and, you know, Xi.
GORANI: Now, what I find interesting is we don't know what the Biden foreign policy doctrine is yet. We're still very early --
GERGEN: Yes.
GORANI: -- in his presidency. But the focus on China, and the fact that Joe Biden seems to support the idea that spending on infrastructure outside of America's borders to counter China's economic influence in far foreign --
GERGEN: Yes.
GORANI: -- places in Africa, in the Middle East. That's interesting to me --
GERGEN: Yes.
GORANI: -- because it seems as though we're starting to see an outline of how he is trying to wield perhaps more of America's quote unquote, soft power abroad. Would you agree with that?
GERGEN: I absolutely agree. Because China's Belt and Road Initiative was not just about what went on internally in China. It is a number of projects and their financing all around the world, lending money, in many cases, becoming predators for other nations. But nonetheless, it made China as one the allegiance or loyalty and there are going to be a lot of countries that want to follow China because of the economics of it.
So, you know, I don't I think that Biden is right to focus on how aggressive China has become. But we should -- there is a danger of America becoming too aggressive against China. We could drive the Chinese into the arms of the stuff, the Russians -- have Russia and China to access that can be threatening to the United States.
So, there is various reason to be -- to curb China's aggression on many fronts, but on other fronts to find cooperation to find ways to cooperate. That's, after all, how we ultimately won the Cold War with the Russians. We not only we contain them, but we also had strong economic ties that provided the Russians that it was time to cash in.
[13:25:25]
GORANI: I found it interesting too, that the Americans have announced that there will be no joint press conference --
GERGEN: Yes.
GORANI: -- with Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva, that it will be a solo press conference. What I mean --
GERGEN: Yes.
GORANI: -- you've worked and advice with, you've worked with and advise so many presidents. Why do you think they made that calculation in this case?
GERGEN: I am so glad, yes. And, Hala, I don't know the answer to it. I was completely puzzled by it because it's such a ritual so to speak. It's been almost a rite of passage to have joint press conferences after these Summit meetings.
I would assume if you want to put the best face the White House face on it, it is that Biden does not want to get in, allow Putin to sort of come in and dominate a conversation and be rude and obstreperous and difficult. He wants to -- he wants to control the narrative. And he does that by going solo.
But the downside, the rescue run is that your opponents, especially a conservative, Republican type are going to say he only wants to solo because he's afraid he can't go toe to toe with Putin. He's not up to it. He needs a soapbox lately. He won't be able to do it very well.
You know, so you do run that bench. But this White House has executed so well in so many things professionally, they're very professionally run team. That I tend not to put too much weight on it. I think -- what I have recommended if I were working in the White House, no, I would not have recommend it solo -- but I, you know --
GORANI: OK.
GERGEN: -- and each president is different.
GORANI: Interesting, thanks so much, David Gergen for joining us. Really appreciate it. Our senior --
GERGEN: Thank you Hala. Good to talk to you again.
GORANI: -- political analyst.
GERGEN: Thank you.
GORANI: Yes, good talking to you. Moscow's mayor is shutting the city down for an entire week due to rising COVID cases. More on the new restrictions and the city's push for vaccinations when we return, stay with us.
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GORANI: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. We're coming to you live from Cornwall, England. We'll continue our special coverage of the G7 summit in just a moment. But we're continuing to follow the breaking news story on the Euro 2020, the Danish football player Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field. His team was playing Finland on Saturday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
[13:30:05]
And medical units were seen trying to resuscitate him for quite a while, 20 minutes.
CNN's Don Riddell joins me. What do we know on the condition of Christian Eriksen, Don?
RIDDELL: Well, Hala, I can only tell you what footballs European governing body UEFA the organizers of this tournament have put out literally within the last couple of minutes. I'll read you the tweet. This is how they communicated.
Following the medical emergency involving Denmark's player Christian Eriksen, a crisis meeting has taken place with both teams and match officials and further information will be communicated at 7:45 Central European Time which I believe is in 15 minutes time. The tweet continues the player has been transferred to the hospital and has been stabilized. So, that is the tweet from UEFA literally within the last four or five minutes.
So, I guess that is some good news. Of course, we literally don't know any more than that. We don't know any more about Christian Eriksen's medical condition. We don't really know what happened. I mean, this is still very much a developing breaking news story.
We were all enjoying the match. This is the third match of the European football championships, a tournament that of course was delayed by a year because of the coronavirus. We've seen some great action so far. We've seen fans back into stadiums, a tremendous amount of excitement about this tournament.
And here we have in only the third game three minutes before the halftime break. Christian Eriksen collapsing on his own, he wasn't challenged, he wasn't tackled. He just finished a run for the ball. And he killed (ph) over. And it very quickly became apparent that this was a very serious situation. The broadcast cameras were trying their best not to show what was happening, they inevitably couldn't help but reveal what was happening.
And what we saw was so much emotion from the players on the field on both teams. Players who were absolutely destroyed, players in tears. Many of the Danish players, his teammates, formed a protective cordon around him in the corner of the field so that the cameras and the photographers couldn't see what was going on.
Very clearly, there were medical teams performing CPR and trying to resuscitate Christian Eriksen. We saw teams, opponents Finland players in tears, we saw fans in the stadium in tears, many of whom couldn't even look at what was going on.
As you say, after a period of time, he was removed from the field and we now know taken to hospital. And the match has been suspended. We don't believe it's been abandoned, but it has been suspended. And as I say, UEFA for having a crisis meeting with the teams and the managers to try and figure out what they're going to do next.
But clearly, this has been a very emotional time for all of the players involved in everybody who's been a part of this at the stadium and remains unclear what is going to happen next. And Christian Eriksen's condition also remains unclear.
GORANI: All right, but thankfully, as you mentioned there, according to you, UEFA, his conditioned stabilized, which is positive news, at least. Thanks very much, Don Riddell. We'll get back to you when we get more information.
The latest developments on our top story now, The G7 summit here in Cornwall, England, U.S. President Joe Biden seems to be getting some good reviews from his peers at the meeting so far, the French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier that the U.S. is quote, back as a cooperative leader. China was high on the agenda today, but leaders disagreed on the best approach to take toward Beijing.
Chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is here again with an update and Clarissa spoke with the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson today and you had an opportunity to ask him about many things Europe, China, Putin as well. Tell us more about this interview.
WARD: Well, I started out really by asking about how different this G7 summit feels, particularly when you compare it to the G7 (INAUDIBLE) with President Donald Trump in representing the U.S. and he didn't really want to be drawn too much on the subject of President Trump, but he did have some high praise for President Biden. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's absolutely true that with President Biden with Joe Biden, you sort of feel that he wants to -- he still -- he's a great believer in the transatlantic alliance in this special relationship, whatever you want to call it with the United Kingdom. He shares our priorities on tackling climate change --
WARD (on-camera): And President Trump did not would you say?
JOHNSON: -- a huge amount on that tomorrow. He shares our objectives on improving female education around the world.
WARD (on-camera): He also famously referred to you as a physical and emotional clone of President Trump. I just wonder how you responded to that and whether the relationship is in a better place.
[13:35:04]
JOHNSON: Relationship is in extremely good order. And I think that the premise of the UK, and that has a job to do to get on with whoever is the President of the United States. So that's what we, we do. But in this particular case, I want you to know that the ratio is extremely good, are getting better --
WARD (on-camera): And was it fair --
JOHNSON: -- all the time.
WARD (on-camera): -- was it fair to call your clone?
JOHNSON: Yes, look, I mean, I'm not going to I -- people say all sorts of things about me. I think if I spent my time, you know, disputing this all that. We would get locked up. We're getting a huge lot done --
WARD (on-camera): OK.
JOHNSON: -- here at the G7. It's going well, it's beautiful weather. It's fantastic to see President Biden. But maybe --
WARD (on-camera): So, can we just talk about next week quickly?
JOHNSON: Yes.
WARD (on-camera): President Putin.
JOHNSON: Yes.
WARD (on-camera): President Biden will be meeting with President Putin.
JOHNSON: Yes.
WARD (on-camera): President Biden famously said that he thought President Putin is a killer. Do you believe President Putin is a killer?
JOHNSON: I certainly think that President Putin has done things that are unconscionable in the fairly certain that he authorized the poisonings in Salisbury, that lead to the death of a innocent, wholly innocent member of the British public, the attempted poisoning of the (INAUDIBLE). You've seen what's happening to his leading opponent Alexei Navalny, who's in prison on trumped up charges, and facing is effectively being tortured.
And so, I think that what Joe Biden will be doing when you get to see Putin will be giving some pretty tough messages. And that's, that's something I'd hardly (ph) approve on. And I did the same last time I saw Mr. Putin myself, I said, look, you know, there isn't going to be a normalization of relations between your country and our -- between Russia and the UK, until Russia changes its behavior. That's just the sad fact of it.
WARD (on-camera): So, how would you judge success?
JOHNSON: And I think that President Biden will be saying the same.
WARD (on-camera): How would you judge it as a successful summit then, what's the metric for success with this summit?
JOHNSON: If I could just comment about this summit, which is the one we're actually at, I think this has already been a very important moment, but it is wealthy (ph) enough to come together, for the first time in every year to work on how to beat the pandemic.
WARD (on-camera): Do you accept that your government --
JOHNSON: (INAUDIBLE) treaty.
WARD (on-camera): -- mishandled the pandemic in the early days? Would you say that's a fair categorization or?
JOHNSON: I think, you know, it was a an unprecedented event in our lifetimes. And, of course, we'll look back on everything that happened, what went wrong, and learn from it. But at the moment, we're focusing on vaccine rollout, which is amongst the fastest in the world, and which is giving a great deal of immunity to our people. And it actually has enabled this summit to go ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: And Clarissa, what's it like interviewing Boris Johnson?
WARD: It is, you know, you have to work quite hard. He's very adapted, obfuscating, when he doesn't want to answer a question. And sometimes it takes a little bit of effort to try to steer the ship back on the course that you want to get an answer to. And listen, that's normal, that that's often the case --
GORANI: That's what politicians do.
WARD: That's what --
GORANI: Yes.
WARD: -- politicians do. And he very clearly wanted to focus on the successes of the G7. He wanted to underplay a number of issues, obviously, President Trump and that sort of relationship being one but also fraction with the EU and the UK being another issues, disagreement over Northern Ireland, these were the things he didn't really want to talk about very much. And, of course, the issue that, you know, British broadcasters are particularly interested in is this issue of whether the opening up of this country will be delayed.
GORANI: Yes.
WARD: He wouldn't really been drawn on that except to say you'd have to wait until Monday. But he did give a hint that essentially, we need to have an irreversible roadmap and to deliver on that we may be cautious. So, seemingly paving the way for some kind of an announcement on Monday that there will be a sort of rolling back of plans to fully open up the country.
GORANI: It's interesting that from the get-go, where Johnson is saying it must be irreversible. It's interesting that that's how already he has hamstrung himself into a decision that he then if he reverses, will appear as though he's backing down on his own strategy. Thanks very much, chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is here and will be speaking again in the coming hours.
And Clarissa there touched upon this roadmap for reopening the country while Prime Minister Johnson is sending signals about how he will or won't lift remaining COVID restrictions in the United Kingdom, he says he wants to take a cautious approach to deciding whether to go ahead with a full lifting of rules planned for June 21st. Speaking at the G7, he said he wants the lifting to be irreversible as we just discussed with Clarissa.
[13:40:16]
Britain is seeing a spike in new COVID cases caused by the Delta variant first identified in India.
Moscow's mayor has asked all non-essential workers to stay home next week to try and slow the spread of COVID-19. He's calling it a non- working week, Russia reported more than 13,000 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, nearly 7,000 of those in Moscow. It is the highest number of cases in the city this year, and Moscow's hospital beds are quickly filling up and the mayor is asking residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
I'm hoping to bring in Oksana Pyzik, the global health expert at the University College London. Oksana, can you hear me?
OKSANA PYZIK, GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Yes, I can hear loud and clear.
GORANI: Oh, good. Success. Just a few seconds ago we were not connected. And now we are. Oksana, good speaking to you.
Let's talk a little bit about the situation in Russia and in Moscow, in particular, in terms of this spike in COVID cases. How worrying is it? I mean, it must be if the mayor is encouraging non-essential workers to basically stay home for a week as a sort of a circuit breaker measure.
PYZIK: Yes. In currently one of the major problems that Russia state you know is vaccination rate, despite the fact that it has four home grown vaccines, including Sputnik V and others. But we only have about 12% of people who have had their only their first dose.
So vaccine uptake has been a big problem. And this is why we see the continued spread. And it's also likely that this is a vast underestimate, because testing hasn't been at the level that it really needs to be. And as you say these, the hospitalization rates are really starting to take over some of the ICUs. And this has been a six-month high within Moscow.
But the anti-vaccine and vaccine hesitancy has been one of the largest barriers towards pushing forward. It really isn't about accessibility in this case. And that's partially to do the fact that early on Putin did underplaying the risks associated with COVID, much like the former U.S. President Donald Trump had.
So now his current calls for the population to come forward and get their vaccine isn't as effective as it could be. So that's really part of the reason why we're seeing this large increase in cases in the center.
GORANI: All right, Oksana Pyzik, we've got to leave it there. We're just having a few technical issues. And I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding you, though I got kind of the gist of what you were saying vaccine take up and hesitancy is one of the issues. We'll see if this stopgap measure is going to be successful in Moscow. We certainly hope that it will. Thanks very much.
We'll be right back. Thanks for watching CNN. We have a lot more after a quick break.
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[13:45:27]
GORANI: We are continuing to follow the breaking news story on the Euro 2020 player who collapsed on the pitch or the Danish football player Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field as his team was playing Finland on Saturday in Copenhagen, Denmark, and medical units were trying to resuscitate him. We saw that from video and images coming into us Darren Lewis joins me now.
And Darren, you know this player, you were watching this match as this happened. Describe to us what happened and what we know on the player's condition.
DARREN LEWIS, CNN WORLD SPORT CONTRIBUTOR: Like many people around the world families watching the game, but we -- it looks fairly innocuous at first, he had been running away from the ball and then very slowly be collapsed with no one making any contact with him. And first of all, I have to say it was very distressing to see, I was watching with my young son, my young daughter would imagine lots of people were in a similar position.
And at first there was a mood of bewilderment, that then we could see individual players taking actions that I'm sure as things unfold. We may find out what's significant, and getting us to where we are now, with the situation hopefully, a positive resolution, shall we say. But it was very, very distressing to see.
What my overriding feeling now, you know, is one of relief that the referee Anthony Taylor reacted as quickly as he did. The other players, as I say the physios and the doctors who clearly worked very, very intensely, to again, bring about a swift and at the moment positive resolution to something that looks so terrifying at that particular moment.
GORANI: Yes, we're expecting any minute now an update from UEFA Darren, as you know, the latest update coming to us from UEFA, saying that Christian Eriken has been stabilized in hospital. So obviously, that's positive news, but we're waiting for more information.
LEWIS: Well, it is positive news. And, you know, the significance of this is that over the years, there have been many, many cases of players falling to the ground in this manner, and revealing a heart issues that within football have for a long time gone unchecked. And it's a reminder to every football ground from the elite level to the grassroots level, what we call the very basic level that every ground needs a defibrillator. It needs people trained to use them.
We had a situation here in the UK, with a player called Fabrice Muamba in 2012. His heart had stopped during a game against Tottenham Hotspur (INAUDIBLE) the Bolton at the time, his heart stopped for 78 minutes. And again, the skill and the dedication of the medical staff on that particular occasion saved his life.
And he has since come paint very vociferously to ensure that all grounds, have the equipment, have the staff, who have the training to basically save lives, because what could have been a tragedy this afternoon it appears and I, you know, I pray God that that the news that is confirmed to be positive to have been averted.
GORANI: Yes. As I mentioned, we are expecting an update from UEFA, the update was meant to happen about three four minutes ago. Obviously, they may still be formulating their announcement. This happened in the 42nd minute and then Christian Eriksen had not been challenged or anything he was on his own right when you collapse, Darren?
LEWIS: When indeed and it follows the pattern of a number of players who have been in a similar situation. Football fans watching your show Hala remember the names of Marc-Vivien Foe and Cheick Tiote, are couple of other players who fell to the ground in similar circumstances during matches.
And, you know, that the rash of players who have been touched in this way has led to football associations around the world to increase the number of cardiac assessments that young footballers are given from the ages of 16 to 18, 20. Because of the situations that have gone on checked on far too many occasions within the sport of football.
I must just declare a personal interest is well you know Hala, because I came into contact with Eriksen during the seven years he spent at Tottenham Hotspur in this country. He moved there in 2013 from the Dutch club AFC (ph), he left last summer for the Italian club Inter Milan. In a football context, he's done very well there is going on to win the Italian title. But as a man, you know, he came across as a very self-effacing man he was -- he had a dry sense of humor. He was very outgoing. He's a he's a wonderful man. And there was a lot of love.
[13:50:31] And I must tell you, I spoken to a couple of sources at that club, who would be very shaken by the pictures that we've seen this afternoon. And like all of us are willing the news that comes out of your way for Hala to be positive.
GORANI: All right, we hope so as well. Thanks very much Darren Lewis and we'll bring our viewers more information on this story as it becomes available to us. We're expecting any minute now UEFA to make an announcement and provide an update.
We'll be right back on CNN.
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GORANI: Well meantime, Queen Elizabeth is celebrating her 95th birthday with scaled back festivities but still in royal fashion of course, a day after dining with G7 leaders. A colorful flyover and trooping the color took place at Windsor Castle. The ceremony is more than 260 years old. It's been reduced in size for the past two years because of COVID.
On Friday, the Queen celebrated the G7 by cutting a cake in style using a sword an entire ceremonial sword. The Queen and her family spent Friday playing host to world leaders with public appearances.
Here's CNN's Max Foster with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Queen isn't a political leader, so she's less divisive. After that her record as the world's longest serving head of state, and she earns her position in the center of the family photo.
The Royals were out in force in Cornwall on Friday, starting with a joint visit to a school by the Duchess of Cambridge and First Lady herself an educator.
CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL: The class is (INAUDIBLE).
CATHERINE, DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE: I know right. I agree.
CAMILLA: Thirty years.
FOSTER (voice-over): The children keen to show off their pets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have Brian and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sue (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- absolutely.
FOSTER (voice-over): And the Duchess keen to speak to her pet cause of children's well-being during a discussion with British and American learning experts.
CAMILLA: Early childhood education is so important.
CATHERINE: Best investment for our future health and happiness lies in the first five years of life.
FOSTER (voice-over): Jill Biden already has royal connections. She's worked with Prince Harry for years on veterans issues. But Duchess was asked about Harry and Meghan's new baby Lilibet?
CATHERINE: I wish you all the very best. I can't wait to meet her, because we haven't yet -- yet met her, yes. So hopefully, that will be soon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been (INAUDIBLE).
CATHERINE: No, haven't met.
FOSTER (voice-over): Meanwhile, the first lady was asked if she asked the Duchess for any advice on meeting the Queen.
CAMILLA: No, I didn't. We've been busy. Were you not in that room? We were talking education.
FOSTER (voice-over): In the evening at a reception for G7 leaders, the Duchess joined her husband. This is Britain deploying its soft power. Government speak for diplomatic charm. They join the Queen there. She rarely travels this far from Windsor for engagements these days, but she chooses traveled when requested by ministers.
[13:55:10]
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall alongside the Queen as they are for all the big events these days, all part of the long term royal transition process. Charles held his own spin off meeting about private sector efforts to tackle climate change. This ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference, which will also be held in the UK later this year.
After so much focus on tensions within the royal family, this was an opportunity for the Royals remaining in the UK to show a united front and reassert themselves on the world stage.
Max Foster, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, before we go this hour, a quick note Christiane is back on "AMANPOUR" next Monday. And remember that's at 1:00 p.m. in New York, 6:00 p.m. in London.
Thanks for watching this hour, I'm Hala Gorani. I'm coming to you live from Cornwall, England. I'll be back right after a quick break. Stay with us.
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