>>> RUSS'S PUTIN HAS TAKEN HIS OBSESSION TO THE SOVIET GLORY DAY TO A NEW LEVEL. STAGING A MASSIVE PROPAGANDA RALLY ON FRIDAY. SEVERAL RUSSIANS TELL CNN THAT AUTHORITIES PRESSURED PEOPLE TO ATTEND THE EVENT, WHICH WAS MEANT TO COMMEMORATE THE EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIA'S TAKEOVER OF CRIMEA. HERE TO DISCUSS IS A RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN WHO SURVIVED TWO POISONINGS IN RUSSIA. AT THIS RALLY, THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING WITH US BY THE WAY, WE APPRECIATE IT. AT THIS RALLY, PUTIN JUSTIFIED THE INVASION OF UKRAINE AS HE STOOD IN FRONT OF A BANNER THAT READ FOR A WORLD WITHOUT NAZIISM. AGAIN, WITH THIS NAZI TALK, IT IS SO TERRIFYING BECAUSE IT IS SO DERANGED THAT SO MANY RUSSIANS ARE BELIEVING THIS CRAZY NONSENSE. >> WELL, WHAT WE SAW YESTERDAY, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST OF ITS KIND THAT MR. PUTIN HAS STAGED TO TRY TO SORT OF PUT OUT THIS FACADE OF SUPPORT THAT HE WANTS TO CLAIM. THERE IS SO MUCH IN SORT OF HARKENING BACK TO NOT ONLY THE SOVIET PAST AND THE RALLIES THAT TOOK PART IN THE SOVIET UNION, THIS MAKES IT DOUBLY HYPOCRITICAL. I'D USE THE WORD IRONIC HAD IT NOT BEEN SO SERIOUS. SO MUCH OF THE STYLE, SO MUCH OF THE SUBSTANCE OF WHAT PUTIN'S REGIME IN RUSSIA NOW REPRESENTS ACTUALLY HAS ECHOES WITH NAZIISM IN GERMANY IN THE 1930s. JUST A FEW DAYS AGO, MR. PUTIN GAVE A SPEECH ON NATIONAL TELEVISION WHERE WE DESCRIBED HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS INSIDE OF RUSSIA, PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF AND MY COLLEAGUES IN THE RUSSIAN OPPOSITION, AS QUOTE, NATIONAL TRAITORS. THIS IS A TERM DIRECTLY BORROWED FROM HITLER IN GERMANY. THIS STYLIZED THAT HAS BEEN USED BY THE KREMLIN PROPAGANDA AS A SYMBOL OF SUPPORT FOR THIS AGGRESSION ON UKRAINE. REALLY DOES LOOK LIKE A SWASTIKA. PUTIN'S REGIME ITSELF AS IT SORT OF TRIES TO MAKE THIS BOGUS AND OUTRAGEOUS CLAIMS OF SOMEHOW THEY'RE FIGHTING NAZIS IN UKRAINE, REQUIRE MORE AND MORE TRAITS OF A FASCIST REGIME. I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR OUR VIEWERS NOT TO BE FOOLED BY THE SMOKE SCREEN, BY THIS PROPAGANDA. PUTIN WOULD LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD TO THINK THAT ALL RUSSIANS SUPPORT HIM. THAT ALL RUSSIANS BACK THIS CRIMINAL AGGRESSION THAT HE'S ENGAGING IN WITH REGARD TO UKRAINE, BUT THAT'S NOT AT ALL THE CASE. IN FACT, SINCE THIS ATTACK BEGAN ON FEBRUARY 24th, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ACROSS RUSSIA HAVE GONE OUT INTO THE STREETS TO TRY TO PROTEST, I SAY TRY BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE IMMEDIATELY ARRESTED AND HERDED AWAY TO POLICE STATIONS. IT IS NOW A CRIMINAL OFFENSE IN RUSSIA, NOT JUST TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST THIS WAR, BUT EVEN TO CALL IT A WAR. YOU CAN GET UP TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON IF YOU CALL WHAT PUTIN IS DOING IN UKRAINE A WAR. BUT DESPITE THIS FACT, THERE HAVE BEEN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN RUSSIA WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED TO SAY THIS IS NOT BEING DONE IN OUR NAME. I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR THE WORLD TO ALSO HEAR THOSE RUSSIAN VOICES, NOT JUST OF THE PUTIN PROPAGANDA MACHINE. >> NO QUESTION. YOU'RE RIGHT TO RAISE THAT POINT AND WE HAVE REPORTED ON THIS EXTENSIVELY. BUT I HAVE TO ASK YOU HOW DO YOU THINK IT GOT TO THIS POINT AND HOW DOES YOUR EXPERIENCE I GUESS PROVIDE MAYBE A LESSON OR WARNING SIGN MISSED ALONG THE WAY? IT SEEMS AS THOUGH AND WE WERE TALKING TO THE WIDOW OF A PUTIN CRITIC WHO WAS POISONED AND DIED, AND YOU KNOW, IT SEEMS AS THOUGH WHAT SHE TOLD US IS CORRECT. THERE WERE SO MANY WARNING SIGNS MISSED, IGNORED BY THE WORLD BECAUSE IT WAS JUST CONVENIENT PERHAPS TO LET PUTIN'S AGGRESSION JUST PASS IN PREVIOUS EPISODES. WHAT ARE YOUR THAUGTDS? >> DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS. I CANNOT EXPRESS THE FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATION AND FRANKLY RAGE THAT A LOT OF US IN RUSSIA FEEL THESE DAYS BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO TELL THE WORLD FOR 22 YEARS NOW JUST WHO PUTIN WAS. IT WASN'T AN ENIGMA, A SECRET. ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS HE DID WHEN HE CAME TO POWER IN THE YEAR 2000 WAS REINSTATE THE SOVIET NATIONAL ANTHEM AS THE ANTHEM OF THE FEDERATION. THIS IS AS POWERFUL A SYMBOL AS YOU CAN GET. EARLY YEARS OF HIS RULE, PUTIN ENGAGED IN A INTENSIVE CRACKDOWN AGAINST DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL SOCIETY INSIDE OF RUSSIA AND PUSHED THE IMPERFECT DEMOCRACY WE HAD IN THE '90s TO THE PERFECT DICTATORSHIP WE HAVE TODAY. ONE AFTER ANOTHER, DESTROYING INDEPENDENT MEDIA. OPPOSITION PARTIES GOING AFTER POLITICAL OPPONENTS. IMPRISONING OPPONENTS, THEN MURDERING OPPONENTS. WE MARKED THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF ONE WHO WAS GUNNED DOWN IN FRONT OF THE KREMLIN. ALL THIS TIME, WESTERN LEADERS CONTINUED TO SHAKE MR. PUTIN'S HAND AND INVITE HIM TO HIGH LEVEL SUMMITS AND TRY TO FIND WAYS OF DEALING WITH HIM. LOOKED INTO HIS EYES AND GOT A SENSE OF HIS SOUL AND DECLARED RECESS WITH HIM AND SO ON AND SO FORTH AND THIS IS WHERE WE ARE TODAY. FACING A LARGE SCALE WAR IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE. FACING WAR CRIMES. WHAT I WOULD ARGUE ARE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY THAT THE PUTIN REGIME IS CONDUCTING. AND THIS WAS SO PREDICTABLE. THIS IS WHAT'S ENRAGING ABOUT IT. THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY THAT THE APPEASEMENT OF DICTATORS ENDS. AND WE ARE SEEING THIS NOW. AND YES, IT IS ALSO THE FAULT NOT JUST OF THOSE PEOPLE IN RUSSIA WHO CHOSE TO STAY SILENT OVER THE YEARS IN THE FACE OF THE REGRESSIONS BY MR. PUTIN, BUT THERE'S SIGNIFICANT RESPONSIBILITY BY WESTERN LEADERS WHO CHOSE TO TURN A BLIND EYE WHEN PUTIN WAS DESTROYING DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA. >> WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER IN TERMS OF THE LARGER QUESTION IN ALL OF THIS, WHICH IS HOW DO WE EXPEDITE THE END OF PUTIN'S STRANGLE HOLD ON RUSSIA AND HIS ATTEMPT TO ESSENTIALLY CONTINUE TO BULLY THE WORLD? DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR AND CONCISE ANSWER THAT I SUPPOSE A LOT OF PEOPLE COULD AGREE ON? I GUESS THAT IS PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE ARE JUST SO MANY DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW AS TO HOW TO ACCOMPLISH THIS WITHOUT WORLD WAR III BREAKING OUT. >> FIRST OF ALL, TO STATE THE OBVIOUS, ONLY RUSSIANS IN RUSSIA CAN CHANGE THE SITUATION IN OUR COUNTRY. NOBODY'S ADVOCATING ANY KIND OF REGIME CHANGE FROM THE OUTSIDE. ONLY RUSSIANS IN RUSSIA CAN AFFECT POLITICAL CHANGE. AND THIS WILL HAPPEN AND MR. PUTIN HAS REALLY ACCELERATED ALL THESE PROCESSES IN THE LAST FOUR WEEKS WITH HIS AGGRESSION IN UKRAINE. HE'S HAD A LOT OF PROBLEMS, ESPECIALLY AMONG THE YOUNGER GENERATION. THIS MAN HAS BEEN IN POWER FOR MORE THAN 22 YEARS. PEOPLE ARE GETTING TIRED OF SEEING THE SAME FACE ON THE TELEVISION SCREEN ALL THE TIME. SO POLITICAL CHANGE CAN ONLY COME FROM WITHIN RUSSIA ITSELF, BUT IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE FREE WORLD, THE COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES, STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC RUSSIA. A RUSSIA THAT WOULD RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF OUR OWN PEOPLE AT HOME AND THAT WOULD ALSO BEHAVE ITSELF AS A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT, SHOULD BE ONE OF THE HIGHEST PRIORITIES FOR THE WEST RIGHT NOW, TO PROVIDE THE TRUTH TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE IN THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TO OPEN THE EYES OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY ON THE FAMOUS CRIMES THAT PUTIN'S COMMITTING ON BEHALF OF OUR COUNTRY, BECAUSE AS MIND BOGGLING AS IT SOUNDS, MANY PEOPLE IN RUSSIA DO NOT EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A REAL WAR GOING ON IN UKRAINE. THEY DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THE TARGETING OF CIVILIANS, CLUSTER BOMBINGS, BOMBINGS ON MATERNITY WARDS. AS YOU KNOW AND AS YOU'VE REPORTED, IN THE LAST FOUR WEEKS, THE SAME TIME HE'S LAUNCHED AN AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE, PUTIN HAS ALSO DESTROYED WHAT REMAINED OF INDEPENDENT MEDIA INSIDE RUSSIA. SO THERE'S A TOTAL INFORMATION, CENSORSHIP AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR THE FREE WORLD TO HELP BREACH THAT CENSORSHIP AND ALSO VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO LET UP THOSE, ESPECIALLY THOSE TARGETED SANCTIONS AGAINST THOSE HIGHER LEVEL OLIGARCHS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS AROUND PUTIN WHO HAVE FOR YEARS GOTTEN USED TO BEING ABLE TO STEAL IN RUSSIA THEN STAND AND STASH AWAY THAT STOLEN MONEY IN THE WEST AND FOR SUCH A LONG TIME, THE WEST HAS ENABLED THIS BEHAVIOR. WE HAVE SEEN THIS FINALLY STOP IN THE LAST FOUR WEEKS. IT HAS TAKEN A WAR IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE TO MAKE IT STOP AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO MAKE THE WEST STAND FIRM. STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MILLIONS IN RUSSIA WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO BECOME A NORMAL, MODERN DEMOCRACY. I HAVE NO DOUBT THIS DAY WILL COME. >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME. AS YOU WERE TELLING OUR TEAM, A CURREN
