Russia and Ukraine Tension Escalates; Take Brexit Plan or Start from Scratch; Matthew Hedges is Now Back to London; Parliament to vote on Brexit deal December 11
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: A showdown on the high seas quickly turns into a high stakes diplomatic standoff. Ukraine demands the release of two dozen sailors detained by Russia. Stage to play. A sweeping new CNN survey reveals anti-Semitic stereotypes are alive and well in Europe while the memory of the Holocaust is starting to fade. And the date is fixed, opposition say for Theresa May's Brexit plan is coming in within weeks. Will parliament get on board? Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Max Foster. This is CNN Newsroom. The conflict is brewing in the waters of Crimea. Ukraine is furious after Russia seized three of its ships. Its parliament voted to impose martial law in areas bordering Russia. It's also condemning Moscow as NATO and many European countries. U.S. President Donald Trump appears hesitant though to do the same. But his top diplomats aren't.</s>NIKKI HALEY, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: This is no way for a law-abiding civilized nation to act. Impeding Ukraine's lawful transit through the Kerch Strait is a violation under international law, it is an arrogant act that the international community must condemn and will never accept.</s>FOSTER: Well, although this standoff largely centers on the Lerch Strait which links the Black and Azov Seas. Russia built a bridge over the vital waterway and it's being accused of harassing ships heading to Ukrainian ports. CNN's Matthew Chance has more on the standoff for us now from Moscow.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment simmering tensions on the high seas burst into outright hostility. The Russian patrol boat intercepting a Ukrainian naval tug and ramming it dangerously hard. In audio recording broadcast on Ukrainian media which CNN can't independently verify the Ukrainian boat can be heard protesting.</s>CHANCE: Then Russian officers ordered the Ukrainian vessels to surrender or face attack.</s>CHANCE: The Ukrainian navy says six of its sailors were injured when Russia fired on three of its vessels then seize them. An act of aggression said Ukrainian officials by Moscow.</s>PETRO POROSHENKO, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I address the leadership of the Russian federation the demand for the immediate release of Ukrainian servicemen who, in violation of international law were brutally detained and whose fate is unknown. We demand they be immediately handed over to the Ukrainian side together with the ships and to deescalate the situation in the Azov Sea.</s>CHANCE: But that situation has been escalating since Russia's President Vladimir Putin opened a controversial bridge earlier this year spanning the narrow Kerch Strait between Russia and annex Crimea. All maritime traffic to and from the Azov Sea must pass under it. U.S. officials say Russia has been harassing international shipping there for months. Stopping or delaying vessels heading for Ukrainian ports. Russia said it's simply reacting to dangerous naval maneuvers by Ukraine which have now forced it to curb access.</s>SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Maneuvers in the narrow straits naturally create threats and risk for normal movement of vessels in these waters.</s>CHANCE: And this is how Russian state television has cast the naval clash as a provocation orchestrated by Ukraine and its supporters in the United States to disrupt a planned meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin at the upcoming G-20 summit in Argentina. Ukrainian government says it is imposing martial law in response to the crisis and amid international condemnation. The coming days may yet see this confrontation on the high seas escalate further.</s>FOSTER: Well, in the last hour, Ukraine's president has had a lot -- has a lot to say about all of this on Twitter. For the latest, Matthew Chance joins us now from Moscow with the very latest on both sides. Matthew, how are you reading this latest Twitter onslaught?</s>CHANCE: Well, you're right. Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president has taken to social media to give his latest thoughts on this developing situation that's been taking place over the weekend, particularly in the Azov Sea and then the Kerch Strait, that stretch of wat that divides the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland. Poroshenko, President Poroshenko said this on Twitter. "The unprovoked use of weapons by Russia against Ukrainian ships and the capture of our sailors by the Russian invaders, as he calls it, cannot and will not be left without a decent response. We have to stand up to Russian aggression including a significant strengthening of sanctions." And so, there are a couple of points there. First of all, the issue of sanctions. Russia is already heavily sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and others in the international community as well. And while that had a significant impact on the country's economy, it doesn't appear to have changed Russian policy with regard to Crimea. It's still very much in control of that peninsula, and in fact, annexed didn't absorbed it into the Russian federation. And I think there's a degree of reluctance on the part of the western powers to go further. Because it's not delivering the kind of results they anticipated. What has happened, though, in the course of the 24 hours is that Petro Poroshenko's government has confirmed martial law in certain parts of the country, particularly the areas bordering Russia that will involve a certain amount of curbing of civilian freedoms and will divert national resources towards the security services. That's been condemned by the Kremlin in a conversation that was a read-out of which was posted on the Kremlin web site with Angela Merkel. Vladimir Putin told the Russia -- the German leader that he was seriously concerned about the decision of Kiev to bring its armed forces into full combat readiness and to declare martial law. President Putin said he believed that Ukraine was responsible for creating another conflict situation, and so the allegations between the two countries are still being traded. Max?</s>FOSTER: We seem to have lost the signal there. We'll bring back with Matthew with any updates throughout the day. Now a major CNN investigation is revealing just how widespread and growing anti-Semitic attitudes are here in Europe. More than 70 years ago, when the nightmare of the Holocaust came to an end with the end of World War II. Germany as a nation vowed to never forget, yet it seems that many in Europe have done exactly that or even more shockingly have never even known about the atrocities committed against millions of Jews by the Nazis. So, all this week we're focusing on this shadow over Europe. Our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward begins our coverage now with a sweeping new survey, commissioned by CNN that honor some surprising statistics.</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: To give us our unprecedented look at anti-Semitism in Europe, we spoke to more than 7,000 European citizens across these seven countries. Forty-four percent said they believe anti-Semitism is a growing problem in their country, with 40 percent saying Jewish people are at risk of racist violence there. Sixty-three percent, around two-thirds of the people we spoke to agree that commemorating the Holocaust helps insure that such atrocities will never happen again. But awareness of the genocide seems to be fading. Of the people in the 18 to 34 age brackets that we spoke to almost two-fifths said they had either never heard of the Holocaust or had just a little knowledge of it. The situation is especially bad in France. Eight percent of people we spoke to there, across all age groups said they never heard of the Holocaust, that's around five million in France alone, more than double the population of Paris. The International Holocaust Remembrance alliance spells out what anti- Semitism is with 11 specific examples. One is the myth that Jewish people control global media, economies, and governments. In Europe, 28 percent responded that Jewish people had too much influence in finance and business around the world. A view that was most common in Poland and Hungary. Europe's understanding of how many Jewish people there are in the world is also way off the mark. Sixteen percent of respondents thought that Jewish people make up at least a fifth of the global population. According to Pew Research it's a 100 of that, around .2 percent. Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.</s>FOSTER: Well, a week-long look at anti-Semitism in Europe turns to Germany on Wednesday. Clarissa takes us to a right-wing extremist march on the streets of Berlin.</s>WARD: Christian Weisberger (Ph) explains that neo-Nazis are finding new ways to express the same old hatred. And he sure know, Weisberger (Ph) used to be a right-wing extremist himself.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say that it is a form of anti-Semitism that disguises itself. So, they don't talk about the Jew anymore, they talk about the Zionist or the globalist or the bankers.</s>FOSTER: Well, Clarissa also meets with members of the Jewish community who are questioning their future in Germany. Join us for the next report in our exclusive series, a shadow over Europe, anti- Semitism in 2018, Wednesday, on CNN. And still ahead this hour, we'll speak with the editor in chief of the Germany's paper Bild about CNN's special report. Now Britain's prime minister travels to Northern Ireland and Wales on Tuesday. She begins her push to rally support for her Brexit plan. The parliament is set to vote on the agreement on December the 11th, Theresa May addressed the House of Commons on Monday urging lawmakers to accept this deal or risk starting all over again. But as Bianca Nobilo reports, Mrs. May is facing an uphill battle.</s>BIANCA NOBILO, CNN PRODUCER: Theresa May faced a bitterly divided U.K. parliament Monday just one day after getting her Brexit deal approved by the E.U. And in a march contrast to the unanimous and orderly way that the E.U. 27 signed off Theresa May was faced with a barrage of hostile questioning from M.P.'s in the House of Commons who oppose her deal from all sides. This as she is begging her campaign to sell her deal and persuade M.P.'s to vote it through parliament.</s>THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And I can say to the house with absolutely certainly that there is not a better deal available. There is a choice which this house will have to make. We can back this deal and deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future of opportunity and prosperity for all of our people or this house can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one.</s>NOBILO: Currently, the parliamentary arithmetic doesn't add up in the prime minister's favor. Scores of her own back bench M.P.'s have publicly declared that they will reject the deal as has the Democratic Unionist Party, the DUP, which the prime minister relies on for her majority in parliament. And if Theresa May was hoping to look for the opposition Labour Party to support her, then the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had other ideas for her today.</s>JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER, LABOUR PARTY: The Prime Minister May have achieved agreement across 27 heads of state, but she's lost support of the country. This deal is not a plan for Britain's future. So, for the good of the nation the house has very little choice but to reject this deal.</s>NOBILO: The date has now been set for the historic vote on the prime minister's Brexit deal, December 11. mark your calendars. It will be the prime minister's toughest Brexit battle yet. Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.</s>FOSTER: We'll be there of course. Emmanuel Macron meanwhile, facing growing anger and massive protests against his government's fuel tax hikes. Well, the French president is set to address his nation shortly but many say they're hungry and fed up with prices that just keep going up. Details next. Tear gas and tears at the U.S. border with Mexico after border patrol uses tear gas to keep out migrants. You'll hear from one migrant mother who says she has nowhere else to go. Plus, a new development in the Russia investigation, why prosecutors say they no longer trust a key cooperating witness to tell the truth.