029/23 02/09/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we need lifesaving aid. we need it urgently to the fastest, most direct, and most effective routes. they need re of absolutely

everything. amy: the death toll in turkey and syria has topped 17,000 and continues to dramatically rise following two devastating earthquakes. the first u.n. aid convoy has finally reached northwest syria three days after the quakes. many survivors are facing unfathomable conditions without shelter, heat, food, water, or medical care. we will speak to a syrian doctor and a longtime syrian activist. then we look at russia's war in ukraine. >> the russian invasion of ukraine -- profound global implications. the prospects for peace is diminishing. the chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing. i see the world is not sleepwalking int a wider war, i feel it is doing so with its eyes wide open. amy: as u.n. secretary general antonio guterres calls the war to end, we will speak to a russian journalist with the news

outlet meduza, which was recently outlawed by the russian government in moscow's latest crackdown on the independent press. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the death toll from monday's devastating earthquakes in turkiye and syria has topped 17,000 and continues to rise as search-and-rescue crews warn the chance of finding survivors in the rubble is rapidly dwindling. survivors face unfathomable conditns without shelter, heat, food, water, or medical care. the first u.n. aid envoy -- or convoy has finally reached northwest syria three days after the quakes. rescue efforts there have been complicated by damage and displacement from 12 years of war and harsh sanctions. this is rob holden, the world health organization's incident

manager for the earthquakes. >> we have auge disaster unfolding. we have a lot of people who have survived now out in the open and horrific conditions. we have major disruption to basic water supplies. major disruption to fuel and electricity supplies, communication supplies. the basics of life. we are in real danger of seeing a second disaster, which may cause harm to more people than the initial disaster if we don't move with the same pace and intensity as we are doing on the search-and-rescue side. amy: even before monday's earthquakes, the u.n. estimated over 14 million people inside syria needed humanitarian assistan and more than 12 million struggled to find enough food to eat. we'll get the latest on this story afteheadlines. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is in brussels to

meet with european leaders as ukraine pushes its bid for european union membership and stronger sanctions against russia. he addressed the parliament earlier today. >> while we are fighting, we're also upgrading our institutions. we are moving closer to the european union. ukraine will be a member of the european union. victorious ukraine will be a member of the victorious european union. amy: zelenskyy's remarks in brussels came during a surprise visits to europe and the u.k. and france wednesday, where president emmanuel macron bestowed the prestigious legion of honor on the ukrainian president. british prime minister rishi sunak confirmed heavy tanks were being sent to the battlefield and pledged to train ukrainian forces on nato-standard jets, indicating the u.k. would likely follow up by providing fighter planes, though they have not approved them yet. meanwhile, in ukraine, russian rces are continuing their advance on the strategic city of bakhmut in eastern donetsk region. and ukrainian officials say

shelling is increasing in parts of the kharkiv region, which was recaptured by ukraine in september. in the netherlands, an international team of investigators at the hague said wednesday they've uncovered strong indications that russian president vladimir putin approved the supply of missiles used by pro-russia separatis to shoot down a malaysia airlines flight over ukraine in 2014. the disaster killed all 298 people on board. the pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist seymour hersh has accused the united states of sabotaging the nord stream pipelines, which were built to carry natural gas from russia to europe. the pipenes were severely damaged st september in a series of underwater explosions in the balc sea. in a self-published piece on his new sub page, seymour hersh alleges the sabotage was carried out by the u.s. navy, whiche says planted remotely triggered

explosives during nato exeises last summer with the help of norway's military and secret service. hersh leges president joe biden authorized the sabotage. hersh cited a single unnamed source "with the direct knowledge of the operational planning." a white house spokesperson described the report as complete fiction while the cia called it completely and utterly false. the norwegian foreign ministry also denied the claims. seymour hersh's report comes two weeks after under-secretary of state for political affairs victoria nuland made these remas during senate foreign relations committee aring on the war in ukraine. >> i am and i think the administration is very gratified to know nord stream to is, she like to say, a hunk of metal at th bottom of the sea. amy: the sabotage of the nord -- amy: the question comes russia had bombed its own pipeline.

the sabotage of the nord stream pipelines released up to 150,000 tons of methane gas into the atmosphere, making it one of the largest methane leaks er recorded from a single source. in climate news, researchers reported wednesday that the area of the antarctic ocean covered by sea ice shrank to its lowest on record for january, in the latest sign th global heating is accelerating. the european union's copernicus imate monitor also reported arctic sea ice is at its third-lowest concentration on record for january. melting sea ice extent can help accelerate climate change as dark ocean water absorbs heat, while white sea ice reflects up to 90% of the sun's energy back into space. ohio authorities have lifted an evacuation order for residents of east palestine following friday's freight train crash and

fire and the controlled release of toxic chemicals into the air by authorities monday. the accident has drawn scrutiny to so-called bomb trains, which transport crude oil and other dangerous chemicals across the united states. some residents of east palestine have sued the rail company for negligence. new reporting by the lever reveals that norfolk southern helped lobby against federal safety rules for freight trains, including a requirement to update civil war-era braking systems. meanwhile, norfolk southern paid executives millions and spent billions on stock buybacks while slashing thousands of jobs. at a wednesday press conference with governor mike dewine about the train disaster, a reporter was attacked, handcuffed, and arrested for supposed trespassing. newsnation reporter evan lambert, a member of the national association of black journalists, was held for five hours. he spoke about the ordeal after

his release. >> this essentially says there are charges pending against me. considering that, i don't think i'm going to talk to specifically about those moments but what i can say is no one expects, no journalist expects to be arrested when you're doing your job. and i think it is important that doesn't happen in our country. amy: here in new york city, an asylum seeker at the brooklyn cruise terminal migrant facility attempted suicide tuesday. the 26-year-old is in stable condition at a local hospital. the city has come under fire after a group of migrants refused to stay at the thousand bed facility and endure inhumane conditions, including freezing temperatures. on friday, mayor eric adams spent the night at the brooklyn facility. following the stunt, he defended the site but said the city would make some improvements.

meanwhile, new york city has helped some recently arrived migrants travel to canada. mayor adams defended the decision to buy migrants bus tickets to the u.s.'s northern border, months after blasting texas officials for busing them to new york. >> not telling anyone to go to any country or state. people who arrived here and already had other destinations in mind, basically compelled to come to new york. and when they are part of our intake process and we speak with people and they say they desire to go somewhere else. amy:o see our full coverage of this issue, go to democracynow.org. in texas, the white supremacist gunman who killed 23 people at an el paso walmart in 2019 pleaded guilty in federal court thursday to hate crimes and weapons charges. the gunman still faces state murder charges that could bring him the death penalty. the shooting was the deadliest attack on the latinx community

in modern u.s. history. shortly before the massacre, the shooter published a racist online manifesto echoing president trump's rhetoric about an invasion of immigrants crossing the southern border. that language has since been echoed by other republican leaders, including texas governor greg abbott a warning to our listeners and viewers, the following story contains violence and the sounds of lethal gunfire. in georgia, the atlanta police department has released four body camera videos recorded during the deadly january 18 raid on an encampment of activists opposing cop city, a proposed $90 million police training complex in the weelaunee forest. 26-year-old manuel esteban páez terán was shot dead by police during the raid. a private autopsy commissioned by terán's family found they were struck by at least 13 bullets. the videos don't directly show

terán's death, but the sound of the gunfire is clearly audible in the footage. amy: the georgial says it does not have footage of teran's killing because it doesn't issue body cameras to its officers. the atlanta police footage shows some officers warned about the threat of crossfire and questioned whether the wounded state trooper was shot by another officer. amy: police have injured officer was hit in the stomach by a bullet fired by a nine millimeters pistol purchased by terán. georgia's department of public safety said it would not release

the name of the trooper "because disclosure would compromise security against criminal or terroristic acts due to retaliation." the video's release comes after a member of a community stakeholder advisory committee for cop city filed an appeal, claiming dekalb county improperly issued a license for the project. another committee member, nicole morado, resigned in protest of terán's killing. morado said -- "de-escalation is possible, and a family lost a child because all they wanted to was save a forest, and that doesn't sit well with me." two hour coverage -- to see our coverage of cop city, go to democracynow.org. and in philadelphia, teaching and research assistants at temple university who've been on strike since january 31 have been told they will lose their tuition and health care benefits. the temple university graduate students' association called the strike in an effort to boost pay

and conditions for the student workers, who earn less than $20,000 a year. the cutoff in health benefits left some students unable to fill prescriptions, while others have had to cancel doctor's appointments. the strikers were given until march 9 to pay the entire balance of their tuition, in full, or they will face a $100 late payment fee with a financial hold placed on their accounts. a lead negotiator for the union called temple's decision "needlessly cruel." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the death toll in turkiye and syria has topped 17,000 and continues to dramatically rise following monday's devastating twin earthquakes. many survivors are facing unfathomable conditions without shelter, heat, food, water, or

medical care. the first u.n. aid has finally arrived in northwest syria three days after the quakes. rescue efforts in syria have been complicated by damage and displacement from 12 years of war and harsh sanctions. in turkey's border province of hatay, devastated residents say help took too long to arrive as they take stock of the disaster. >> we went to the city center. the situation is worse than here. it is worse. it is almost like a ghost city. we have gone back 50 yea in time. our children are devastated. our lives are lost. we lost our children, our parents. at least three people died from each home. amy: in syria, displaced survivors around aleppo say they face freezing conditions amid shortages of heating oil. many are too scared to remain indoors for fear of more tremors. >> to be honest, it is harder

than w. in war, a strike, and it passes. your we don't know end when it ends. we are terrified but it is all in god's hands. amy: the overall humanitarian crisis facing syria after over 12 yrs of war is staggering. prior to the earthquake, the u.n. estimated over 14 million people inside syria needed humanitarian assistance and that more than 12 million struggled to find enough food to eat. the u.n. has half a million syrian children are chronically maourished. the humanitarian group has documented over 600 attacks on health facilities, 940 two medical professionals in syria have also been killed since the war began. earlier this week, the syrian arab red crescent called on the european union to lift its sanctions to facilitate humanitarian aid reaching those who need it in government-controlled areas.

>> we need aid, lifesaving aid. it is desperately needed by civilians wherever they are, respective of borders and boundaries. we needed urgently to the fastest, most direct and most effective routes. they need more of absolutely everything. emergency response must not be politicized. we must instead focus on what is needed urgently to help men, women, and children, those whose lives are devastated by one of the most catastrophic earthquakes the region has seen in a century. after 12 years of war and displacements to be visited by such a tragedy i theetal of wier, is -- in the middle of winter is indeed enough. amy: we are joined now by dr.

houssam al-nahhas. he is a syrian doctor and middle east and north africa researcher at physicians for human rights. former emergency trauma physician in war-torn aleppo, syria. he is joining us from baltimore where he received his master's in public health at johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. we want to talk both personally and what is happening on the grand scale. thank you so much for being with us. your family lives in turkiye. the horror of these numbers that are increasing, of course, by the hour and we don't know really how many people have died. this is an area of many undocumented refugees, both syria and turkiye. hundreds of thousands of them. can you tell us the scope of the tragedy as you understand it right now? >> thank you very much, amy. good morning. let me start by saying i am lucky i am not bearing the pain

of losing a sibling or parent due to this earthquake. it is painful to see the loss of my friends, my relatives, all the people of turkiye and syria due to this earthquake. as you said, the toll of death is still unclear. hundreds if not thousands of people are still under rubble, struggling for their lives. and with each moment that passes, the chance of surviving decreases. the situation in syria is even worse with lack of response, lack of resources. the country has, as you mentioned, went through 12 years of war and now this crisis is compounded with a one in a century natural disaster like this earthquake. nermeen: dr. houssam al-nahhas,

you speak on what the constraints are getting humanitarian aid to areas not held by the government? >> so when we talk about areas not held by the government, we are talking about northwest syria, which relies mainly on one border crossing that has been constantly blocked and russia has tried to block it and hold it for humanitarian aid. and all u.n. aid comes through this cross-border. on the others of the cross-border on the turkish side, two of the cities that massively were affected by the earthquake, and that is why it is hard to get these humanitarian aid to the region from the border crossing. nermeen: and can you say what exactly are physicians and

people calling for, both in international organizations that are providing assistance? what are they say needs to be done both to provide aid in these areas in northwest syria, as well as in areas controlled by the regime? what needs to be done? >> so if i can start with north west, now the decision rescue operations are still ongoing. people are still getting out from under the rubble of their homes. there is no heavy equipment to help lift this rubble. prioritizing, supporting the rescue efforts is one of the main calls now. also when we talk about northwest syria, we're talking about a collapsing system with lack of resources, lack of medications that has already

been in issue in the region even before the earthquake. now we're talking about millions lost their homes and in shelters and are looking for health services. people i talked to and please working inside syria are overwhelmed with victims from the earthquakes in addition to people who are still seeking services for their chronic illnesses, women who are seeking services to deliver their babies and their pregnancies. just a lot of work on health care providers with limited resources. this first convoy from the u.n. just arrived three days after, which means the whole region was trying to work and operate with stuff that is there and it a country. amy: and aleppo, syrian survivors were seen helping rescue workers clear the ruins of destroyed and damaged buildings trying to break

through cement to rescue other people. >> we have not slept all night. we were really scared. >> we are in the street. we do not have a place to go. there is the mosque or the street. >> don't you want to go home? >> we are scared for the children. we went back home and a new earthquake took place so we went to the street. we remember the days of the war but this is god's will. amy: it looks like the numbers are going to dramatically escalate, what, about 80 years ago the earthquake of 1939 killed over 30,000 people. what do you think is most important, dr. houssam al-nahhas , for people to understand right now? you are a doctor there and now here in the united states. >> i can say throughout my work between 2011-2014 as a war

doctor, an emergency physician in aleppo, i have never seen this massive casualty or mass casualty event before. i think it is important for everyone to know there is a great need to support humanitarian worke, to support health care providers, to help them get -- provide the services that people are in great need for. we are talking specifically more about northwest syria, 4.6 million people living in this area, around 3 million already have been living in slums and now they lost all their belongings, other livelihood means. amy: dr. houssam al-nahhas, thank you for being with us, syrian doctor and middle east and north africa researcher at physicians for human rights. emergency trauma physician in formeremergency trauma physician in war-torn aleppo, came to

baltimore to go to school at johns hopkins. when we came back, we speak with a long time syrian activist. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: evan greer's "i want something," a favorite song of independent journalist and activist jen angel, who we are thinking of and rooting for today, who is hospitalized in california after being critically injured in robbery. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. as the death toll tops 17,000 in turkiye and syria from monday's twin earthquakes, we continue to look at the situation in syria after a must 12 years of devastating war. we go to berlin, germany, where we are joined by yassin al-haj

saleh, syrian writer, dissident, and former political prisoner. he is author of the book "the impossible revolution: making sense of the syrian tragedy." it is great to have you with us. if you can talk about this absolute catastrophe in both syria and in turkiye that is packed full of hundreds of thousands of refugees, millions of people affected -- we don't know the death toll at all. what you feel is most important for people to understand that have gone through a political earthquake, if you will, particularly in syria with all of these years of war? >> thank you for having me. as you said, 12 years struggle in syria. it was peaceful and then it

became a chaotic situation with the original international powers intervening in the country. but it was a natural catastrophe -- without holding the big criminals responsible for what they have done. so now when a real natural catastrophe has come, destroyed infrastructure and the threshold of international response to the catastrophe is so high to a degree that, as your report mentions, three days after the earthquake some u.n. aid has

finally come to the country. it is not clear it is related to the search-and-rescue activities, which is the most vital now with every hour will become worse. this is -- you cannot isolate this from politics. for long years, syria was not dealt with in a responsible way and in a way that defends victims and now it is still going the same way. the international activities are still -- mostly it was turkiye. the area in northwestern syria

is hardly receiving any help. nermeen: could you speak about what some of the difficulties are in providing -- effectively, this point, syria has been partitioned with all the different countries that have participated, that have intervened, and have occupied syria in these last 12 years. if you could just explain what has happened in syria in these last years? >> so it was a great moment of courage. it was an uprising for democracy. these 12 years of time, extremes, actually, extreme courage, extreme solidarity, extreme sacrifice. but also extreme crimes and

torture, rape, destruction for at least 100,000, i guess it was even more casualties, close to 2% of the population. we know 7 million externally, which is two thirds of the population. so if we compare this to the u.s., i guess it is like displacing 100 million americans , killing some 5 million or 6 million. it is huge, unprecedented, and in a small country -- syria is not that big of a country. but to see that, we have during these years, we have the u.s., we have russia, we have iran, turkiye, and israel.

at the same time, syrians are scattered in 126 countries according to the recent report by human rights watch. so in a way you could say the war of sya ding the 12 years sia -- that is why i always say syria is a microcosm. syria something else -- very important things about its future. nermeen: could you elaborate on that? why do you think syria is a microcosm of the world? and also, the fact syria continues to be -- the war in syria continues to be referred to as a civil war despite the fact, these minimally five countries have been very actively involved in the war for many years? >> yeah, this is not to mention

state actors like hezbollah and militias from iraq, pakistan with sponsorship of government of tehran in not to mention any organizations helen from -- hailing from other countries. it is a microcosm because syria is a microcosm because what has been happening in the country is related to international global structures. issues of islamophobia, issues of terrorism, the war on terror, issues --

we have all these parties with high-stakes in the country. at the same time when you see almost 30% of the population pushing to neighboring and faraway countries, so in a way we can sayhe war is macro syria. i believe the russian invasion to ukraine wouldn't have been possible without actually accepting -- syria is not a neighboring country. neighboring areas close to

russia proper, but in syria -- can have an outpost in syria which is not a neighboring country to russia, is ok. no one condemns it. not the u.s., not the u.n. condemned the intervention in syria i think this was a very dangerous to the russia regime to ok for them to do whatever they wanted. amy: if you could talk about how the war on terror has impacted the way the war has unfolded, and talk about your own personal story, which we have had you on

before talking about to come about your wife and what happened. i think this all is a part of one narrative. >> the painful thing, -- the global situation is the priorities of the most powerful. there were different diagnosis of political evils. maybe it was colonialism, maybe genocide, wars of aggression, torture states like the one we have in syria for six years --

by the way, in march it will be the 12th anniversary of the syrian uprising, the 60th anniversary of the rule of the country. so now the diagnosis of political evil shifted to tear. -- terror. since september 2001 in the u.s., even before, people ask terror. no longer war, no longer colonialism, no longer genocide. so the priority is power and now , the worst about it is it leads to securitization of politics.

and tomorrow evil ones of those who are involved in security, which in my country -- those who are busying themselves, raping them, making their lives hell. this priority build sort of underground between the u.s. administrations and the steering regime -- syrian regime and actually it has empowered all those who are already powerful and weakened those popular movements to the individuals and activists, those who struggle for human rights and democracy weekend, and they were already weak in countries like syria. this prioritizing has sacrificed

syria and made the country unspeakable conditions. my wife and my friends and my brother and 70 of my acquaintances, friends, were -- so many of my acquaintances, friends, and extremely insane situation. international community to this insane situation for thousands of days. it is now almost 5000 days of this continuous insanity. amy: i wanted to ask what you think about the biden administration so far refusing

to lift sanctions on syria. the state department says it is partnering with ngos in syria, but secretary of state antony blinken has confirmed there has been no diplomatic contact between the two countries is the earthquakes. this is what he said. >> with regard to syria, i am not aware of any contact between the united states government and the syrian government in recent days. since the earthquake. amy: what are your thoughts on this? yourself have been imprisoned under bashar al-assad's father. you were arrested for being a communist in syria, held for 16 years a prisoner. and now his son rules. your thoughts on what should happen right now? >> look, when i was in jail in the 1980's, more than half of the 1990's, there was sanctions against the regime.

after an assault or a bomb i guess was put in in 1986 or 1987. i was in the jail and we were impacted diet, actually. our families were impacted. in fact i was a smoker at that time, for example, and we do not have cigarettes. the fish i don't remember the word in english. we like so many things in jail. now in the position of sanctions, let's say i want my people to live in better conditions. i don't approve of the sanctions. i know the regime will benefit

very much by the lifting of sanctions and of course i don't want -- they are extremely corrupt and they will steal most of -- there are already reports about this, by the way. but at the same time, i don't want my people to starve, to be humiliated by hunger and dire needs as it has been happening over time. so i find myself not very good position, actually. i want the country -- the people of the country not to suffer from oppression and starvation, but i am afraid this will be

great for the regime -- if the regime is still there because they are powerful supporters of it and very weak challengers -- [indiscernible] when is it ok to cash or people with -- gas or people with torture? it is not up to the people to change their conditions, and we don't hope -- i don't inspect help. i have for lifting the sanctions. i don't know if there's any smart way to do it. i'm sorry, i cannot say a

clear-cut answer to this because our enemy wl benefit from it but i hope that people will benefit from it. amy: we want to thank you so much for being with us, yassin al-haj saleh, syrian writer, dissident, and former political prisoner. was jailed in syria from 1980-1996. his wife was kidnapped, samara, along with three others in 2013 and has never been seen again. his book includes "the impossible revolution: making sense of the syrian tragedy." when we come back, as the u.n.

secretary-general calls for the war in ukraine to end, we will speak with a journalist whose news outlet was recently outlawed by the russian government. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "whole" by sunny war. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is in brussels today where he addressed the european union parliament. the visit comes after he made surprise trips to paris and london where he urged european nations to begin providing ukraine with fighter jets. the british prime minister rishi sunak confirmed heavy tanks were being sent to the battlefield and pledged to train ukrainian forces on nato-standard jets, indicating the u.k. would likely follow up by providing fighter planes, though they have not agreed to this yet. moscow has warned such a move would only prolong the war. kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov said today, "the line between indirect and direct involvement is gradually disappearing."

this all comes as ukraine prepares for what is expected to be a major new rsian offensive in eastern ukraine. earlier this week, u.n. secretary general antonio guterres repeated his call for the war to end. >> i want to convey my deep sadness about the devastating earthquakes in turkiye and syria. i extend my condolences to the families and the victims. united nations is mobilizing to support emergency response, so let's work together in solidarity to assist all those hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid. during my tenure as high commissioner for refugees, i went several times -- amy: we are joined now by alexey kovalev, investigative editor of meduza, an independent russian news outlet.

we were scheduled to interview alexey in january, but just before we went to air, the russian government banned meduza and designated it an "undesirable organization," forcing him to postpone the interview. last march, alexey kovalev wrote a piece for "the washington post" headlined "i'm a russian journalist. i had to flee my country: putin's latest crackdown has destroyed the independent media." and now we see this latest attack on meduza. alexey kovalev, welcome to democracy now! what does this designation mean? how does this affect all your work? >> hello and thank you for having me. this effectively means both producing and disturbing our content is illegal in russia, a criminal offense. so anyone who is involved in our

work as a freelance or staff member is liable, but also anyone who shares a link to one of our stories on social media is also under a criminal offense which is punishable imprisoned up to four or five years. it is pretty drastic. it could be worse. for example, in belarus, not just the production and distribution of content that is criminalized but also the consumption. for example, you go outside and police stop you in the streets and see you subscribe to certain channel and that is also a criminal liability. it could be worse for us, but here we are now. nermeen: explain what the fallout of this has been already. do you still have people working with you from russia?

and has there been any impact on them? >> i cannot for safety go into specifics, but we had to remove most of the bylines of our freelance contributors to protect them from criminal liability. we still have sources and we still have contributors, but they have to work in deep background because they cannot be publicly associated with meduza now. this is very serious. even for people who left the country, they are not safe because unless they have evacuated their entire extended family and friends from russia, they are still in danger because the russian security services can and will and have in the past gone after relatives of people who left russia. so this is also something we have to keep in mind. nermeen: explain how the impact

of this on the russian public, how are people learning -- at the end of this month, will be one year since russia's invasion of ukraine. how are people in russia learning of what is actually going on? talk about the type of reporting that meduza and a few other independent news outlets that remain, the critical reporting that you are doing, issues you are covering that simply are not being covered now? >> look, so february 24 last year, meduza and all other independent media in russia -- by independent combining outlets that are not directly owned or directly controlled by the kremlin. that is most of the media consumption in russia. most of the media is consumed by russians is directly or indirectly controlled or owned by the kremlin. all of the others on the day of the invasion received a memo

from the censorship industry. it has a different name but it is in essence the censorship industry. we received a memo where they demand we only use information in our coverage provided to us by government officials. everything us would be considered fake news. a few days later, the russian parliament adopted a set of laws that effectily criminalized independent journalism. so we were facing a choice whether to self censor -- in this memo, even the word "war" was out of bous. you could only refer to the invasion aa special military operation,ot war. people have already been persecuted for calling this a war. but we made a choice on that day, we made a choice that we will not be submitting to this

and we will be covering this for what it is, a criminal invasion. and we had to -- well, let a face a consequences. until march last year, i was living in my home in moscow. i had to leave it behind, all my life. i don't regret it. this is what we have been preparing to do all of our lives , probably the most important mission. record crimes by our country in our name, no matter what the cost. this is what we have been doing day in and day out. most of the time without weekends for 12 to 14 hours a day. amy: i have to -- john >> are sources in russia and ukraine, covering the war both the domestic consequences of the war for russians and ukraine.

we are investigating war crimes committed by the russian military in ukraine. basically our job. amy: i want to ask you about you have zelenskyy going from britain to paris to belgium appealing for more weapons, and you have the u.n. secretary-general speaking about a call to end war the war. earlier we played the wrong clip. let's go to the correct. >> russian invasion of ukraine to end. the prospects for peace keep diminishing. the chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing. i fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war, i fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open. amy: if you could respond to this?

i also want to ask you about this latest news, the former israeli prime minister naftali bennett saying he actually brokered a peace deal between russia and ukraine early last year but western leaders blocked it. he made the claim in an interview with israel's channel 12. >> i will say this in the broad sense, i think there was a legitimate decision by the west to keep striking putin and putin striking ukraine. yes, but theore aggressive approach. i will tell you something, i can't say they were wrong. >> maybe others would see it and -- close my position at this time is not in is really interests.

amy: that is the former israeli prime minister naftali bennett. your response to him and a call for an end to this war? >> actually perfectly clear when the war will end. this is when russian troops withdraw from ukraine. not sooner, not later. this is pretty straightforward. so any proposed peace deal must involve that. and it does not sound to me very likely that this solution could

have been reached at any point in the first month of the war while the russian army was occupying large chunks of ukraine, which then -- if ukrainians were pushed into a peace deal, for example in the summer of last year, they would have been -- they would've had to concede large chunks of their territory which they later liberated. it doesn't seem very likely to me a peace deal could be reached -- could be negotiated by some third-party last year. and i don't think it is ethical for anyone to claim credit for the effort. because, well, any peace resolutions that don't involve the ukrainians and it's just, let's have the americans or british or someone else negotiate a peace deal or blame someone else for torpedoing such

a peace deal -- any peace deal of that kind would involve, like i said, ukraine conceding part -- amy: we have to go to break that we will bring part two of this conversation at democracynow.org . alexey kovalev,

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