let's bring in clarissa ward who joins us from moscow. hat the russian government controls the russian media, what are the country of that -- the people of that country being told about the election? >> this is extraordinary. i've lived in russia twice before and i've never seen a u.s. election being followed. what they're being told is the election is rigged. some media channels are even saying that they believe that donald trump could be assassinated by u.s. special services op raceratives who do believe that he belongs in power. >> the american dream is dead. >> reporter: russia's media is relishing every minute of this u.s. election, presenting it as an epic failure of american democracy. it's not hard to see who the favorite is here. the republican candidate is presented as a maverick underdog, a political outsider who speaks truth to power. hillary clinton, on the other hand, is cast as a dangerous russia hater, whose election could lead to world war iii. russian media frequently labels her a witch, with one tabloid even calling her

clarissa ward traveled to moscow to find out why donald trump is so popular. >> the american dream isbing. bong bong, bing bing. >> reporter: russia's media is relishing every minute of this u.s. election. presenting it as a failure of the u.s. democracy. it's not hard to see who the favorite is here. the republican candidate is presented as a maverick underdog, political outsider who speaks truth to power. hillary clinton, on the other hand, is cast as a dangerous russia hater, whose election could lead to world war iii. russian media frequently labels her a witch, one tabloid calling her evil incar net. it's a response to clinton's aggressive attitude. >> the word on the street is that clinton is hostile to russia. she's been hostile. she's made all those anti-russian statements, hacking, putin, russia, just read her statements. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: president putin dismissed allegations that russia is playing favorites in this race, but as the polls tightened, russia media is now suggesting that the election is rigged and that the establishment won't let tru

. >> cnn's senior international correspondent clarissa ward takes a detailed look at the future of u.s ties. >> reporter: now that the celebrations are over the hard work of repairing u.s./russia relations begins. president putin acknowledged the challenges even as he congratulated president-elect trump. >> we heard the election proposals he talked about restoring and resuming relations with russia. we understand that will be difficult taking into account the current state of degradation between the united states and russia. >> reporter: over russia's aggression in ukraine and syria, nato expansion and most recently alleged russian hacking of democratic party e-mails, trump has been critical of nato and has indicated he may accept russia's annexation of crimea from ukraine. music to russia's ears. >> people of crimea, from what i've heard, would rather be with russia than where they were. >> reporter: he has also refused to finger russia for the e-mail hacks as suggested working with them against syria in the fight against isis and has spoken positively about putin. the big question he

cnn's clarissa ward live in moscow with more. hi, clarissa. >> hi, carol.hat a difference a couple of days makes. i can't begin to explain how intense the russian propaganda against this u.s. election has been for nearly a year now russians have been told every day, and every night that the election is rigged. that it proves what a failure western democracy really is. now, we are hearing a very different tune, with people here extolling the virtues of america's democracy, and even the head of the kremlin-owned russian today channel saying that she would like to drive through moscow waving an american flag. take a look. this was the reaction of russia's lawmakers as donald trump claimed victory. >> myself and the ldpr party congratulate donald trump on his victory. >> reporter: local media, too, could barely conceal its delight. running this clip of presidential look-alikes every hour on state tv. global markets tumbled with the news but russia's held strong. as president putin congratulated president-elect trump. >> we've heard his electoral slogans when he

as clarissa ward shows us, the whole world is watching. >> reporter: the rest of the world doesn't get in next week's election but it is watching the race with rapt attention and it's easy to see why. >> we can't continue to allow china to rape our country. >> well, that's because he would rather have a puppet as president. >> no puppet. >> we will build a wall. mexico is going to pay for the wall. >> reporter: the american election has global consequences. >> i'm really rich. >> reporter: donald trump initially seen as something of an amusement, is now in many countries a figure of fear and loathing. in mexico, easter celebrants this year chose to burn effigies of him rather than the traditional. in germany activists took pleasure in tearing down their own trump wall as the foreign minister called him a preacher of hate. the french president didn't mince words either, saying trump's excessiveness makes people want to retch. as one canadian puspaper summarized it we're terrified. clinton is not popular everywhe everywhere, either. russia, which has been accused of hacking democratic pa

and a clarissa ward joins us from london. did donald trump upset the british prime minister with that one tweet? >> reporter: well, wolf, it's a storm's in a teacup as they say here in the united kingdom essentially president-elect donald trump tweeted that "many people would like to see nigel faraj represent great britain as their ambassador to the united states. he would do a great job. worth taki taking into account controversial figure somewhat here in the uk. he is one of the main faces of the leave europe or brexit campaign. this tweet by president-elect trump was rebutted almost instantaneously by number ten with a number tart response saying that, in fact, the uk appoints its own ambassadors, and that there was "no vacancy" because, of course, the post is currently occupied by sir kim derek, and then nigel faraj responses with yet another tweet. playing out on non-traditional new media, social media. anyway, nigel faraj tweets that downing streept needs to accept the world is changing and he is in "a good position wit

let's bring in cnn's senior international correspondent clarissa ward.ravel to the kremlin during the campaign, according to this official, right? >> reporter: well, there's a lot of confusion here. we are seeing, basically, jake, a he said she said, with the russian foreign ministry representative saying this morning the kremlin had had contacts with the trump campaign throughout the presidential race. that claim was rebutted by the trump campaign. then, later in the day, a different foreign ministry spokesperson came forward and said they had had contact with the clinton campaign and that the trump campaign had only been in contact with embassy officials in the u.s. in either case, jake, both the clinton and the trump campaigns completely denying these allegations. and really, everyone now focused on what the trump presidency means for the future of u.s.-russian relations. take a look. now that the celebrations are over, the hard work of repairing u.s.-russian relations begins. president putin acknowledged the challenges even as he congratulated presid

cnn's clarissa ward live in moscow. hi, clarissa. >> hi, carol.l, here in moscow, a very different situation to what ed is seeing there in moscow. people here have been dining out on this election. they see it as demonstration of the epic failure of western democracy. we've seen propaganda spots depicting abraham lincoln crying tears of blood. basically, people here believe that shadowy authorities in the u.s. will not allow donald trump to become president. they've gone so far as to say in the media perhaps he will be assassinated. if you head to the russian tourism stands and look at these famous nesting dolls you can find only ones of donald trump. you will not see any of hillary clinton. trump here is soeen as a charismatic. the love they have for trump. the hatred they have for hillary clinton. it is intense. they see her as anti-russian, a war monger who will be bad for u.s./russian relations, carol. >> all right, collar lis lariss reporting live from moscow. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. >>> and good morning and thank you so m

cnn's clarissa ward has this report for us. >>> the american dream is dead. bing, bing, bing.g, bong. >> reporter: russia's media is relishing every minute of this u.s. election, presenting it as an epic failure of american democracy. it's not hard to see who the favorite is here. the republican candidate is presented as a maverick underdog, a political outsider who speaks truth to power. hillary clinton, on the other hand, is cast as a dangerous russia hater whose election could lead to world war iii. [ laughter ] >> reporter: russian media frequently labels her a witch with one tabloid even calling her evil incarnate. state tv anchors say it's a response to clinton's aggressive attitude. >> the view on the street of course is clinton's hostile to russia. she's done anti-russian statements, be it about hacking, putin, russia, those statements. >> reporter: president putin has dismissed allegations that russia is playing favorites in this race. but as the polls have tightened, russian media is now suggesting that the election is rigged, and that the establishment won't let tru

. >>> clarissa ward is joining us live from moscow. ternational diplomatic editor nic robertson in erbil, iraq, and elise labott is here with me. clarissa russian president putin seems very pleased with america's choice of president. let's listen to what putin said today. >> translator: russia is ready and wants to restore the ful full-fledged united nations with the united states. we understand this will be difficult but we will be ready to play our part in it and do everything to return russian-american relations to a stable and sustainable development track. >> clarissa, is this a pivotal moment for u.s./russian relations? >> well, wolf, i think it's no secret that if you look at the past few years that the breakdown of the russian-u.s. relationship to cold war levels, the rising anti-americanism you see here, the phobia we see in the u.s., all of this has been a major problem. there have been several key issues that have been instrument toole the deterioration of that relationship, the situation in ukraine, of course, the situation

lest bring in our cnn senior international correspondent clarissa ward and nic peyton walsh.seem to have difficulty communicating the urgency and hardship of the people trying to live in aleppo. what do we know right now? >> well, the situation now is truly at a breaking point, i would say, chris. essentially four years ago the rebels took about half of aleppo, the southeasteeastern p city. once the russians joined in on behalf of the assad regime, we saw a real uptick in the amount of bombardment hitting those rebel air whys. eventually, they were able to fully encircle the area of eastern aleppo. what we've seen is the regime forces backed by iran, backed by russia, backed by shiami my lil from iraq and afghanistan, have taken roughly one-third of the rebels' parts of the city. what they appear to be doing now is cleave in half, if you will, the remaining area. thousands and thousands of air strikes, no food getting in, no water getting in, and for many people trapped in these areas, chris, nowhere to run to because they're simply not willing to try to leave and go into a g

for the latest, let's bring in cnn's clarissa ward live from moscow. what is the word from moscow?porter: well, chris, good morning, we already heard that russian president vladimir putin has reached out to donald trump sending a message saying that he hopes his election win will usher in a new era of u.s.-russian relations which he described as being, quote, critical stage. on the surface, officially i think what you're hearing is officially a restrained polite tone. privately, chris, there's no secret there's a shot going on here that russian officials really disliked hillary clinton. i spoke to one that said today is my birthday but this is the best gift ever. this is less than about donald trump than a very thank you ennath ma of what it is with a warmonger and interesting to see how the relationship develops from here, chris. >> let's bring in the panel, shall we. >> we have our comment tarts, hilary rosla hilary rosen and john phillips. hillary, i know this is not how you expected last night to go. how are you getting your mind around it this morning? >> you know, i hear the

. >> cnn senior international correspondent clarissa ward in is moscow gauging reaction to president-elect trump. officially in russia, the kremlin and president putin issued a politecrati congratula. privately one popping open a bottle champagne. there was a round of applause in the parliament. does that concern you at all, or do you agree that the united states and russia should be closer allies? >> well, it would be great to be closer allies. it would be important, you know, for global peace. i think we need to be careful with regard to some of the specific policies. as you know, i have taken a role on this eastern european issue of pushing back against russia, not just crimea but also what they're doing on the eastern border of ukraine. i think the sanctions are appropriate. yes, of course, we want a better relationship with russia, china and other countries around the world. and there is an opportunity here. this could be a fresh start. does that sound familiar? we have to be sure that it's based on the right kinds of policies and that it's in our national security interest. >> after