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Breaking News: Explosion at St. Petersburg Metro; President Trump Set to Meet Chinese President Xi Jinping; U.S. President Threatens to "Go It Alone" With North Korea. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 3, 2017 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[08:00:15] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.

Now, U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to take on North Korea and says he'll do it with or

without China's help.

In South Korea, one powerful conglomerate is feeling the full economic effect of China's disdain for the proposed THAAD Missile Defense System.

Coming up, an explosive conversation with the CEO of the Latte Group, Xin Dong Bin.

And the desperate rescue and recovery effort continues in Colombia after a massive mudslide.

Donald Trump is talking tough with China on the issue of North Korea. He's demanding China to do more to solve the regime's nuclear threats or else

the U.S. will go it alone.

But in an interview with Financial Times, the president failed to give details about what that unilateral action would entail.

Now, Mr. Trump will soon meet face-to-face with President Xi Jinping at his Florida estate

this week and has said he plans to bring this issue up.

Now China has repeatedly said that its influence over North Korea has been overstated and the U.S. and South Korea should stop antagonizing North

Korea with military drills.

Now, CNN's Ivan Watson is in Seoul with more. He joins us now. And Ivan, first, what is the reaction there to this new ultimatum from President

Trump?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the question that immediately comes up is when President Trump says we'll go it alone, can

the U.S. afford to go it alone not only without China, but also without close regional allies like South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. is currently conducting trilateral military operations with the navies of both countries. They are practicing anti-submarine warfare

presumably against a North Korean threat.

We reached out to the South Korean government, to the unification ministry, for example, here for some reaction to the president's comments to the

Financial Times. And we're told there wouldn't be any reaction to those specific comments coming, instead government officials reiterating the long-standing alliance between the U.S. and South

Korea and saying that the consultations do continue.

The possible strategies that the Trump administration could use against North Korea, they really

vary from continuing current sanctions regimes to perhaps imposing sanctions on Chinese companies that do business with North Korea to -- all

the way to conducting some kind of a preemptive strike. And I think there was deliberate ambiguity in President Trump's statement saying, suggesting

perhaps all of these strategies could be on the table.

But listen to what the former defense secretary of the U.S. from the former Obama administration had to say when he was asked about, perhaps, the most

violent approaches of these approaches, a preemptive strike.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, FRM. U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY : If it comes to the necessity to protect ourselves, we've always had all options on the table.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS: How do you think North Korea would respond?

CARTER: To a...

RADDATZ: A preemptive strike on a launchpad, say?.

CARTER: It's quite possible that they would as a consequence of that launch an attempted invasion of South Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So there you had Ashton Carter saying that there would be immediate possible reaction and an attack on South Korea, meaning whatever

Donald Trump decides to do with North Korea, he will probably have to keep close and vulnerable allies like South Korea very much in mind as a

potential consequence of his strategy - Kristie.

LU STOUT: And what we heard just then from Ash Carter is just a reminder of how Seoul and South Korea have so much at stake here.

So when President Trump threatens unilateral action, what does South Korea think in terms of

what is the constructive path forward in regards to containing North Korea?

This is a big question right now. And the real issue is there's a leadership vacuum here, Kristie. The former president was impeached,

arrested, is expected to be interrogated, in jail this week. There is an interim administration and elections scheduled for early May. And the

current front-runner is Moon Jae-in (ph) comes from the Liberal Democrat Party and who has gone on record saying that he would first go and talk to

Pyongyang before he would talk to Washington.

His party is suggesting the possibility of investigating the land deal that involved the deployment of the controversial U.S. THAAD anti-missile system

in South Korea. And there is basically the suggestion that he would be much more open to a diplomatic approach to the North Korean rival rather

than this hard-line approach that the Trump administration, that Washington has been proposing, and that the former president, disgraced president has

followed.

And that's going to be a real question for the U.S. and whatever its future plans for dealing with North Korea and its nuclear program will be in the

months and years ahead.

LU STOUT: And also while we have you, your thoughts on China and how it regards all this, war of words from President Donald Trump saying that

China should do more or the U.S. is going to go it alone. China, we know, does have the economic lifeline with North Korea. It is the main political

ally of North Korea. So, from the U.S. perspective, I could see why they say China is not doing enough. But why does China always push back and say

that's not the case.

WATSON: Yeah. Well, the China's position is like, hey, there are things that the U.S. could be doing to improve this situation to reduce tensions.

The U.S. could return to the six-party talks, that negotiating framework that was used in the past that's kind of been dead for some time now. And

China says the U.S. aggravates tensions by conducting annual joint military drills, exercises that have been taking place for the last month, that

always ratchets up the tension, too.

You've had many administrations coming to the North Korean problem, to the tensions on the

Korean peninsula saying that the road to Pyongyang goes through Beijing. They have tried to get Chinese to further isolate North Korea with limited

results. Last month, the new U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the strategy of strategic patience with North Korea has failed. It's

time for something new.

And the big question continues to be what new can the Trump administration try to do that the Bush administration, that the Obama administration did

not succeed at. And that's the big question right here that everybody is trying to figure out.

By and large, though, it's very clear that Trump's statements in that interview were directed at

Xi Jinping in the run up to this meeting when they are going to sit down and probably discuss a whole range of issues, not just this burning almost

crisis on the agenda with North Korea, but also trade, South China Sea and a whole host of other issues - Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and that critical meeting just days away on Mar-a-Lago. Ivan Watson reporting live for us from Seoul. Thank you.

OK. Some breaking news just coming into CNN. We are learning of reports of a bombing on the metro in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Let's go straight to CNN's Matthew Chance who is standing by in Moscow. Matthew, what have you been able to piece together?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kristie. Well, details, of course, very sketchy at this early stage. It's just within the last few minutes that social media reports started to emerge about an

explosion on a metro station in St. Petersburg. It's now being reported by the Russian state media, the TASS news agency, that an explosion has hit a

metro station in the center of St. Petersburg.

Emergency services, according to state media, are on the scene. And there are casualties reported.

There are still photographs and video that's been circulated on the internet showing some very

violent scenes, some scenes of bloodshed and some scenes at the station, which has been described as, or named as Sennaya Square, which is right in

the center of St. Petersburg. Engulfed in smoke.

As I say, the platform, the corridors around this area, is also stills video - stills pictures, rather, of a train with what appeared to be its

doors blown off, and the splattering of blood marks around along with a few apparent casualties on the floor and on the platform. Beyond that we don't

have any information.

It's still not beingconfirmed to us by emergency situations ministry that normally take the lead in situations like this about what the circumstances

are.

But we are getting plenty of reports on Russian state media. Let me just repeat them to you: an explosion has hit a metro station in the center of

St. Petersburg. Emergency services are at the scene or at least on their way to the scene.

And it is being reported by Russian state media that there are casualties. That's been accompanied by stills photographs and video that's been posted

online showing these very chaotic and traumatic scenes in what state media has named Sennaya Square, metro station which as I say, Krsitie, is right

in the center of the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

[08:10:01] LU STOUT: And would that be the reason why this metro station would be targeted, because of its location. It's in the heart of St.

Petersburg. And also I know this is the very beginning stages of this breaking news story. The investigation is yet to begun, but any initial

suspicion on who could be behind this?

CHANCE: Well, look, in terms of the location of the metro station - I mean, if it's the place I think it is, I'm not absolutely sure, but it's a

busy part of St. Petersburg, it's what just gone 3:00 in the afternoon here in Russia, in this part of Russia. And so it would likely have been a

pretty busy time this explosion took place in. And we're not quite clear yet in terms of how many casualties, but we do know there are casualties

involved, and indeed there are images of casualties on the platform outside the train, the metro train, that was apparently the target of this

explosion.

As to what the reason would be, I mean, Russia of course has a long history, unfortunately, of being attacked by militants, Islamist militants,

usually from the Caucuses region of southern Russia, particularly Chechnya, where there has been a couple of very bloody wars

focused over the past decade and a half involving Islamists and nationalists who want Chechnya as an independent state, that's morphed over

the past decade or so after a crushing war by the Russians in Chechnya, that's morphed into a more general Islamist threat, a more general threat

of Islamic fundamentalism and militancy in that region, which then in the south of Russia, you know, projects itself, or manifests itself quite

regularly in terms of violence. The authorities being targeted, bombs being detonated.

It's much more rare for you to get one of these militants causing an explosion outside of that

immediate area of the caucuses. But of course it does happen. There have been countless incidents of this taking place in the past.

And so I think probably the finger of blame initially, although no investigation has really got under way, of course, we're in such early

stages, will be pointed towards the Islamists who have carried out bomb attacks like this in the past that originate from the south of

Russia. At the same time, there is another factor in all of this, which I think at this point in the game we

have to start to consider, which is that, of course, Russia is engaged in a very controversial war in Syria.

And it's possible, although I don't want to jump to any conclusions at this point, but it's possible

that could be a factor as well. And so, obviously, we're at very early stages right now. We're hoping to get more clarity in the hours ahead.

LU STOUT: Also the timing of the explosion on this metro station in St. Petersburg. As you mentioned there, 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, thankfully

not during rush hour, but still as you mentioned casualties have been reported on social media. We'll leave it at that.

Matthew Chance reporting for us. Thank you.

Now, you're watching News Stream. We'll be back with the headlines right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:14] LU STOUT: Breaking news this hour. We are learning of reports of an explosion at a metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia. There have

been reports of casualtie, and several stations along the metro line have been closed. We're monitoring video coming in from a local affiliate

there. Again ,this explosion took place in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia. Earlier, we spoke to our Matthew Chance live from

Moscow. And he said it took place about 3:00 p.m. local time the metro station believed to be near the city center. And there video coming in

from a local Russia television station there.

You can see just - it's very smoky there in the metro station where this explosion has taken place we're piecing together any more details.

Casualties have been reported, several people have been injuries, according one source. But we're still waiting to get any firmer details on this

breaking news story.

We're hoping to get back to our Matthew Chance in Moscow for all the new developments on what has happened, this explosion at a metro station in the

center of St. Petersburg.

Now, meanwhile President Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, also a senior White House adviser, is in Iraq. He is traveling with joint chiefs

of staff chairman General Joseph Dunford, who invited him. They are there to meet with Iraqi leaders and visit American forces to get an update on

the fight against ISIS.

Now, the trip comes as the campaign to recapture Mosul drags on. Iraqi troops are trying to protect civilians while battling jihadists in densely

populated areas.

Now, let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She joins us live. And Barbara, in the last few hours there has been a lot of confusion

about whether or not this trip was happening. So, what do we know now?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDEND: Well, a spokesman for the chairman of the joint chiefs issuing that statement. Yes, the

administration overnight had indicated to journalists that Mr. Kushner was already in Iraq. That was not true. He did not land until this morning,

Monday morning Washington, D.C., time.

The statement about why Mr. Kushner accompanied the chairman, let me read to you in part. It says, "as well as receiving briefings and updates, Mr.

Kushner is traveling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and U.S. personnel

currently engaged in the campaign."

So, it may raise some eyebrows because it is Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the president, but there's every understanding now that Jared Kushner is

a key senior adviser to the president, is getting increasingly involved in diplomacy and foreign affairs issues and in that capacity is making this

trip to Iraq, presumably to learn more about the fight against ISIS there, what U.S. troops are up against, that sort of thing.

He is expected to sit in several meetings. He, by all accounts, has the appropriate security clearances, and then will travel back to the United

States midweek - Kristie.

LU STOUT: And Barbara, some news organizations in the last few hours pulled this story about Kushner traveling to Iraq. Do we know why?

STARR: Well, as I indicated at the top, overnight some administration officials had indicated he was already there. That was not accurate. He

did not land until this morning, Monday.

LU STOUT: OK. So it was because of timing, the timing of his arrival there in Iraq.

And as he is in Iraq now this comes at of course a delicate time especially in regards to what happened as a result of coalition airstrikes in Mosul

last month.

STARR: Well, I mean, you know, fair to say, I suppose, since July 2014 really every moment has been sensitive in Iraq for the U.S.-led coalition

effort. The fight in Mosul, the effort across the border in Syria to have U.S.-backed forces get to Raqqa, the question of civilian casualties, the

question of rebuilding some of the cities that have just been devastated by both ISIS and the airstrike campaign.

So, Mr. Kushner will sit in meetings, learn about all of this. And I think the idea clearly is he

will come back much better informed, getting a firsthand look, sitting in those meetings yourself, I think most of us understand you get a better

understanding of what is happening, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Barbara Starr reporting live for us. Thank you.

Now, let's go back to our breaking news story, reports of a bombing on the metro in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Let's go back to our Matthew Chance in Moscow. And Matthew, have you been able to get any more new details on this incident in St. Petersburg?

CHANCE: Yeah, we're getting a bit more information dripping through to us from state media. And unfortunately none of it is good news. We're having

it confirmed now, at least it's been reported on Russian state media, that there are at least 10 casualties as a result of this explosion in that St.

Petersburg metro station. Some of the casualties are said by state media to be children.

We haven't managed to independently verify this or at least get confirmation from the emergency situations ministry here in Russia, which

normally takes the lead. And I'm sure is not taking the lead in this operation and in the eventual investigation.

But we are seeing lots of images that are being posted on social media looking at the aftermath of this explosion. And they're pretty devastating

scenes. You can see smoke-filled corridors, the doors of the metro train have apparently been blown off. There are casualties on the platform and

splashes of blood on the walls of the metro station.

And so some pretty horrific photographs, stills images and video that are emerging now on social media giving testimony to what is - looks like an

absolutely terrible incident that's taken place in the Sennaya Square metro station. And that's a metro station right in the center of St. Petersburg,

Russia's second biggest city.

We're also hearing on Russian state media that at least seven other metro stations in St. Petersburg have been closed down in the aftermath of this

attack. Now it's not clear whether attacks have taken place on those metro stations as well. At this point that seems unlikely, but at least seven

have been closed down.

Now, TASS, thse state news media who I have just been quoting as saying there were 10 casualties. They have now revised that report saying that

there are 10 dead people as a result of this explosion on that metro station in St. Petersburg.

So, that's the latest coming to us within the past few seconds, really, here in Russia. State media reporting 10 dead in a devastating explosion

in the subway station in the metro station in St. Petersburg - Kristie.

LU STOUT: Horrific violent act. Ten dead in St. Petersburg as a result of this explosion at a

metro station. Matthew, the timing of this explosion, anything significant about when this attack took

place?

CHANCE: Yeah, I think there is. I mean, not just the fact that it's a busy time in St. Petersburg at the moment, but actually as a matter of fact

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, who of course normally lives in Moscow, is in St. Petersburg right now. And he's been on live television

and national television, attending a media forum in St. Petersburg answering questions.

He's later today scheduled to meet with Alexander Lukashenko who is the president of Belarus. And so these two presidents are in St. Petersburg

right now.

Now, they are nowhere near, it seems,where this explosion has taken place. The Kremlin has already commented on this. We've asked them about Mr.

Putin or President Putin's response and all they told us at the moment is that President Putin is aware of this explosion, but nothing more than

that.

And so again, this explosion taking place, details very sketchy. There's lots of video, lots of

photographs emerging, though, on social media painting an absolutely horrific picture as you might

expect of the scene in that Sennaya Square metro station in the center of St. Petersburg, Russia's second biggest city.

LU STOUT: It's still in the early stages in terms of any sort of investigation being launched. Motive is anyone's guess right now, and also

who could be behind this, but as investigators rush to the scene as well as rescue workers, what is the initial thinking about who could be behind

this?

CHANCE: Well, I think it's - first of all as you say it's way too early to really make a judgment about that, except that Russia is no stranger to

terrorist attacks. It's been - its people have been the victims of bomb attacks on multiple occasions in the past. And more often then not, the

perpetrators of those attacks come from the caucuses region of southern Russia. There's an Islamic insurgency underway in that part of southern

Russia, it's centered in the past on Chechnya, although it's spread out to the surrounding republics in the past decade or so as a result of Russian

military action in Chechnya.

But it's very frequent in the Caucuses region of Russia. That's southern Russia, for bomb attack to be carried out, for the authorities to be

targeted, for shootings to take place.

It's much rarer, although of course not unheard of, by any stretch for those bomb attacks to take place elsewhere in the country. But Moscow and

St. Petersburg have been targeted by bomb attacks several times in the past. And I think the initial perception will be that this is probably

something to do with that, if it's found to be a bomb.

There is another factor, which I think is worth mentioning and throwing into the mix right now,

although of course we don't want to jump to any conclusions, but of course Russia is involved in the conflict in Syria. That may also be a factor.

[08:25:07] LU STOUT: You point out, that Russia is no stranger to terror attacks. There have been previous attacks in Moscow as well as in St.

Petersburg. So security, what kind of security is in place in soft targets like metro stations in Russia?

CHANCE: Well, I think there's a high degree of security in metro stations across Russia. And indeed on the streets of big cities like Moscow and St.

Petersburg there's a big police presence. The the threat of bomb attack is a constant one. And the Russian authorities have responded, too.

Whenever there's a large gathering of people they usually set up makeshift metal detectors for

people, for the crowds to be screened through, that there is often additional security at train stations,

particularly because train station vs been targeted on several instances in the past as well. But I think if this is a bomb and looking increasingly

like a bomb, then it underlines just how flawed any kind of tightened security can be.

I mean, we've seen this a lot around the world, not just in Russia but in the Middle East. If there's a determined bomber, if somebody is determined

to place a bomb on an area of public transport, then it's very difficult for the authorities, no matter how high their security is, to really stop

every one of those bombers.

But you're right, security is very high in Russia. It's essentially there's a lot of police in visible sight. And this appears, though, to

underline the fact that no amount of tight security can prevent a determined bomber.

LU STOUT: So now we have this terrible event that happened today, an outburst of violence, 10 people killed as a result of this explosion at a

metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia's second biggest city. When an attack like this takes place, what message does it

send, Matthew?

CHANCE: Well, it's difficult to say, isn't it, because it depends who is sending that message. But, look, I mean, in the past when Chechen

militants, or Islamist militants from southern Russia have carried out bomb attacks in Russia, the message has been very clear, that they can reach

into the heart of the Russian state and cause the Russian population, the kind of damage that they say the Russian state is imposing against their

populations.

And so you know, this is an example, I think, this is a way that militants can say, look, you may

think that you are untouchable in the Russian state, in the center of Russia, in European Russia, in a city like St. Petersburg, of course the

capital of Russian culture, but this is a message that the militants can touch Russia there.

Look, I mean, we don't know who is responsible for this yet. It's just being described as an

explosion at this point. But obviously, I mean, this is something that we're going to be able to get much more clarity on in the minutes and in

the hours ahead.

LU STOUT: Matthew Chance reporting live for us with this breaking news story. Thank you very much indeed for the update, Matthew.

And you're watching News Stream. We'll be back right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:44] LU STOUT: Let's look how China is reacting. Let's go straight to Will Ripley. He joins us live from Beijing. And Will, again President

Donald Trump, he is using some really tough language threatening unilateral action in regards to North Korea. How does Beijing view that?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, publicly at least, Kristie, Chinese government has been very measured in its response. The

ministry of foreign affairs here in Beijing put out a statement earlier today saying that there was a phone call that happened between the U.S.

secretary of state Rex Tillerson and China's top diplomat.

But it was a very pleasant news release. It said they talked about importance of the upcoming meeting in Florida between the two presidents

and how it really will lay the foundation, the groundwork for U.S.-China relations moving forward.

But the statement did not even mention North Korea. And you'll remember last week Donald Trump, the president, tweeted about the trade issue after

- just before signing those executive orders saying that China has played unfairly when it comes to global trade.

So we've seen the United States, specifically President Trump, in this kind of unfiltered way

saying things about China. And so far at least we haven't seen a very strong response from the Chinese government.

LU STOUT: So, a measured response from Beijing, interesting. And as President Trump through that FT article threatens unilateral action. And

this comes after Rex Tillerson, his chief diplomat, said that the policy of strategic patience is over.

What does Beijing think is the solution here? What does Beijing want to be the path forward in regards to the DPRK?

RIPLEY: China has long argued, Kristie, that the solution here is in the United States engaging

with the North Korean. Deescalating tensions. China would love to see joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea come to an end.

They think that it's very provocative.

China, for its own strategic reasons is not a fan of those military exercises. And so China has, even though previous U.S. administrations

have put pressure on China to enforce stronger sanctions against North Korea, we haven't seen China do that. They didn't do it during the Bush

years, even in the mid-2000s after North Korea's first nuclear test. They have now had five nuclear tests and there's a lot of indications, according

to analysts, who are studying satellite data, that the sixth nuclear test could really happen at any timee.

What we need to watch, though, will be really the timing of this North Korean nuclera test. if they were to do it this week, later this week, or

even over the weekend, you know, right around the time of President Xi's trip to the United States, a very important visit to China, that would

indicate a real lack of respect from the North Korean government side that they're not really worried about embarrassing their Chinese neighbor, which

accounts for 70 to 90 percent of their trade, and could really inflict some economic damage on the North Korean government if they were to tighten, you

know, crank up the screws, tighten the screws, so to speak.

But would China actually be willing to do that, because they certainly don't want to risk destabilizing the North Korean government to the point

that there could be a humanitarian crisis with tens of thousands of people or more streaming across their border.

And of course they certainly don't want to see the United States conduct some sort of military strike against North Korea. Pretty much every

analyst agrees that that could be really catastrophic, certainly for millions of people that are living very close to the North Korean border in

Seoul.

[08:35:08] LU STOUT: CNN's Will Ripley with the view from Beijing. Thank you, Will.

Now, let's go back to our breaking news story this hour. Reports of an explosion on the metro in St. Petersburg, Russia. Let's go back to Matthew

Chance. He's standing by in Moscow.

And Matthew, state media reporting 10 people killed as a result of this explosion. The situation is still very fluid. What's the latest?

CHANCE: Yeah, 10 people killed. We're expecting to see more casualties as well. State media giving us some trickling of details, saying that

children were amongst the casualties so it's not clear whether any have been killed.

The metro station has been named as Sennaya Square, which is right in the center of St. Petersburg. There's a lot of video that's emerged. There a

lot of stills photographs that have been posted online showing the appalling scenes in what must have been the immediate aftermath of this

blast in the metro station, the doors are showing to be blown off the metro train. There are casualties on the platform, which has been splattered

with blood.

Another sort of interesting and alarming fact is that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, is in St. Petersburg today, and he's been attending a

media forum, and he's been on live national television speaking in that forum.

He's also scheduled to meet the President of Belarus in St. Petersburg this afternoon. Alexander Lukashenko, so the two presidents would be there.

But it's understood there in not in any immediate danger, although the Russian authorities say that seven metro stations in the St. Petersburg

area have been evacuated as a result of this blast.

It's also emerged from Russian prosecutors who are on the scene, of course, inside St. Petersburg at the metro station that they're investigating

reports of a second blast taking place at the next station along the line from Sennaya Square. That's not been confirmed yet.

It's definitely confirmed that they're investigating it, but it's not clear yet whether there has been a blast there as well. There are some confusing

reports being circulated in these very early minutes since this explosion took place, Kristie.

LU STOUT: OK, so we've been able to confirm at the moment casualties counts, 10 people confirmed dead. This taking place at the St. Petersburg

metro station very close to the city center at a time when the Russian president is believed to be in town for talks with his Belarussian

counterpart. Haver you been able to, in addition to scouring social media, getting this very chilling footage of what looks like the aftermath of this

explosion, but to get social reaction from the residents. Their thoughts now as this explosion, and perhaps another one, has taken place in their

city?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, obviously there is going to be outrage. There's going to be outrage that people have lost their lives, and again, at least

ten people are known to have died. And by looks of the photographs in the video that's been circulating on social media, that figure could rise. And

I expect there are injuries as well that haven't yet been reported.

The fact that there are children among casualties as well will add an additional layer if any were needed of outrage.

And so that's to be expected.

What we don't know yet is if there will be any political fallout from this. I expect there won't be

actually. But one area of speculation is that, you know, there could be some consequences for this, would - depending on who is responsible for it.

But at the moment, I think in these early hours, the focus will very much be on the outrage that will undoubtedly be felt by not just the residents

of St. Petersburg being targeted in this way but by Russians in general that if this is a terrorist attack, and it certainly

looks like one, that it could have been carried out in a metro station in the center of the second biggest city in the country and its cultural

capital.

And so yes, I mean, I expect there will be a lot of outrage about this.

LU STOUT: And why does this area, St. Petersburg, and this metro station stand out as a target?

CHANCE: Well, as I say, St. Petersburg is a major Russian city. The - and as such is a major target for terrorist groups that want to target the

Russian state.

The metro station, Sennaya Square, is right in the center of that city. It seems that the blast took

place at a time when the metro station was very busy, as they often are, which obviously would send a very potent message to the Russian state from

whichever group it deemed carried this explosion out.

And so yes, look, I mean, that's the main reason why I expect St. Petersburg has been targeted,

because it's a big Russian city. And this metro station is right in the middle of it.

[08:40:02] LU STOUT: And who may be behind this attack? And who would be the top suspects in the minds of the investigators?

CHANCE: Well, as I say it's a little bit early to apportion blame at this point, but Russia is no stranger to terrorist attacks like this in the

past. And in the past, the vast majority of them have been carried out by Islamist militants fighting, or originating mainly in the south of the

country, in the Caucuses.

Russia's south, Russia's Caucuses has been very restive over the past several decades. It's had at least two brutal wars focused on the Republic

of Chechnya.

Since those insurgencies were crushed by the Russian military, the insurgency is kind of spread out to the surrounding republics and has

become much more low level.

But certainly bomb attacks and attacks against Russian officers is quite commonplace in that region.

It's much less comon for those attacks, or for bomb attacks to take place elsewhere in the country.

Of course, it's not unheard of. Back in 2010, when I was last posted here, actually, there was a major attack on a Moscow metro in which numerous

people were killed.

In 2015, there was an attack on a train station in Volkagrad (ph), which left, you know, dozens of people killed as well.

And so, these kinds of atrocities are rare in Russia relatively compared to how often they take place in other parts of the world, but they do happen.

And the Russian authorities are well versed, unfortunately, in responding to them.

LU STOUT: And prior to this explosion, was there any warning, any intelligence that was signaled that something like this would take place?

CHANCE: Well, not as far as I'm aware.

I mean, who knows what warnings the Russian security services had. Obviously, they have usually quite good information. I think when it comes

to the threat posed by Islamists, if it indeed is Islamists who carried this out, to the Russian population at large, otherwise I expect there would be many more bomb attacks against

the Russian population in major centers like St. Petersburg and in Moscow.

The fact that you don't see them that frequently I think is a testament to just how tight a

grip the Russian security forces have on what is a burgeoning insurgency in the south of the country.

Look, I mean, so, I hope -- I think what often happens is that we will get a lot more detail on

who is behind this, who the suspects are, what the motives were in the minutes and in the - certainly hours and days ahead. And so we'll

obviously keep you posted on that.

LU STOUT: Yeah, absolutely. Very, very early on, this is breaking news, a fluid situation

as you point out. 10 people confirmed dead according to Russian state media in the wake of this explosion in St. Petersburg at a metro station.

Matthew Chance has been reporting on this the last hour for us. And we'll have more on our breaking news story after this quick break. Keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: OK. Welcome back. More on breaking news story again. Reports of a bombing, an explosion on the metro in St. Petersburg, Russia, took

place in a Metro car, according to media, agency says 10 people have been killed as a result of this explosion, noting that the exact number of

victims that is still being established.

The agency itself giving no official confirmation of this information. Our Matthew Chance has been following this story since it broke. He joins us

again live from Moscow. And, you know, Matthew, since we last talked we've now received word of President Vladimir Putin and his response

to this atrocity.

[08:45:17] CHANCE: Well, if we have, because I've been reporting the developments, I haven't heard it. All I know is that the Kremlin confirms

that Vladimir Putin is aware of the attack or of the attack - or of the explosion. I haven't heard what response he's made, but I expect it will

be quick in coming because Vladimir Putin is in St. Petersburg right now. He was on state television speaking live to a media forum at the time when

the explosion took place, which has now been confirmed or reported by state media as having taken place at 2:30 local time. It's now a quarter to 4:00

local time, so not that long ago.

We're also getting a bit more information as to the casualties. Let me remind you that Russian state television is now rolling live on these or

rolling on these images continually now. It's broken into its normal programming and is rolling on these very traumatic violent images coming

from St. Petersburg constantly now.

The latest update from state media is that along with the 10 dead, there are at least 30 people - 30 people, who have been injured, including

children who are casualties as well. It's it's not clear whether the children are part of the dead or part of the injured, but it's absolutely

terrible scenes that are now emerging from St. Petersburg. The smoke- filled train platform, the metro platform, the doors of the metro train appear to have been blasted off.

There are splatters of blood on the platform and on the walls of the platform and casualties strewn around, absolutely chaotic scenes as

emergency workers enter that train station at Sennaya Square, which is right in the center of St. Petersburg to address the issue and to treat the

wounded and to take away the dead, of course.

But also to evacuate the many, many people who were on that train and on that platform when

the explosion took place. In addition to that, two other things, seven other train stations or metro stations in St. Petersburg have also been

evacuated in the aftermath of this explosion and there are investigations underway by Russian prosecutors in St. Petersburg to determine whether

there's been a second blast that's taken place as well in the next metro station along the line.

There's been some confusing reports about this. But prosecutors say they told state media that they are investigating reports of a second blast.

And so this is still a very quickly, very fast developing situation in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city - Kristie.

LU STOUT: And we've been looking at a combination of state-run media, video as well as social video showing us the immediate aftermath of this

explosion at the metro station in St. Petersburg looking at smoky interiors of the subway station as well as the mangled doors of a subway train car,

underscoring just the power of this explosion.

You are reporting that the casualty count continues to rise, quite alarmingly. This is what I was hinting at earlier. We were able to get

here at CNN, this line from Vladimir Putin that he has expressed condolences.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to the victims of this metro attack in St. Petersburg. He is talking to FSB

security services about the investigation. That, Matthew, of course, that's according to state media.

Earlier, you talked about the public outrage, the outrage that is probably beginning to kick in

at this moment, especially people look at the videos that's being played out right now

But, then all eyes will be on the Russian president to see what kind of firm response he will deliver to this.

CHANCE: Look, and thank you for reading that statement from Vladimir Putin, because I think it gives us a very clear indication of what the

Russian Kremlin, what the Russian president's response is going to be. He has a reputation for being a hard-liner when it comes to terrorism, when it

comes to the Islamic militancy that has roots in discontent in the south of Russia, in the caucuses.

He cracked down hard on Chechen militants in the late 1990s and the early- 2000s basically crushing their rebellion and pushing the insurgency to the surrounding republics in a much more low

level way, but bringing a form of peace -- well, a form of stability at least to the Republic of Chechnya, although it's a deeply flawed peace, of

course, because of the human rights abuses that take place there still.

But nevertheless, it's a much better situation in Chechnya than it was in the early 2000s when I was there covering the fall of Grozney, when the

entire entire situation, entire city had been leveled by Russian artillery.

But ever since then, there has still been a low level insurgency in the Caucuses. It's very common for attacks to take place against Russian

officials, federal officials or local officials, bomb attacks to take place, shootings to happen between militants and the authorities.

It's much less commonplace, to take place in the center, really, of Russian culture - St. Petersburg, or in Moscow, the Russian capital. This

explosion taking place in St. Petersburg, the second biggest city in Russia.

So, it sends a very powerful message to the Russian state that they can be got at, as it were, wherever they are, even in their own heartland. And I

expect the response from Vladimir Putin beyond the words that we've heard him say publicly now and to the FSB, the Federal Security Services, will be

a very tough one.

And so I think we can expect to see a very tough crackdown, tougher than it's already been, on rebel groups inside the country.

LU STOUT: And a question, Matthew, about the Russian security response, because as we look at these images coming through to us from state media

and also from social media, we see that after this explosion took place in the metro station there in the city, that people are still milling about,

people are still there at the scene of this blast.

And there's also this additional blast that is believed to have taken place. So, how well coordinated is Russian security after an incident like

this?

CHANCE: Well, first of all, we don't know whether a second blast has taken place. I want to claw back on that a little bit in the sense it has not

been confirmed. Prosecutors say they are investigating it.

But look, I mean, you're right, to point out that, you know, outside of the metro station after the evacuation has taken place for many people in St.

Petersburg, which is a huge city, life will go on as normal as it often does in cities around the world that have unfortunately become more and

more frequently the victims, the targets of terrorist attacks.

It doesn't stop life in those cities. They still carry on, people do.

But that doesn't diminish the sense of outrage that people in St. Petersburg and across Russia

and, indeed, across the world are likely to express as a result of this explosion. We've got now at least 10 people killed, at least 30 people

injured. And amongst the casualties are children.

And so we're going to be seeing an outpouring of outrage, not just from Russian people and the

Russian government, but I expect from countries all over the world we'll be offering their condolences and their support for Vladimir Putin and for the

Russian people at this time.

And that's interesting given the political situation, given the animosity and the tension between

the United States and Russia at the moment. Donald Trump, the Russian president, said that he always

wanted to cooperate with Russia on international terrorism. This may well emerge as the opportunity that he was looking for.

LU STOUT: And tell us more about the target and the symbolism, of this target, a lifeline for commuters in St. Petersburg at the heart of the

city.

CHANCE: Yeah. I think it's definitely those things, it's definitely lifeline for commuters, it's definitely at the heart of the city. St.

Petersburg is an immensely important city in the Russian psyche. It's the cultural capital of Russia. It's, you know, it's where the czars had their

capital. And it's an immensely beautiful place. And in the center, it's a UNESCO world heritage site, of course, built by Peter the Great.

And so it's an immensely potent symbol to attack this city in the heartland of the Russian state

is immensely potent. It's also, as I say, a very big city in its own right, a big, modern city. And so it's an economic target as well. And I suspect

that is the -- those are the primary reasons that St. Petersburg was targeted in this way.

LU STOUT: All right, Matthew Chance reporting live for us from Moscow, many thanks indeed for that.

We're joined now by Jill Dougherty, a frequent CNN contributor, former CNN Moscow bureau chief. She joins us now from Seattle.

And Jill, as you were talking about, as Matthew Chance was commenting on. The target itself, the symbolism of this target and what it means for

Russia. Your thoughts on what's happening now.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think that's true. Normally, you know, when there have been attacks -- and of course a while ago during the

Chechen conflict and then after that, there have been mainly attacks in Moscow. So, here we have St. Petersburg. If you look at the video, if

you're reading Russian reports, it was a very powerful couple of blasts apparently.

Russian media, again, this is all coming from Russian media, two metro stops. in St. Petersburg. So, This would have to be pretty well planned,

there's no question. Also, President Putin was in the city. The reports say he was going to be meeting with president of Belarussia. And so to

have him in the city, the city where he comes from, which he comes from - this is his hometown, and it's a very important place. And then the metro

stops being down in the center of town.

So, this is a very significant thing.

It comes also at a moment that there have been - and I'm not saying at all that there is any connection between these two, but there have been

demonstrations in Russia, anti-corruption demonstrations. There's a feeling of, you know, some type of foment. President Putin had spoken

about that. And so there's, I would say, perhaps some nervousness, and now all of a sudden if there's no question that it is being looked at and the

president himself said primarily as a terrorist act, they haven't ruled out criminal, but - and St. Petersburg does have quite a bit of corruption and

criminality. Thiings do happen, but this brings, at least feels like, the terrorist acts that have hit Moscow, again, a number of years ago.

Interestingly, when you look at the conflict in Chechnya, which is often looked at as a center

for this, that has died down in Chechnya. There is other attacks on policemen, et cetera, in that region, in Dagestan (ph) and other

surrounding areas, but that has not been a primary concern. So one would have to think why would this be carried out? The symbolic value, of

course, of terrorism is the main reason for doing terrorism.

So again, as I heard Matthew saying, I would tend to agree that there's a great amount of

symbolism at doing this in St. Petersburg when the president is there.

LU STOUT: Yeah. And why would this be carried out. We know that Vladimir Putin is

talking to FSB security about the investigation. He's offered his condolences to the victims, the families of the victims. Fifty casualties,

that's the latest number we're getting from state-run media, at least 10 deaths confirmed by Russian state media. Jill, as you pointed out, at the

time of this explosion in St. Petersburg, the Russian President Vladimir Putin was there.

In a sense, this makes him look very vulnerable. So, how is he likely to respond after this incident?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, I think very harshly. He has made it very clear that anything like this is very, very serious. They have taken steps over the

course of years to strike back at whoever will do this Russian law permits striking anyone who carries out terrorist acts no matter where they are.

But again, it's to determine which group did this and why, you know, is it part of the kind of old

interpretation of the previous attacks of Chechen terrorism or is it something else?

Again, all speculation.

But could this be just to sow terror, who did it. Why would they want to sow terror. These are all the questions I'm sure that they're going to be

looking at.

LU STOUT: Jill, we just got a statement in from Vladimir Putin. He says he's considering all causes. Let me read this statement for you so we can

get your analysis, quote, the reasons for the explosion are unknown, so it is too early to talk about it. The investigation will show what happened.

This is from the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He goes on to say, quote, naturally we always consider all options, both domestic and criminal, primarily incidents of a terrorist nature. Let's

see. The investigation will soon provide all the answers as to what happened, unquote.

Jill, your thoughts on that, that statement from Vladimir Putin.

DOUGHERTY: Well, is would expect - that's the type of statement that I would expect from the president. It's careful. This just happened.

Nobody at this point seems to know who did it or why, so they do have to carry out an investigation.

And then he is not immediately jumping to any conclusion about terrorism, and then he's mentioning criminality, et cetera.

So he's covering all bases.

But that, I think, again, is the statement that you would expect from President Putin. Now, the investigation has to take place, and then you

can be very sure that President Putin will be saying something as that investigation concludes, who did it.

And as I say, the context of this is important because of many social factors and that it will be

important to hear his conclusion and how quickly he comes to that.

LU STOUT: All right. Jill Dougherty, thank you. Again, breaking news this hour from Russia, an explosion at a metro station in St. Petersburg.

Russian state media reporting 50 casualties, 10 people killed, children included. This took place in St. Petersburg at the time of Russian

President Vladimir Putin was there visiting St. Petersburg for a meeting with his Belarussian counterpart. We'll have much more on this breaking

news story for you on the hours ahead right here on CNN. Keep it here.

END