ukraine in february, and is now living in london. bg, as he is known to his fans, risks prosecution for his anti war comments if he returns to russia. the role cultural icons have to play in the politics of protests is a well trodden one, but do their voices have any impact inside russia? boris grebenshchikov, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for having me. all right, so you last performed in russia just six hours before putin invaded ukraine. you say you had a sense of foreboding that something monumental was going to happen. what did you think was going to occur? you know, we played a concert on the night before the invasion, and i had this weird feeling that i m playing in hamburg in 1939. so i knew that something really bad is coming. i couldn t predict the war, but, you know, it felt bad. and now, when you see ukrainian cities, where you performed, either being destroyed, some of the very theatres where you actually played, and also places like kherson, one of the four provin
russia. we will look at how the vote could have a real impact on the war. canadians now are preparing for what could be the strongest storm ever to hit the eastern coast of nova scotia. we are tracking hurricane fiona at the cnn weather center. plus. walking out on court. having the chance to play with the likes of raf or novak in the past has been an amazing experience for me. tennis great roger federer gets ready to say good-bye to the sport. we have a look at the final match today. it s 10:00 a.m. across ukraine where occupied parts of the country are voting today on whether to become a part of russia. ukraine and the west call the referendums a sham. but, the votes could result in russia annexing about 15% of ukraine s territory already controlled by russian armed forces. vladimir putin s mobilization of 300,000 russians to join the fight is already underway across the country. video from social media shows families in the country s far east saying tearful good-byes
zaporizhzhia. people in the war torn regions are being asked if they wish to join the russian federation. ben wedeman is tracking the latest annexation live. how is all of this expected to play out, ben? reporter: well, i mean, it s a good question, christine, whether to call it a vote. this is going on from today until the 27th of september. the last day will be in person voting. before that people were getting many people in these regions will be getting a knock on the door and be presented with a ballot box. in some regions the ballot is only in russian. in other areas, in kherson region, 50% of the population has fled because of the war. so it s very dubious about how credible the outcomes will be. you called it a sham. most people are calling it a sham outside those russian occupied parts of ukraine. in fact, ukrainian officials are calling on people to boycott these referenda. the results will be announced several days after the closing of ballot boxes, if we can ev
i m brianna keilar with john berman. the russian leader continues to face major turmoil at home. his order sparking angry protests across the country and leading to more than 1,300 arrests. the move is now causing some russians just to leave. there you see emotional f farewells as the mobilization gets under way. russian men leaving their families. in this video traffic is seen building up at border crossings as men try to escape the war. the demand for flights out of moscow is up dramatically. as of now tickets are said to be sold out, google trends leaving russia saw a sharp spike in searches in the last 24 hours. and one way tickets out of moscow to istanbul are started at $2,000. before the announcement from putin, the tickets were about $350. huge increase there. happening now. look at this map. these are the areas where at this point these regions are holding what the u.s. considers sham referendum, you can see the rough lines of them. parts of them voting to leave
sparked protests across russia leading to more than 130 0 arrests. we ve seen the emotional farewells. look at this, russian men leaving behind families to board buses for military service. others trying to get out of the country altogether. in this video long lines of traffic are growing as men seemingly are trying to escape the war. the demand for flights out of moscow is spiking dramatically. tickets to countries where russians don t need a visa are sold out. and on google trends the term leaving russia saw a spike in searches over the past 24 hours. according to a ticket agri gaiter one way tickets out of moscow to istanbul start at $2,000 a ticket. before putin s announcement, the tickets cost about $350. let s bring in ben wedeman live for us in kharkiv, ukraine. you re in the region where the gains by the ukrainians seem to have prompted this new phase by vladimir putin, ben. reporter: ye and you know, as these referendums go ahead. yesterday we were in areas occup