dizzy - "h pf to be warm. the dizzy heights of 5-7dc. not to be warm. the dizzy heights of 5—7dc. not getting any warmer at the weekend. for most of us it should be dry and usable weather. you are watching bbc news. the top stories: donald trump is hosting a lunch in washington for his cabinet and key staff ahead of his or inauguration tomorrow as america's 45t h inauguration tomorrow as america's 45th president. thousands are expected to travel to the city to watch the ceremony. martin mcguinness is leaving front—line politics. in recent months he's been suffering from a series of illnesses. search and rescue is underway for 35 people still missing following an avalanche in central italy which buried a hotel. rescuers have recovered three bodies so far. theresa may says britain will be open for business after brexit. her comments come as one high st bank has predicted london will remain europe's top financial centre despite the uk leaving the eu.

and surrey county council is to hold a referendum on whether to increase council taxes by 15%. government funding cuts, they say, have left it with no other choice. that is it. you up—to—date. now on bbc news is time for hardtalk. welcome to a special edition of hardtalk from moscow. i'm stephen sackur. for 17 years, one man has dominated the politics of the russian capital. vladimir putin. externally, he's projected russian power from ukraine to syria, and internally opposition has been repressed, intimidated and silenced. but not altogether. my guest today is the most prominent leader of russia's anti—putin opposition, alexey navalny. now, he has committed to fighting putin in the 2018 presidential election.

but will his defiance cost him dear? alexey navalny, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for having me here. you have been involved in opposition politics of one form or another for almost ten years, maybe more, and itjust seems to me that right now, your position is perhaps more dispiriting, more depressing than it's ever been before. do you agree? absolutely not. actually, ironically, i can call vladimir putin as my godfather in politics, because when he came to power and the way he talks and the way what he's saying,

what he's doing, the laws he's passing through duma, told me that russia is done with democracy and i should do something, i should join the opposition movement. but, you know, i didn't find myself in the more depressing situation than previously. for example, in 2008, the biggest rally, biggest meeting i participated in was maybe 100 people, maybe 200, and meeting with 1,000 people was tremendously big, but in 2011, 2012, we saw rallies participating with hundreds of thousands of people. so i saw different times and it doesn't bother me now how many people come on the streets. i'm just enjoying doing the right thing. but in a way you've just made my point for me. you had a momentum.

between 2008, 2011, 2012, it did appear that you were building a real popular street movement, but look at today. today, more than 80% of russians say they approve of president putin, but also the international situation is changing. and in particular, we are about to see a new us president who admires vladimir putin, who says that putin is smart, who says he believes he can trust putin and wants to work with putin. that's your new reality. well, i have to remind you that, for example, in 2008, everyone in the world, they admired putin and medvedev much bigger than now. do you remember the so—called reset strategy declared by the 0bama administration? they were just nice friends with mr putin. they are kissing each other, etc, etc. yes, we have momentum...

let's be specific. donald trump says, and this is a tweet from him just the other day, when he says, "we should be ready to trust vladimir putin". what is your feeling? well, it sounds disappointing for me and it's bothering me because i have no idea why mr trump's so kind with mr putin, because their views on politics, on particular issues, they are 100% different. from migration to the economy, they are 100% different politicians. but they like each other and it's strange. but, well, i would say that international relationships between kremlin and foreign countries, there wasn't a hard issue inside of russia, so, well, someone‘s good for putin, someone is bad, it doesn't care for me. but do you in any sense feel betrayed by an incoming us president who says that he regards working closely with putin would be a great asset?

because in a sense, that works against everything you are trying to achieve. you're trying to tell the russian people that as long as putin is power, russian is going to be russia is going to be facing sanctions, russia is going to be isolated, russia has no internationalfuture. and yet trump's message is very different. well, i don't like it and i could say honestly that i am irritated by this, annoyed by this, but i don't feel betrayed, and i can tell you about moments when i feel betrayed — when putin's oligarch in the top of the british list of their most wealthy people, when government officials from russia buy an apartment costing £11 million in london, when they are freely travelling all over europe and all over the world despite you have a lot

of regulations like, you know, you have a so—called bribery act in russia, in britain, and you can, without any problems, prosecute these people on your own laws for the money—laundering, for the bribery, but they are feeling completely free. i feel a bit betrayed but it doesn't have something with donald trump so far. isn't one of your big problems that vladimir putin has very successfully wrapped himself in the russian flag? he's used nationalism as a post—political force and he's as a potent political force and he's done it in recent years by projecting russian power beyond your borders, and obviously i'm thinking in particular of events in ukraine, but also what we see in syria today. vladimir putin to your people in russia looks like the strong leader reviving russian power that so many russian people want. vladimir putin just tried to distract russian people

from their real problems, like inequality and poverty. we have 23 million russian citizens living below the line of poverty and he's distracting them from this problem with his imperial delusion about making russia great again, and all this stuff. well, you call it an imperial delusion. vladimir putin would say to you, getting back crimea, which is ours, and historically was always ours, and means so much to the people in this country, that's not a delusion, that is something that he has delivered for the russian people. i would say that everyone in russia would be much happier if vladimir putin delivered some more wealth to the russian people, notjust to his oligarchs, because what is happening in russia in terms of economy, and i will use the favourite term of mr trump, it's a disaster what's going on inside of the country, and,

yes, putin has a very aggressive behaviour towards everyone in this world now but it's just because he doesn't have an ability to solve problems inside of russia. are you telling me that your message to the russian people is that if you, alexey navalny, were in power in the kremlin, you would hand crimea back to the ukraine? is that what you would do? i don't think there are simple decisions on this issue but i would say that first of all i will start a new and honest referendum on crimea and the voice of the crimean people of this honest referendum would be... international law is quite clear — crimea belongs to ukraine and it was annexed illegally, so if you are to reset russia to create a new dynamic between russia and the outside

world, you would have to hand crimea back. are you prepared to do that? to tell the russian people you would do that? i would admit honestly that it was illegal. yes, it's true, but there is no simple decision like moving crimea back and forth, right? and i would say that this problem doesn't have any decision for a couple of decades, maybe longer. it would be something like, you know, north cyprus or the territory we are sharing withjapan and arguing with japan for decades, or palestinian territories. all conflicts like this, they don't have a simple solution and maybe they don't have a solution at all. but what we should really consider in this situation is the opinion of the people in crimea and we have no idea what they are actually thinking because the referendum which was done by vladimir putin was just a fake. we need a new referendum,

it should be a start of what we're doing later. so the context here again comes back to donald trump, because whether it be on the ukraine—crimea issue, or whether it be on syria, donald trump has indicated that he can foresee the easing of sanctions, maybe even the removal of us sanctions, on russia, if putin will work with him on what trump regards as the big priority, which is the fight againstjihadist terror and the so—called islamic state movement. how would you feel if the united states eased sanctions against russia ? i cannot support this part of the sanctions which applies towards the russian economy in general since i'm a russian citizen. but i will be definitely very, very unhappy if mr trump will ease and cancel this part of the sanction which applied to the particular personalities, like friends of vladimir putin or putin's oligarchs, or corrupt officials in his closest circle,

because actually this part of the sanction is very nice for the russian people and it's supported by the russian people. but to put it bluntly, do you think donald trump cares about issues inside russia? human rights, freedom, democracy? absolutely not, and i would say that the previous administration and previous administrations before 0bama didn't care about this as well. practically, you know. some of them said something but in general theyjust don't care and i don't have any delusion about this. you have, from the very beginning of your political activity, focused on corruption. you talked from the very beginning about putin's regime being a resume about putin's regime being a regime of crooks and thieves. has it changed in any way during the decade that you've been working

on anti—corru ption activities? it has changed — it has become bigger. now putin's friends, his very close circle of friends, theyjust replaced the russian economy itself. 90% of the government procurement is his friends and he has literally maybe five people who just grab all the russian economy, all government documents, all government contracts. look at all roads, all bridges, all tunnels, all construction in russia, the closest associates of mr putin. they are doing everything. they are supplying equipment from gazprom, equipment for gazprom, they are supplying pharmacy, medical equipment, etc, etc. so let me get this straight — you're saying things have got worse, the corruption is more rampant, the cronyism is terrible, and yet putin's approval rating is at 86%? suggests to me that russian people don't care. well, this is a major mistake. that people are doing when they discuss putin's regime.

because they are all the time referring to this rating of approval and it's a mistake to compare russia, which is an authoritarian country right now, to an undeveloped democracy like you have, or we have in eastern europe, for example. we should compare russia to the countries like uzbekistan and tajikistan or zimbabwe. in all of these countries, the leaders have a rating of 95%, and it's just a specific of an authoritarian regime. they have a maximum rating for approval until the very end of their life. but i want to ask you, could you tell me, please, what was the support of the soviet union, the soviet community party in our country in 1985? 100%. what was the approval of the russian czar in 1916? more than 100%!

but it means nothing, actually. and even in 2011, the rating of putin was about 70%, but out of the blue, hundreds of thousands of people came in the streets asking mr putin to go away. right, but hundreds of thousands are not coming onto the streets today. you had your moment when you ran for the moscow mayoralty in 2013. i think you ended up getting 27% of the vote. that in a sense was the high watermark for you. things have not been so good since. and now, frankly, you are deep trouble. when you leave this interview with me, you have to go to kirov to face yet another court case, where you're accused of embezzlement, and if you lose the case, you're going to face a new sentence, which could involve... but i have the same in 2012 before my mayoral election. i have the same before this rally in the moscow streets.

and i guess from 2010 i never had a day in my life when i wasn't under the criminal prosecution because it's the way how they fight me. that's true. you've had convictions, you've had house arrest, you may well end up in prison again. your brother is currently in prison, in solitary confinement. right. you know that you are treading a very fine line, and if you go one inch too far, you will end up in prison or, who knows? i definitely don't draw this line for myself. ijust do what i can do in this particular moment and i don't care about what the kremlin‘s doing, what their strategy is about keeping me in prison or releasing me. maybe you know that i had actually a moment where they imprisoned me for five years and i spent a night in the prison knowing nothing about what's going on in moscow, where tens of thousands of people

came in the street, and they forced vladimir putin, actually, to release me. these people who came in the streets, they are not gone. they are still living in this city, they are still living in the country, and i'm absolutely 100% sure that my programme for this presidential election is a programme based on the needs of the majority of people. let me stop you there. right. are you absolutely determined...? you talk about your run for the presidency, you're determined, come what may, to challenge vladimir putin in the election which we believe will come in 2018? you are going to run, are you? i'm going to run and, well, i'm not a naive person. i understand the kremlin is very unhappy with me running and i understand that they will do everything to prevent me from running again. recently, several kremlin officials said that, "he's not allowed to participate", but still i'm going to be with but still i'm going to appeal to

the people and ask them for support. in this office where we speak, you've already got your logos organised, navalny 2018, but i put it to you that if you lose this court case in kirov based on accusations of embezzlement and fraud, you will be barred from running, and whatever you tell me about your determination... actually it does nothing in the current country. well, as i said, they imprisoned me for five years and they released me on the next day, so what kind of law...? it was the same with my participation in mayoral elections. it was almost impossible to participate but when people came on the street and said, we are not going to recognise this election without him participating... so you think you can use people power against putin? absolutely. actually it is the only tool i can use. it's all i have. mr navalny, i'm tempted to say to you, get real! you know what happened to kasparov, who is now in exile,

you know what happened to boris nemtsov. i am real! i can assure you i'm real and i have a... my brother's spending his time injail, he is taken away from his family, and, as you mentioned, he's in solitary confinement. and they are really torturing him every time i'm issuing a new investigation, so i am a guy of the real life in russia and i understand everything, and i do believe that people's support can prevail this strategy, what kind of strategy putin has against me. boris nemtsov, whom you knew very well, was walking down a streetjust a couple of hundred metres from the kremlin when he was murdered. that is the reality of moscow today. you're not immune from that? in this particular room, we met with him and volunteers and prepared a big rally, and after this meeting with the volunteers, we went on the street and i was arrested for the 15 days

and he was killed a week later. so i understand what's going on in russia and i understand a lot of risks and i understand the danger, but this is my country. i'm going to fight for my country and i know that i'm right. and i know that development of the country is much better than capturing new territories. look at the map! we're quite a big country! we don't need new territories. and i'm sure that i will explain to russian people that my authority to russian people that my alternative is better than vladimir putin's. let me ask you just one perhaps strange question. why do you think you are free to walk the streets of moscow today? so many other opposition people are not, but you are. could it be that you are useful to vladimir putin, because he can always say, well, look, ah, we are a democracy because alexey navalny is allowed to do his thing, he's allowed to talk to the bbc, he's allowed to run his anti—corruption office?

that proves what a free and democratic place we are. you could be a useful tool for him. yes, i'm allowed to talk to bbc but unfortunately i'm not allowed to talk with the russian tv station. you had an interview with mr peskov and you asked him about me several times. did he ever mention my name? the same with putin. even pro—kremlinjournalists, they are laughing about the situation, because for all these years he never mentioned my name. he is afraid of, not about me, but he's afraid of people who are represented. you talk about dimitri peskov, who i'm going to see again injust a couple of days‘ time. he seems supremely confident that vladimir putin has a grip on this country that will not be relinquished. what would you say to him that might undermine his confidence? well, i guess a lot of russian

people have just major question to him, and the question is, why are you lying all the time? for decades, he never said a single word of truth. he's lying all the time. and how he's just managed to have a deal with himself, because, you know, getting up in the morning, looking in the mirror and he said to himself, today i will, again, i will live as a lying human being. the problem is, as you've said in this interview, you don't get access to russian state tv, you do not get the sort of media coverage... i never had. you can't win. that's the problem. you just cannot win in the system that russia has today. i can and i will. so how do you do it? how do you mobilise these people you claim are out there, all of the anti—putin feeling that you say is in russia today, how do you mobilise it and turn it into a political campaign?

well, we started now a campaign just for a month, and so far i have 20,000 volunteers registered in my campaign, so it's the biggest amount of volunteers we've ever had in the history of modern russia. and, yes, you're absolutely right, i don't have access to tv. i never had because vladimir putin took over the last independent tv station in 2001. so i never had coverage from the state media. but i can operate without them. in 2013, on the moscow mayoral election, without access money, without access to the media and tv, i got almost 30%, and i'm totally sure that i would have won in the second tour if in the first tour they didn't make the usual fraud on the election. we talked earlier about your brother, who is imprisoned in solitary confinement. it was a court case which involved you and him but ironically he was sent to prison

and you escaped prison. he wrote to you recently. he said this. he said, alexey, you must not stop and give into their demands. even if you are considering quitting, it is out of the question. at what point would you decide that this is not worth it, that you've had enough? i really hope that it will be never such a moment when i decide this, because it means that everything's useless what i've done before, all this sacrifice made from my family, my brother, made by boris nemtsov, who was killed — he was shot in the back close to the kremlin. a lot of other people — we have political prisoners, hundreds of them all over russia, and if i will stop, it means all this sacrifice is useless. and they are not, and i do believe in what i'm doing, and i do believe that my alternative is better for russia,

and i'm absolutely sure that we will succeed and i believe in victory. yes... we're having a tough time right now with this empirical delusion, yes, but trends, political trends are changing. people became poor, people are asking questions, and i have the support from family and from people, and i'm not going to let them down. alexey navalny, we have to end there, but thank you for coming to hardtalk. thank you very much. it is already telling frosty out and

about in the south. we've had some beautiful sunshine as the payoff for that frost. but although high pressure sits across the country, very quiet, not really very active weather, nothing much is changing. we have had some interesting varieties across the uk. so the high pressure is keeping things dry but this weather front is giving a lot of thick cloud with the odd spot of drizzle, but nothing more of a nuisance than that. in contrast, the sunshine is there further south away from that weather front. this is how it's been looking beneath it. further north, slightly less grey up in cumbria, but a lot of cloud, nevertheless, acting like a blanket, stopping those temperatures from falling. that's what we will see for the majority of northern england, scotla nd the majority of northern england, scotland overnight. some fog over

the central swathes of the country and this front gradually moves away. we have the frost and fog issues in the north—east of scotland as well, like the south, but like last night, -60 like the south, but like last night, —60 minus seven. somewhere warmer for you is melbourne. 19, 20 degrees for you is melbourne. 19, 20 degrees for the tennis. andy murray is taking part in that, of course, early tomorrow. we are hoping the rain will clear a way but a blustery 19 degrees. here, —60 —7, so we will be scraping the ice of the cars again in the morning. —— minus six degrees. up in the vale of york, north—east scotland as well. a few more breaks in the cloud in northern ireland, so we could have mist and fog there. but some brightness tomorrow. 0nce fog there. but some brightness tomorrow. once the frost lifts and the fog players, it should be a sparkling day for many parts of

wales and the midlands. —— the fog clears. but as prospects for northern ireland. not temperature—wise! if anything, northern ireland. not temperature—wise! ifanything, it will be colder! because we are pulling in more of the cold continental air. just very slowly. that was the same over the weekend. we still have that weak weather front. we can't discard that. they a lwa ys front. we can't discard that. they always come back to surprise us! and we could have a few wintry flurries over the weekend. but in areas where it's been so cloudy recently, it looks like a decent weekend with some sunshine coming through. so we keep this cloudy but dry weather as we go to the end of the week. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. donald trump has arrived in washington for events leading up to his inauguration on friday. the vice president—elect says this will be a smooth transfer of power. ourjob is to be ready on day one.

the american people can be confident that we will be. donald trump's relationship with russia is already under the spotlight. i'll play you a bbc interview with president putin's spokesperson, who denies that the russian state hacked the us elections. we'll update you from the gambia. senegalese troops have entered the country to support the new president — who's been sworn in, despite the old president refusing to stand down. up to 35 people are missing after an avalanche hit a luxury hotel in italy.