high winds blowing ash across the towns nearby. these schoolchildren now wearing protective hard hats, with authorities warning of the risk of flying rocks up to 4 km around the volcano. deep in the south of japan, it's part of a long volcanic range, in a country with more than 100 active volcanoes. in 1967, it was made famous on the big screen, in the james bond film you only live twice, as the location of the secret rocket base for the mysterious villains of the spectre organisation. the volcano has been spitting smoke and lava since the beginning of march, and with ground tremors and more than ten eruptions every day, experts are watching to see just how violent this volcano will become. andrew plant, bbc news. here is nick with the weather. you may have been caught

in a shower today. many of us have had a fine day, broken cloud and occasional sunny spells. it will get wetter in england and wales this evening and overnight, a area of rain moving to the north. some of that wet weather will reach the eastern side of northern ireland and the far south of scotland later in the night. the rest of scotland, mist, low cloud and patchy fog. most places will stay above freezing on monday morning. further outbreaks of rain showers across large parts of england and wales on monday, eventually easing away from the eastern side of northern ireland, still fringing into southernmost parts of scotland. dry and some sergei sunny for the central bout of scotland. quite windy into the channel islands, and temperatures for some of us will be a little lower by tomorrow, so more of us sticking with highs in single figures. this is bbc news,

our latest headlines. sources tell the bbc that the trace of the nerve agent used to poison sergei and yulia scripal has been found on and around the table where they ate in salisbury last sunday afternoon. the table has been destroyed. it comes as england's chief medical officer says up to 500 diners and pub—goers have been told to wash clothes and possessions. the chancellor says there's cause for economic optimism ahead of his spring statement on tuesday. china approves the removal of term limits for its leader, it effectively allows president xi to remain in power indefinitely. now on bbc news, ahead of the russian elections,

our correspondent sarah rainsford examines how relations between russia and the west have deteriorated. undeeradimir putin, patriotic feeling has surged. to many russians, he is the strongman who stood up to the west. this country once embraced western—style freedoms and democracy. now there is increasing talk of russian values and russian ways. here in the frozen heart of siberia, it feels an extremely long way from europe, in every sense. but politics aside, in some ways, west and east now feel more similar than ever. as vladimir putin stands for a fourth term as president, i have been travelling around the country to see how deep russia's rejection of the west now runs. it stands as silent testimony to a brutal past, a time of paranoia and total power. it stands as silent

testimony to a brutal past, a time of paranoia and total power. perm—36 is the only part of stalin's gulag that survived. but this was a prison camp right up to the 1980s. it's where soviet russia sent its political opponents. now there is a fight over this history, with those who dig too deep branded enemy agents of the west. viktor shmyrov founded the museum over 20 years ago, recovering the stories of those held prisoner. but perm—36 has now

been taken over by the local authorities. viktor‘s organisation was labelled a foreign agent. he says the focus of the museum then started to shift. translation: before there was huge public interest in the history of the gulag. nowadays that interest has died and the dominant idea now is that the gulag was necessary, for the country and the economy and for discipline and order. speaks russian. the physical reminders have been preserved, but staff admit there were moves here that seemed to justify all this, even a plan to add the memoirs of prison guards. translation: russia is trying to build a more powerful state, so perhaps there is a policy being dictated from above that says "we don't need to

remember all the bad things, let's just remember the good things." these days russia sees threats to its power in unlikely places. this place here is the only gay club in perm, and we have been invited here tonight to meet the local drag queen ruslan, who is performing. every weekend, ruslan is transformed. a factory worker by day, by night he becomes whoever he wants. the painstaking makeover takes several hours. the crowd in this basement club are out and proud, but beyond these walls many conceal their sexuality. ruslan accepts his double life as a russian reality. gay pride has become a slur here, gay rights seen as a concept imposed by the west. translation: if gay people aren't forced to talk about it openly or be

out in public, we live fine. russia's borders are open. if you want to hold hands with your boyfriend in the street and kiss and have everyone clap, then go for it — buy a ticket and travel. but at perm's only lgbt support group, they are too nervous to even put a sign on the door. under vladimir putin it has become a crime to promote homosexuality to the young, and police have raided this group twice to check out their activity. when we came they were discussing famous gay figures from history. on other days, masha provides counselling and support. we met up again at the flat she and nadia share with their pets. masha doesn't mention her sexuality at work.

a child psychologist, she worries she would be accused of gay propaganda. nadia tells me everyone has heard of the new law, and both say it has made the climate here much worse. translation: they found an enemy, and that's it. there are a lot of problems here, but if you can blame the gays for everything there is no need to sort anything else out. that has always been the way in russia. in some corners, russia looks increasingly conservative. chanting. like many, igor discovered religion when the atheist soviet union fell apart. deep in the countryside, he and his family live what theycall a traditional life. the couple say they are children of perestroika. but along with new freedoms, igor says the 1990s brought a cascade of corrupting influences from the west —

and he regrets that. translation: unfortunately society is moving away from christian values. this is happening slowly but surely. there is a rejection of traditionalfamily relationships, and fewer people are having children. but for our part, we are resisting this. the local church became a cheese factory in soviet times. it is now open for worship again. and igor says the congregation has been growing, partly through bigger families. so they are collecting funds to restore the rest of the building, one small piece in russia's orthodox revival. far away in rostov, we found cossacks riding into battle — or at least a reconstructed one. they are another force now enjoying a revival.

the cossacks see themselves as born warriors. defenders of russia's borders for centuries. these days their brand of patriotism is on the rise. this battle of the civil war is now being replayed. the whites, the cossacks, taking on the red army. it is part of a historical re—enactment, but it's also about patriotic education here. many on this battlefield are young students at cossack cadet schools. vitaly is their headmaster in real life. here he is playing a key cossack commander in the battle. translation: cossacks want to serve their country and their land. i think this is important, and to raise our children as defenders. the boys tell me they plan to become offices in the russian army one day. they call loving their country the most important thing.

so what do they make of the hostility now between russia and the west? translation: i have never even thought about it. for me what happens in my own country is more important. and what about all the new cold war talk? translation: we don't really have any negative thoughts about the west. but when conflicts came to eastern ukraine, other cossacks were among those who joined the fight. for them it was about protecting fellow russian—spea kers, and land that many here treat as their own. from rostov, the border is just a short drive away. we can't take our camera any further down here, but this is a road that leads directly to eastern ukraine, where officially there is a ceasefire now.

but in actualfact the fighting still goes on almost every single day. and it is from here that russia has been supporting and supplying that conflict right from the very start. russians who died fighting in ukraine are remembered here as heroes. the kremlin still denies sending serving soldiers, despite the evidence. but the war was a breaking point in relations with the west. i tried asking a passing woman about the conflict. she agreed many locals did go to ukraine. "but i don't want to talk," she said, "especially to the bbc." aleksandr, though, did agree to meet. he went to fight in ukraine himself, and helped send many other volunteers are. he insists there was a coup in kiev, backed by the west. views that sound radical are now mainstream here. translation: volunteer fighters felt they had to take part in the war,

because if they didn't then their towns would be shelled next. ukraine isjust the beginning. we know how things will progress. we remember iraq and afghanistan. it is the west that wants to divide up our country. it's chilling talk, but the signals come from the very top. since vladimir putin was last elected six years ago, russia has been painting the west as an enemy, a force that won the cold war and then rubbed russia's face in it. now moscow is pushing back. and yet all of this is happening when russia looks more western than ever, even here, a long way from the capital. foreign brands and tastes are now part of life, even as politics drive east and west apart. that growing gulf worries some here. mariya is the creative force

behind this business, one of a cluster of fashionable new places in rostov. she is full of energy and optimism about her brand, with plans to expand sales to the west. but she is deeply pessimistic about the politics of putin, and how his message is pushed by russia's powerful state—run media. translation: instead of talking about problems we have inside the country, they talk about how we are surrounded by enemies who all want the worst for us. it is really scary because it whips everything up, and then people think you need to push back. otherwise we will be overrun and destroyed. mariya tells me the hostility could be reversed, though, and quickly, if the message changed. in the meantime, this is her oasis, the bar she opened recently across the road. she and her friends don't see the west as an enemy. for them it is somewhere to trade with and travel to. for mariya, it also represents the democratic values she thinks russia has lost. translation: we are europeans,

we have a european mentality. we are also russians, but in europe. i like to think that russians share european values somewhere inside themselves. today's russia, though, is steering a path away from europe,

with no sign it plans to turn back. as russia's relations with the west have entered a deep freeze, the climate at home has changed too. the 1990s brought a burst of new freedoms, a move towards western—style democracy. but slowly, controls have been reimposed. ourjourney to explore that brought us next to siberia, and to tv2 in tomsk. three years ago the channel was forced to stop broadcasting. since we filmed, even this cat has been removed. tv2 and all of its media affiliates once occupied this entire building here in tomsk. but since the channel has been taken off air, there isjust a handful of people still working here. so we have come along to see what the newsroom is like these days. speaks russian. this place was viktor‘s life for over 20 years. now his independent tv channel is just a lot of expensive equipment gathering dust. officially, tv2 was closed down over a licence dispute. but viktor doesn't buy that. the channel's reports annoyed officials in tomsk. the team saw that as theirjob. but reining in the free press

was one of vladimir putin's first moves as president. tv2 was one of the last survivors. translation: it's obvious that we were no threat here in tomsk. but the authorities are constantly afraid, afraid of revolution or losing control. they want to control everything, but that is impossible. and they don't trust anyone. back home, viktor and his wife show me how other media have been tamed.

when there were protests against closing tv2, viktoria says state—run channels ignored them. "that tells you how free they are," she tells me. "if there is an order not to show something, then they don't." most disturbing for this couple is how quickly the new reality has been accepted. here in the frozen heart of siberia, it feels an extremely long way from europe, in every sense. but in fact politically speaking, tomsk was a relatively liberal city in russian terms for many years. but all of that's been changing. on the streets, though, no—one seems too bothered by that. translation: tv2 has a right to exist, of course, but i am a supporter of putin. i will vote for him.

translation: i am for putin. everyone is perfectly happy with putin. why do we need anyone else? there is no wars. he managed to agree with everyone. he does everything right. i like it all. for those opposed to president putin, life can be tough. last year, xenia's car was smeared in paint, and all the tyres slashed. caught on cctv, hooded men then entered her building in the dead of night, and sealed up herflat. taking me back to the scene, xenia is sure she was targeted as an activist for alexei navalny. mr putin's greatest critic has since been barred from running for president. but xenia thinks the attack here was a warning. translation: it was clearly to frighten us and to put other supporters off, so that others think twice before going to a rally for navalny, if this is how it can end. undeterred, xenia still runs navalny‘s office here in tomsk.

she was eight when vladimir putin came to power. now 26, she thinks it is well past time for a change. so her team are helping train monitors for the election. xenia calls it a fake vote in any case, and as president putin's last term brought war and sanctions, she is worried what the next might hold. translation: i want russia to continue as part of western civilisation, and not closed off behind a wall. yes, we want to be seen as equals. we want to protect our interests, but we don't want to be seen as north korea. we don't want to be isolated. that seems to be the direction the country is heading in, though. we travelled north to st petersburg to investigate claims that russia's information war is now targeting the west, too. from here, the kremlin has been accused of using the internet to manipulate opinion at home and abroad. and this building has become

notorious as russia's troll factory. it's mostly empty now — the sign says it is up for rent. but an criminal indictment in the united states claims staff here operated as an online army deployed to sow discord and influence voters, far away in america. ljudmila shows me the blog of a fake character she helped create. she leaked information from inside the troll factory that exposed how it worked. her own focus was on russian content, but she tells me the trolls operated in shifts, ordered to produce up to 80 posts on social media, every single day. translation: it was a huge machine. i would say thousands of posts appearing on every news story, right before my eyes.

if a troll spoke about america or ukraine, it had to be negative. if it was putin or russia's military, it was positive. bloggers got written instructions of what to present and the conclusions that people should draw. ljudmila thinks that very few trolls are driven by patriotism. she tells me it is about the money, and if a new boss instructed them to criticise putin, they would. and it seems the trolls are still operating. we have been told that the troll factory has moved here to this premises. i am coming to see if any of these people in the smoking shelter opposite actually work there, and what they can tell me. the man tells me he has seen here and he doesn't like what they do.

inside, i managed to speak to the director of one firm named in the us indictment, but he would not comment on camera on its work. two thousand kilometres away, perm has weathered all the twists and turns since the ussr fell apart. this former gulag town was also home to soviet military factories for decades, and closed to foreigners. then it tried a transformation. perm was to become a capital of culture, not just for russia but for the world. it all began with investment in public art. this giant structure is a reminder of the cultural revolution here in perm. a hugely ambitious project to open the city up to the world, and to rebrand it through art

as a modern and progressive place. but that experiment ended abruptly, and there are now signs that perm, like russia, is moving in the opposite direction. the contemporary arts museum has survived, but its founder and the mastermind of perm's modernisation was sacked. the shows he curated were political and deliberately provocative. his replacement says they were dynamic times, when perm felt like a russian new york. now she has to accept limits on what she can do here. translation: the fact that the museum is vulnerable makes us self censor. because the most important thing for us is to maintain our institution.

we don't lower the bar and damage our artistic repetition. we just lower the temperature. that is the compromise. in perm, as across this country, the political tide has turned. vladimir putin's vision now is of a russia that's strong and assertive, rejecting the west as hostile and subversive is all part of that. on ourjourney, we found many russians who don't share that view — but no—one who expects change here any time soon. after a weekend of some rain, sun sunshine, this forecast will look ahead to what we can expect in the week coming up and stop first, an image from today's weather, in scotland, a milder day, than we have had for some time. england and wales, low close by, wet weather around, infact wales, low close by, wet weather around, in fact overnight tonight, the area of low pressure, band of rain spreading north. here is the picture as we go through this evening and into tonight, rain, parts of south—west england, wales edging north, to other areas, by the

end of the night, into the eastern side, southernmost parts of scotland. elsewhere, a lot of cloud around as we can see, misty and murky, fog patches here and there, but with all that whether going on, temperatures not dropping down to far, spots in northern ireland heading close to freezing. monday's weather is still dominated by an area of low pressure for england and wales, outbreaks of rain and drier and brighter interludes. still affecting southernmost parts of scotland, elsewhere, mainly drive. light wind, still windy through the channel, gusty wind in through the channel islands, and temperatures a little bit lower compared to what we had over the weekend, especially today. more of us will see highs in single figures. looking at the big picture, ridge of high pressure coming in, quieter weather picture, ridge of high pressure coming in, quieterweather on picture, ridge of high pressure coming in, quieter weather on the way, but low pressure again towards the south—west, taking overfrom

wednesday onwards. not all plain sailing, a lot of change. particularly across the western side, ridge of high pressure starts to ta ke side, ridge of high pressure starts to take control. after that, low— pressure ta kes to take control. after that, low—pressure takes over, temperatures close to normal for this time of year. let's take a look at things for the rest of the week, this is how the five days of the week ahead is shaping up, that of a break on tuesday, after that, the impact of low pressure starts to be felt, some outbreaks of rain spreading north—east. temperatures fairly close to normal for this time of year, nothing too cold, well, in the short—term, anyway. this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at five. the bbc understands traces of the nerve agent — used to poison sergei and yulia scripal — were found on and around

the restaurant table where they ate. it comes as england's chief medical officer says up to 500 diners and pub—goers have been told to wash clothes and possessions. the people who are in either zizzi's restau ra nt the people who are in either zizzi's restaurant or the mill pub from 1:30pm last sunday until evening closing on monday should clean the clothes they wore. a spring in his step — chancellor, philip hammond, says there's cause for economic optimism. there is light at the end of the tunnel because what we are about to see is debt starting to fall but we are still in the tunnel at the moment.