kim jong—un, has requested a second meeting with president trump. officials are looking into scheduling another meeting. negotiations on the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula appeared to have stalled after the two leaders‘ historic summit in singapore in june. warnings from the un that a forthcoming offensive on the syrian city of idlib could be the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century. more than 30,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. and this video is trending on bbc.com the video is from a shop in colorado where a robbery goes badly wrong for the robber. he drops his gun as he draws it on the sales person. as you can see, she then picks it up and he makes a quick exit. that's all. stay with bbc news. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk,

i'm stephen sackur. today i'm on the shores of beautiful lake como in northern italy. this is the venue for the annual discussion of global politics known as the ambrosetti forum. europe's politicians gathered here have one key challenge — what to do about vladimir putin's russia. my guest today is arkady dvorkovich. now, until four months ago, he was russia's deputy prime minister. what chance is there of averting the deepening hostility between russia and the west? arkady dvorkovich, welcome to hardtalk. thank you.

you've left of the russian governmentjust a few months ago. within that government, you were always seen as an advocate of a warmer, closer relationship between russia and the west, and yet what we see in so many different theatres, arenas, is a souring relationship. how frustrated are you by what your own government is doing? first, i'm a professional. i've been working for our state, for our country, for the government for 18 years in the civil service, it was quite a long period of time. there's some things we did that i think were a great success stories. some things we could do faster and better. and i think any government member can tell the same story. and certainly both sides, both the russian side but also on our partners‘ side, we didn't do our best to have positive relationships coming to 2018. that's perhaps a bit

of an understatement in the current climate. you now know the british government, led by theresa may, has been very explicit. the two names have been given to us. alexander petrov, ruslan boshirov, as the assassins who were sent by the moscow government to the united kingdom to kill, attempt to kill, sergei skripal, the former russian agent, and his daughter. what on earth do you make of your own government, when you were sitting in government, ordering an assassination with a chemical weapon on uk soil? let me be clear about that, we believe the statement of such a respected person as theresa may is just a statement of a politician.

to make such a statement one should have proof. forgive me, the proofs was provided by the police, the british police and prosecutors. we haven't been provided with evidence, with proofs, with anything, besides the political statements we hear from the british. as we discussed... have you seen all the video evidence? the video is not the evidence of the crime. it is clear to us. the traces of novichok agent found in the hotel where these two russians were staying? a combination of videos, statements, things like that, the combination of things being put forward is not a court case completed and the case is not proved at all. i believe that our partners should do much better work explaining what the evidence is and to make real... to create real proofs. you're undoubtedly right that this

is not the court case, this is not a court of law. the only way to satisfactorily test whether the evidence would stand up in court is for the russians to hand over these two agents who work for the gru, russian military intelligence, hand them over and let them face a court in the united kingdom. i think you certainly... maybe not all the journalists, but you certainly know the legislation and the legislation says it, russia is not handing over any russian citizens. even to start the internal investigation in russia on any of the russian citizens, we have to be given the evidence for any criminal activity that any person could have all around the world. we are not going to go against our own law, against our own legislation, and doing things that are illegal. theresa may said it very plainly

in the house of commons in london, it is almost certain that this operation by russian military intelligence, the gru, was approved at a senior level in the russian government, a russian government that you were sitting in at the time. how do you feel about that? i feel that this statement is false. false in what sense? we know the way the russian system works. there's no way these two individual agents could be sent to london on this mission without the kremlin authorising. the whole statement is just false. with not having any proof that people have been sent, so one should not speculate about who sent these people. let's try and base our statements on evidence and proofs, not on political statements even made in the british parliament. i began by saying that you're a man who, over a career, has made a point of trying to reach out to the west,

to find common ground. correct. the truth is the us, france, germany, canada, members of the security council, they have all expressed their absolute support for the british position, and their outrage at what russia has done. that is the position of key members of the international community. this isn'tjust the british government, this is so many governments. that's the political position of some members of the international community, not all members of the security council of the united nations. there are many countries around the world, and many countries will be willing to see the evidence for the statements made by our respected partners. a few short months ago, i was in moscow and foreign minister sergey lavrov told me that in some ways he believes relations between russia and the western powers today are worse than they were during the height of the cold war. i also think so.

when we were going through the cold war period, everyone understood the reality. we had one state that was governed by the communist party, and rules that are based on a completely different ideological system, and countries run under private capitalism rules and system. it was clear there was a huge gap between the two. if you take the ‘90s to the beginning of the 21st—century, ideologically there isn't such a gap. but the question is what is missing and the thing that is missing is trust. trust. trust is profoundly absent. just quickly, two other arenas where russia and the western powers are at loggerheads. first, syria. as we speak today here in italy,

president assad appears to be on the brink of launching a major military operation in idlib, the last region which is held by rebel forces. us envoy james jeffery says there are clear indications that assad is preparing to use chemical weapons. the russians are backing him. do you believe there is any justification for russia continuing to back a president who gasses his own people? i think we're coming to the same story as for the skripal case. some people have some evidence indicating something, while we have a completely different evidence that other people are preparing provocation of the use of chemical weapons as a possible reason for counter action. that's the discrepancy in our analysis.

we warned the international community about the possibility of a chemical weapon could be used by one of the parties in the syrian battle. so we have to distinguish clearly the terrorists and the opposition in syria. we cannot stay quiet if the terrorist groups remain at a certain place. if other governments believe there are good terrorists and bad terrorists, that's not a good approach. we do not think it's a good approach. we should make it clear who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. let's just be brutally frank about this, you sat in a russian government as deputy prime minister, which, for years, has bombed syria. we know from independent human rights activists, including the observatory for human rights on the ground, that thousands of civilians have been killed as a result

of russian bombing. did you sit and do you sit today as a senior russian spokesman happy to accept that reality? it's not reality, it's a statement, again and again. the reality is that when there is a civil war, parties involved in the civil war kill each other. that's very bad, very unfortunate and it's not good for both people, especially for people of course, for the country and for international society. you know about killings from all sides in the process in this war. one should not blame russia for the war in syria. it was not russia who started the war and we're not the ones to blame. i don't accept claims that the russian government is guilty of that. we've talked about the skripal case, we've talked about syria, the other theatre of conflict right now with the western

powers is ukraine. and you know full well, as former deputy prime minister, that ever since the russian annexation of crimea, there has been a programme of international sanctions, led by the european union and the united states. they've been extraordinarily damaging to russia, and there's no sign any of those sanctions will be lifted as long as russia continues its current course in the ukraine conflict. do you regret... honestly, do you regret russia's decision to annex crimea and to meddle in the affairs of east ukraine? let's start with the first statement. you made three statements that we should talk about. the first statement involves the "annexation" of crimea. there was no annexation of crimea. the crimean people had decided in a referendum that they would like to join russia. the primary reason, primary cause

for that was that they were afraid, panicked that the ukrainian government will start the process that can lead to complete house... you can rewrite history if you want. but there was a military invasion of the territory of a sovereign nation, the first in europe since 1945. you asked me about whether i regret the annexation decision, there was no annexation decision. i don't regret the decision to annex this region. people decided to do it and russia are accepted the wish of the crimean people. second... as a nominally pro—western, senior russian politician, do you really believe that? it's not about pro—western or not pro—western, pro—people or not pro—people, the west in this case was against the wish of the people of crimea unfortunately. i think that was wrong.

the west decided to make the coup in ukraine, in kiev. it was initiated by the west, and that was a mistake. i regret this decision by the west. and while being very friendly to the west, exceptionally friendly to the west, i regret the decision made by the west to initiate the coup in ukraine. just one more point on trust, do you think there can be any trust when the united states‘ top intelligence national security officials all say there is no doubt that russia has systematically interfered in the us democratic process, most notably in the 2016 presidential election. we have evidence that similar sorts of things have been done in france. there‘s been serious allegation of russian involvement in the brexit campaign. what is russia doing with these covert operations? and how, in your view, can the west trust a country that is conducting this kind of cyber operation? i think the statement doesn‘t make

it easier to re—establish trust. that is for sure. the statement are indications of a lack of trust. a huge deficit of trust. but surely it‘s the actions of russia that are the primary source? but the statements are not things that we believe are true. they are just indications of either perceptions or political interests or the campaign against russia, leading to something else. early in the year, the us issued a sanctions watchlist. they‘ve targeted quite a number of individuals already. a report of the special task force to the congress based on the legislation that was adopted. more than 200 names. you are named, or were named then, as number 49. yes, since the whole government was named,

without any exception. they took the list of the government, they took maybe the phone book from the presidential administration to name everyone. they found a who‘s who list, maybe from forbes magazine, i don‘t know. the bottom line is... and they put the list together, that‘s what they did. maybe it‘s what they did, i don‘t know. but what i do know is that russia and its economy are suffering. whatever you say, all of the indications are that it‘s costing you a significant part of your growth, and let‘s face it, over recent years, the russian economy has not been growing at all. well, what about oil prices? could the economy with still such a dependence on oil and gas not be falling if oil prices drop by two times? we really believe it‘s because of sanctions. sanctions contributed to that. i% point is probably the right assessment of the negative effect of sanctions. but our growth is now at 2%

per year, the last couple of years, and it‘s a good growth rate. it‘s a bit below global average but very close to european... real wages in russia since 2013 have fallen dramatically. 0rdinary russians, it seems, are deeply unhappy with their economic circumstances. they are now also deeply unhappy about the proposed pension reform which you, as a sort of liberal russian economist, were a great supporter of. do you know any country where people were satisfied with pension reform? i don‘t know a single one where people were happy about any proposed pension reform by any government. it‘s quite a challenge. we have an ageing population, as all european countries have been experiencing, and it‘s very tough structural reform that many people were calling for. it is difficult to have a sustainable fiscal stance without some pension reform.

a balanced one and the president has proposed some amendments to the initial package that was put forward by the government. he has. in fact, your president has now actually lowered the proposed retirement age for women, . .. correct. ..which indicates that he is very worried about the opinion polling evidence from levada institute and others, which suggest his popularity is actually plummeting and that even a clear majority of his own united russia party now oppose this key plank of the russian government policy. the important thing will happen when people start seeing results. average real pensions will start growing as a result of the pension reform. yes, there is a timing issue in any reform. initially, people are afraid and don‘t understand. people are scared about potential consequences of any such big reform. itjust makes the government work even more intensely to deliver results.

i‘m not a cynic, but i dojust wonder whether your insistence that things in russia today are, sort of, glass half full rather than glass half empty... despite the fact you are no longer in the government, you‘re staying very loyal to the putin message. it‘sjust a half, however you call it, it‘s still a half. sure, but ijust wonder whether the position you‘re taking with me has something to do with the fact that you are relying on the russian government to support your bid right now to be the next leader, chief, chairman, of the world chess federation. it‘s an important political post for russians, and your government appears to be going out of its way to back your claim to the presidency. i understand your question, but my support to the russian government is based on belief that people who work in our government, many of them are my friends and close partners, and i know how professional

they are, including ministers who i‘ve worked with for years. i just believe that they will do all the right things in the next few years. but as far as the fide presidency is concerned... yes, the world chess federation. i‘m happy that the russian government supports me, since it‘s a sign that i did a good job working for the government. what about if they‘re breaking the rules? we know all the allegations that surrounded russia‘s world cup bid, and frankly some pretty dodgy dealing when it comes to doping in sport from russia. and, hang on, now, just to outline for audience. no, i know what i‘m going to say. when, for instance, our ambassador is calling his friends in certain countries... yes, even vladimir putin putting pressure on benjamin netanyahu to get the israelis to... it was not a pressure. he said that arkady dvorkovich is running to be the fide president, probably israel partners and friends could support him.

he didn‘t offer anything in return, he didn‘t do anything wrong. same with russian ambassadors all across the world. but i found one case where a letter was sent from the russian embassy to the partners with wrong statements, and i called the embassy and asked them to stop them doing that. the rules are quite clear. fide goes by the international 0lympic committee‘s principles which outlaw, "pressure being applied by governments into the affairs of independent sports organisations". exactly. the pressure is what you‘re doing right now on me. what russian embassies are doing is not pressure. informing, putting in context, our partners that i am running for fide president. is it true that african officials from the various chess federations in africa were all invited to the russian world cup with complimentary tickets? i mean, you were running the world cup, so i guess

that was a rather... invited, correct. tickets, not correct. yes, i invited many people to the world cup, including chess officials, including other sport officials, including business partners, all kinds of people since i was the chairman of the organised committee, and i had the right and privilege and also the responsibility to invite all kinds of partners to the world cup, and i thought it‘s very important for chess professionals to see how the world cup is being organised. for them to learn a lesson since chess community, fide, is much weaker now than fifa, than the football community in the organisation of events, in marketing, in financial affairs, in everything. people from chess should learn directly from the world cup organisation how do things. well, i guess that‘s part of your pitch. let‘s leave chess for a moment and end with this thought. we‘ve had vladimir putin dominating russia, representing russia and guiding russia for a quarter of a century. i mean, he could be in power...

he will be in power until 202a. that would be a quarter. that‘s right. then, according to the constitution, he cannot run again. after everything we‘ve discussed in this interview, do you think russia after putin can continue with this mix of aggressive nationalist policies which have so soured the relationships we‘ve discussed in the course of this interview, or does russia need to go in a new, different direction? i think during the next six years and after, russia will pursue open policies, will work with all the partners who want to be on the same basis, rule of law, international rule of law inclusive. russia wants to pursue the policies that will feed russian people, russian population, increase quality of life, raise talents, conduct in a way of policies and build institutions that are sustainable for the future. answer my question, does russia need

a change of direction? we will welcome our partners to work with us together. i think on both sides, we need to make steps to re—establish trust and re—establish mutual respect. those things can be done only simultaneously. there is no way one can make any step just to give up the strengths that society has. if you lose strength, you lose competitiveness. that‘s it. russia is not going to go this weak way. arkady dvorkovich, we have to end there. thanks for being on hardtalk. thanks also. hello there.

full uk weather forecast coming up injust a moment, but first of all, i thought we‘d cast an eye of what‘s going on across the other side of the atlantic. you might have heard we‘ve a major hurricane on our hands. this is hurricane florence, a very powerful category four hurricane, sustained winds of 140mph but these will strengthen, up to 155mph with 190mph gusts, and that is heading to the east coast of the united states. landfall probably thursday night around north carolina will cause big problems. just to the north of florence, we‘ve got an area of cloud that extends thousands of miles across the atlantic right over to the united kingdom. yes, it‘s a massive weather front,

or a couple really. it‘s going to be pushing southwards, bringing some heavy rain. rain heaviest across the hills and coast of north—west england and wales, so the east of high ground, one of those fronts where the rain probably won‘t amount to too much. nevertheless there will be some damp whether getting into the east of the pennines. it given it stays quite windy overnight, temperatures will stay into double figures and this massive weather front marks the dividing line between some coolish air that we have got flowing into northern areas, and air that has come in more from the mid—tropical atlantic across the south. a lot of cloud around, but we will see the highest averages across southern counties of england. i wouldn‘t rule out the odd spot of drizzle towards the coast and hills in the south to start the day, but for many of us a dry start. through the day we will see outbreaks of rain pushing southwards across wales, quite murky through the bristol channels for a time, and there will be further showers and western scotland aswell. tempreature—wise, coolish they across the north of the uk, with temperatures around 13 and 16 degrees celsius, further south, temperatures

still into the low 20s — 22, 23 degrees, something like that around london. through tuesday night, we will see that weather front have a pulse of energy running along it, pushing the rain back northwards into north—west england into the north—west of wales and that is where it starts the day on wednesday. on wednesday, the rain will start very slowly trickling its way southwards, where it will be confined to southern counties of england to take us into wednesday afternoon. it will stay dull and damp across the southern areas with the rain a bit slower to clear than this. temperature—wise, 16 degrees in london, temperatures around seven degrees. it will be a much colder feeling day in the south, particularly on wednesday. the rest of the week sees a bit more sunshine in the south, temperatures tend to recover but the north—west will see further showers from time to time. that is your weather. welcome to newsday, on the bbc. i‘m sharanjit leyl, in singapore. the headlines: kim meets donald — the sequel. reports a second summit between the two world leaders is being planned.

efforts to retake idlib, the last pocket of resistence in syria, displace more than 30,000 people. the un has this warning. don‘t turn the next few months in idlib into the worst humanitarian catastrophe with the biggest loss of life of the 21st century. i‘m rico hizon, in london. also in the programme: almost ten years after the end end of sri lanka‘s civil war, families of the missing are still searching for answers. and what doctors have called a miracle — the baby girl born with her heart outside her body.