this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: the australian cardinal and former vatican treasurer george pell, behind bars — george pell, has been convicted of sexually abusing two choirboys the senior catholic cleric in melbourne cathedral. who sexually abused two choirboys, is taken into custody. he's been taken into custody. he was found guilty on five waving the flag of friendship — charges in december, but reporting restrictions have donald trump meets with vietnamese only now been lifted. he plans to appeal the verdict. officials before his summit with kim jong—un. four more years — nigeria's leader, muhammadu buhari, is elected for a second term of office. the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has arrived in vietnam higherfood prices for his second summit and more customs checks — with president trump. that's the uk government's no—deal warning to businesses north korea has given little as uncertainty continues. indication it is prepared to disarm. nigeria's election commission has confirmed that muhammadu buhari is the new president. he beat the other

candidate by about 4 million votes. you're up to date with the headlines. now on bbc news, its hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm sarah montague. my guest today made a name asa montague. my guest today made a name as a journalist on one of russia's leading news websites. galina timchenko was editor of ilenta.ru tush was fired. she left of russia and set up a new organisation, meduza, in exile. it reaches millions of russians but what is a self—imposed exile say about media freedom in russia and should she have stayed to defend the journalism there?

galina timchenko, welcome to hardtalk. could you have stayed in russia? you chose to leave. it's a simple question. we left russia in 2014. it was a very hard year. the annexation of crimea. it was war with ukraine. we realised after my firing, the kremlin administration just doesn't allow me to work. how do you know that it was the kremlin? you know, it was obvious. i have heard from my colleagues, maybe a

couple of times, that they had it in a policy in kremlin administration said, who is majors in internet in russian segment of internet? who is major, majorfigures. my colleagues said lenta is on the top. he said, 0k. editor—in—chief. editor—in—chief of le nta. 0k. editor—in—chief. editor—in—chief of lenta. i know for sure that it was direct order of kremlin. i have no purse to play with kremlin. they

said that i should buy you. your journalist, who made his reports from ukraine. you are fired this minute. this was as a result ofjust shortly after an interview. carried with ukrainian firelight —— far right leader in here. it was a trigger, not a reason. all lenta's independent policy, that was the reason of my firing. when we reached 3 million unique users per day, i brought these numbers to my own and said, ok, this is a success. it is like a federal tv channel audience. i'm scared. your own was scared to

the success you're having. you are fired and told the reason you applied is the kremlin weren't happy with you? what did you say?” applied is the kremlin weren't happy with you? what did you say? i had a contract. lenta was a private company. the owner of the company could fire me at any time. the media regulator said the reason for that was there have been statements inciting national hatred. you not accept the charge? no. but

you do carry inflammatory statements by ukrainians. we just have hyperlinks. vladimir putin spoke -- spokesperson says he is ready to argue forever. if there is an accusation that there is not hate speech involved. you know, all these quys speech involved. you know, all these guys from the kremlin administration. they blame western media of double standards. but they are very truly believers and very devoted believers in double standards. so dmitry peskov any other kremlin guy could say anything they want about freedom of speech but there is no freedom of speech in russia today. you see there is no freedom of speech, because his

argument would be, as you say, not least the uk is guilty of double standards because of their approach to russia today. 0h, its revenge. it's as to me, you know, russia today, free to speak as whatever they want to. but you know, the main problem is that there is no rules with this game. me and my colleagues, we just counted. with this game. me and my colleagues, wejust counted. we counted 90 laws against media and freedom of speech. but all countries have rules. when you include a hyperlink in an article, are you not aware that you may fall foul, but you may be responsible for what is at the end of that link? you know,

speaking about no rules, they may give you one more example. hatred speech is banned in russia and all rude, so—called f words and so on, is banned in russia. we published all the article about these words. with russian linguists, with russian ex— births and scientists before the law came in power. —— russian ex— births. after that, they banned this article. it is against all rules. —— ex— births. we published this article on the first of march, for example. the law maybe at the first of may, the state duma tested this

law. they applied is retrospectively? retrospectively. when you are russian journalist or writer, it's like working in a minefield. every article should or may blow you. you decided to become you could have stayed. no. why not? it no, in this year, i realised that russia became a new soviet union. —— unio. and once i lived in soviet union. i didn't want to say —— i didn't want to stay here. because? because soviet union is autocratic state. there is something... the most hatred, the most hatred. its absence of freedom of speech, its absence of freedom of speech, its absence of freedom of speech, its absence of rule of law, double standards and so on. ijust realised

that i do not want to return to soviet union. so your concern was one of professional standards rather than feeling fears about your own safety. you weren't worried or felt physically threatened or worried about your own safety. never. but we mentioned the consideration of russia today in the uk, which is under pressure for breaking british broadcasting rules and the argument is, there are plenty would say that because the regulator ofcom, founded a serious failure of compliance, that russia should be sanctioned. do you agree? no, i am against all sanctions at all. so whatever rules they break... whatever rules they break, maybe i will disappoint you, but i'm against all sanctions and i'm against banning of all media.

irrespective of what is said. absolutely. because of russia began with banning very small media, then banned a little bit bigger media and now we have tens of laws, every law could lock you in russia like this. but there are broadcasting rules and laws the government made, yeah. we, in russia, very simple and very good broadcasting law, an old law of our mass media and every rules, every rules and regulations are already in this law. i'm against additional banning. in the case of russia today, it was their coverage of the skripal poisonings when a former

russian spy was allegedly poisoned by russian agents in the uk and their coverage was not seem to be impartial but you are saying, whatever they do wrong, whatever the allegations are... no, no, no. they have to follow the rules but i'm against all additional banning all additional rules. but they break the existing rules, what should happen? nothing? some form of sanction? because the argument is that they are sanctioned on russia today, some suggest an the british news organisations would be, there would be some retaliation in russia. organisations would be, there would be some retaliation in russialj think, fine. some not sanctions but maybe they should pay some money for breaking the rules. 0k, maybe they should pay some money for breaking the rules. ok, now, you... it will be ok. you said to me the influence of russia today is overestimated but the influence of

russian hackers or the russian cyber army are underestimated. what did you mean by that? you know, i am in media business for 20 years and i know numbers and audiences of all my collea g u es know numbers and audiences of all my colleagues and if we, let's compare, for example, meduza's audience and russia's rt audience... meduza is your new news organisation. yes, it is my new news organisation. they are comparable. but meduza doesn't have such influence. nobody is speaking about meduza. it's some kind of ghost threat or something like this, because russia today is showing us numbers in new tube viewers, in such other channels but

guys, viewers, in such other channels but guys, 0k, please, give us a very, very clear numbers of your audience. unique users per month, unique users per day. what do you say meduza's are? meduza has 12 million unique users per month. 12 million. here you know that mediascope has 2.1 million monthly in russia. less than 1 million a day. in which countries? 70% of our audience that in russia. maybe ten or 12 in ukraine. in belarus. and countries with big russian dice poorer. but your argument seems to be, take account of meduza was well as russia today. --di of meduza was well as russia today. ——di asper. there is the second part of your quote, such as the influence of your quote, such as the influence of russian hackers or the russian

cyber army are underestimated. what are you suggesting is going on? do they affect you? yes, twice a week somebody trying to hack my e—mail or the e—mail of our editor in chief, or our private accou nts editor in chief, or our private accounts on facebook or russian social media. and you are saying that hacking is, what, being orchestrated by the russian government, you talk about the cyber army? i know for sure that there are some questions in the kremlin administration concerning meduza, and russian trolls, troll factories, against us, and it was a campaign against us, and it was a campaign against us, and it was a campaign against us to hack our e—mails or some private accounts on facebook and social media. you said, as well, russia for sure is deeply involved

in the election process in the united states. how... what evidence do you have? our special correspondent, he... maybe he published four or five articles, one in cooperation with buzz feeds, about russian hackers. and he is deeply involved in this topic. we investigated russian so—called anonymous international hackers group. at first, maybe russian hackers, may be they could open mailboxes of campaign managers, of private accounts, of twitter and so on. and russian trolls are deeply involved in a campaign against some

topics, for example. so this is, what, inciting, spreading the wrong information about somebody? yes. i mean, you are not talking about some manipulation of the voting system. no, no, no, no. it is propaganda and the spread of misinformation. no, no, no, no. it is propaganda and the spread of misinformationm no, no, no, no. it is propaganda and the spread of misinformation. it as a propaganda machine and it is to influence the public opinion. what is that makes you an independent news organisation, rather than just dissidents who are campaigning against the current russian government? that is my favourite question, because every time i take pa rt question, because every time i take part in conferences or forums or internet. .. part in conferences or forums or internet... some internet debates, everybody, everybody, is talking about fighting against the regime and fighting against propaganda and so on. and every time i say, guys, i am not fighting against propaganda, iam not am not fighting against propaganda, i am not fighting against the regime, iam i am not fighting against the regime, i am fighting for my

audience, to promote information. i am not saying that i am telling truth. authorised information, and to make them... you know, to bring them some knowledge about what is happening, for real, with reliable sources, and with all sides of stories. 0k, well let's tell all sides of the story about meduza. yes. who is it funded via? 80% of yes. who is it funded via? 8096 of our budget is covered by advertising revenue, and last... thanks to our international partners. who are those international partners? u nfortu nately those international partners? unfortunately some russian laws are describing... may describe these organisations as undesirable, and i

do notjust organisations as undesirable, and i do not just want to organisations as undesirable, and i do notjust want to put organisations as undesirable, and i do not just want to put a organisations as undesirable, and i do notjust want to put a target on their forehead. what, you won't say who is funding that 20%? their forehead. what, you won't say who is funding that 2096? you may read some articles about us... the suggestion... you have admitted that an exiled russian oligarch has given you some funding. it was fine, but it was some kind of conversation for half a year negotiations. the oak foundation, from geneva, the swedish international development agency? no comment, no comment. i could not mention them. i do not want to. now, thatis mention them. i do not want to. now, that is interesting. why? what do you think will happen to those, if you think will happen to those, if you say who has funded? hypothetically, hypothetically, if somebody in the kremlin wants to put

meduza down, they could declare these organisations undesirable, and every financial connection with this organisation will lead to a criminal investigation, and it should be a crime in russia. a deputy is quoted by russia today as saying such findings are reason enough to name meduza a foreign agent. yes, no. a foreign agent should be registered in russia. but there will be those who think, how can you be the honest new independent news organisation that you claim that you are if you are not open about who your backers are? we are as open as possible. you know, we have very, very simple choice. to cover some, of help, or to be blocked in russia together and

to be blocked in russia together and to leave our audience without our independent information. that is a tough choice. there is another reason that meduza has been criticised recently, which is that... i know it for sure, i used to say please look at our publications, not on our faces. 0k, well let's look also, though, that you are handling of allegations made against your editor in chief, ivan kolpakov. there were allegations of sexual harassment, which he denies. no. he does not deny them? there was no allegations, there was no denials, it is a different situation. it was an incident on the dance floor. he brought his apologies, the next day, and apologies, the next day, and apologies were accepted. were accepted. and that's it, the incident was over. but... how many

people left the company as a result of the? six. six people left? six, not as a result. as a result, maybe, ivan had resigned, by himself. does he still work at the organisation? here's co—founder of the organisation. so does he still work there? yes. so he still work there? yes. 16 people have left? six people, yes. do you think that is unacceptable way of handling allegations of sexual harassment? you know, we had a special meeting of the board of directors, and we made an internal investigation. there was no sexual harassment. it was very. . . there was no sexual harassment. it was very... are you saying there was an allegation of sexual harassment? it was a claim of one person who did not see nothing. the reason this matters is that your company accused

the state duma deputy, who demanded his resignation when they were allegations against him, which he denied, and people saw this as a double standard, when it actually happens to someone within your own organisation. i'm afraid i could not say i am 0k organisation. i'm afraid i could not say i am ok with this statement, because leonard denied all the incidents, and inside meduza's staff, there were no denials. it was an editorial meeting, when ivan brought his apologies about his words, just about his words and his behaviour, and those apologies were accepted. they were no denials. denial is a part of a crime. you yourself said at the time, those who look at themselves in the mirror and claim they have never made any m ista kes

claim they have never made any mistakes or done anything nasty in their life are either liars... yes, it was a very rude joke, very rude. but it prompted not least the likes of russia today's chief editor, margarita, to talk about the hypocrisy of the so—called liberal click. the ftjournalist, if meduza is going to style itself as the most progressive russian media, they need to do progressive russian media, they need todoa progressive russian media, they need to do a hell of a lot better. what do you mean a lot better? should i cut the throat of the editor in chief after two words, or something? he resigned, that's it. so i ask you, you left russia in order to be able to tell the truth, as you saw it as able to tell the truth, as you saw itasa able to tell the truth, as you saw it as a journalist. yes. can you do that, even outside russia? yes. i do not like he the word truth. authorised information. galina

timchenko, thank you for coming on hardtalk. thank you, thank you. hello there. this unusually warm weather isn't going to last forever, and as we change the month, so we're going to change the weather quite significantly. over the past few days, though, we've seen the temperatures creeping up day by day, culminating in 21.2 celsius at kew gardens yesterday. but our weather is changing because the position of the jet stream is going to change. we've been on the warm side of it for a long time now, but look what happens out in the atlantic. a strengthening westerly jet is heading our way. that's going to bring cooler air, and it will bring more changeable weather as well. so today, make the most of the sunshine.

today is probably the last of the warm and sunny days. and it will be a lovely day, but it's a bit of a chilly start out there. we've got temperatures close to freezing in one or two places, and there's a bit more mist and fog around as well in the morning, across southern england, parts of the midlands, the vale of york, and around the moray firth too. but it will tend to lift, and we should see the sunshine coming out far and wide. a bit more cloud coming into northern ireland at times, western and northernmost parts of scotland and the irish sea. there is lots of sunshine around and more warmth as well, with the higher temperatures again around the london area at around 19 or 20 celsius. so a lovely day to come for many of us. our persistent area of high pressure, though, is retreating. it's getting sucked away down towards iberia and the azores, which is where it should be, really, at this time of the year. it allows these weather fronts to come in from the atlantic. and you'll notice much, much more cloud around on thursday. it'll be rather dull and misty and murky, and we could see some bursts of rain coming into wales,

perhaps north—west england, through the midlands and southern england. a limited amount of sunshine in the south—west. most places will be cloudy. nine degrees in scotland, a few spots of rain in the north—east of scotland. 12 or 13 further south, at best, significantly lower than we've seen over the past few days or so. may find a little ridge of high pressure coming in behind, drying things off for friday, ahead of the next weather front arriving in from the atlantic. this is where all our weather is going to be coming from. it'll start off dull, misty, with some patchy fog again on friday. may stay quite cloudy for eastern areas. further west, there may be some sunshine ahead of this rain, which holds off until very late on in the day. but those temperatures are back down to 11 or 12 celsius, still slightly above average for the time of year, but quite different from what we've been used to. it's not really going to get an awful lot warmer over the weekend, either. we'll see bands of rain coming in from the atlantic, followed by some sunshine and some showers. and it could be quite windy, as well. there's quite a deep area of low pressure coming across the north of the uk. some very windy weather for southern scotland, northern ireland, and also

across northern england.