firefighters are battling a new fire on the greek island of lesbos, a day after a huge blaze destroyed the moria migrant camp, europe's largest. there's an international effort to help the greek government cope and a state of emergency has been declared. it's emerged that donald trump deliberately played down the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic because, he says, he didn't want to cause panic. in taped conversations with the journalist bob woodward for a new book the president describes the virus as "deadly stuff", certainly more serious than seasonal flu. at the time he was saying something very different, repeatedly, in public. the speaker of the us house of representatives has warned the government in london there is absolutely no chance of a trade deal with the uk if boris johnson overrides the good friday agreement that helped bring peace to northern ireland. mrjohnson wants to overturn parts of the brexit deal he negotiated with the eu.

now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. the daily streets protests demanding the protest of belarus authority and president alexander lukashenko have and president alexander lu kashenko have not and president alexander lukashenko have not yet tipped the balance against his regime. president alexander lukashenko is still there, the security forces i still doing his bidding, so how is the geopolitics of this going to play out? my guest is gitanas nauseda, the president of neighbouring lithuanian. will moscow's will prevail in belarus all will people power ta ke belarus all will people power take the country in a new direction?

president gitanas nauseda, welcome to hardtalk. good evening. mr president, how do you see the power dynamic in belarus right now? do you think president alexander lukashenko has written out the storm? yes, of course, alexander lukashenko tries to buy the time and tries to suppress the protests of peaceful people in the states. right now, the people are fighting for their fundamental rights to have free elections, to express their opinion about what is going wrong in belarus

and unfortunately, we see a lot of violations and this continues and it brings very huge concern to all of us, not only for neighbouring countries, with the waimea, latvia, estonia and poland and the ukraine but also for the european union. this is the reason why we started to react and we propose the plan of the escalation of the situation. we consolidated our efforts of surrounding countries and u nfortu nately surrounding countries and unfortunately alexander lukashenko was not able to take this initiative and he turned towards vladimir putin. probably this is the reason why the situation in the last days and the last weeks deteriorated, has deteriorated and we see again the

violations, we see just detained people, disappearing people, and we see very selective and targeted attacks against the people or persons which are in national co—ordination community. the situation is not... . this situation is not... . this situation is not... . this situation is certainly not calm, mr president. you just refer to alexander lu kashenko as the president of belarus. i wa nt to as the president of belarus. i want to be clear about this, do you still recognise his legitimacy as the head of state oi’ legitimacy as the head of state orare legitimacy as the head of state or are you now of the view that he has no legitimacy because, as you said recently, there was no free, fair election in belarus. is he legitimate or not? i am talking about alexander lu kashenko as not? i am talking about alexander lukashenko as a person. of course, we cannot talk about elections which took place on august nine as fair

and free elections. so, the result is not legitimate and alexander lu kashenko is result is not legitimate and alexander lukashenko is not legitimate president of the country. but of course nobody can neglect and reject that alexander lu kashenko still can neglect and reject that alexander lukashenko still has certain power and this power he is using, unfortunately, in very bad direction and we cannot agree on this. you are the neighbour of belarus. you are aware most of the belarusian senior opposition figures who have been forced out of belarus have gathered, not least, svetla na out of belarus have gathered, not least, svetlana kuznetsova who was of course the candidate who was of course the candidate who ran against alexander lukashenko and she claimed she had won the election had it not been reached. are you saying that lie is actually the winner of the election and are you recognising her as the de facto leader of belarus, in exile? we

cannot call here a de facto leader but the problem is that the elections of august night, they are spoiled and we cannot prove that by giving the figures, giving the result and nobody can say what votes are the votes indeed and what votes are the fake votes because appearance rate in some districts of belarus was more than 100%. so this is a problem to say what was the real result, we can guess that svetla na kuznetsova result, we can guess that svetlana kuznetsova was the winner of those elections. we treat her as a national leader and she is the leader of the opposition at the moment right now. she is in the waimea right now. she is in the waimea right now and she is safe together

with herfamily now and she is safe together with her family — now and she is safe together with herfamily — — let the waimea. for you are offering her protection but how frustrated you feel right now because you have spoken out loudly right now and four weeks but even today as we speak to each other the bela rusian polymeric chief authors are continuing to repress the protesters and picking up senior opposition figures on the street — — belarusian forces. they picked up another one a few days ago and that follows the arrest of maria kolesnikova, and your voice makes no difference —— lithuania. this is the reason why we need actions. yes, rhetoric is good but even strong rhetoric is not good enough, we need actions and to free baltic states —— three baltic states took the

initiative ensured example of how to deal with lukashenko and the national sanctions list. we have 30 persons in each of these lists, including alexander lu kashenko. these lists, including alexander lukashenko. i am stressing that it is extremely important that other regions and countries, european union asa and countries, european union as a whole, united states, united kingdom, canada, should apply the same sanctions to the belarusian regime and, yes, we have a european council some time ago and i was very satisfied the with result of this counsel because of their strong commitment and judgement of the situation, all leaders spoke about very clear vision about what to do with belarus. but unfortunately, so far, we do not see the list of european

union and according to some d rafts, i union and according to some drafts, i can say that there are 17 persons included and lukashenko is are 17 persons included and lu kashenko is excluded are 17 persons included and lukashenko is excluded from the list. right... let me stop you there, this is very important, people need to hear what you think is going on. you are saying, as you understand it, the eu list of potential targets for new sanctions in belarus, the individual, do not include lukashenko belarus, the individual, do not include lu kashenko himself. belarus, the individual, do not include lukashenko himself. you baltic states have already imposed your targeted sanctions ona imposed your targeted sanctions on a list of individuals, including lukashenko so why do you think the european union as a whole is not following your lead? the logic behind is to leave some room for possible mediation in the future. we leave the door, all the window,

open for possible negotiations with alexander lu kashenko, open for possible negotiations with alexander lukashenko, of course, including the representatives of civil society. but i really had my doubts that this is still possible. we see that there is a certain breaking point and this is the breaking point is the contact of alexander lukashenko with a russian president, vladimir putin, and we see that lukashenko is just not ready to have any mediation, especially from the side of the european union and thatis side of the european union and that is really extremely important, and that the mediation includes representatives of civil society. if they are not representative of civil society, what mediation is it? mediation between schenker and putin? we're talking not about this mediation, we are about the mediation which includes every party and this is not the

case and i have very big doubts that it would happen in the future because of unfortunately the limited readiness of alexander lu kashenko to the limited readiness of alexander lukashenko to go this way. let me be blunt with you, why do you think the big powers of the european union, including france and germany, are not prepared to go as far and condemn lukashenko in the same language that you are using? why? you know, we are very close to belarus nation, not only in a geographic sense, but also in an emotional sense. we feel the pain of the people in the streets of minsk and other streets and villages in belarus. we see how they are suffering. we hear the stories about violations, about the

torturing and we are emotionally very close to them. maybe this is not the case if we are talking about the countries which are, really distant from belarus. but, nevertheless, is extremely important to fight this common denominator in the european union and sometimes it's pretty ha rd to union and sometimes it's pretty hard to find the solution. if they find the solution at a political level. do you think, angie used the word torturing, in terms of what is going on with the appellate military forces in belarus, do you think that right now alexander lukashenko is guilty against crimes against humanity and you wa nt to crimes against humanity and you want to see him prosecuted for what is happening right now. i am mindful that your foreign minister recently said that he is seeing stalinist mkv d

methods being applied on the streets of minsk in 21st century europe. if you are serious about that, then presumably you want to seek lukashenko in a court room? you know, first of all we need clear and detailed investigation. this investigation. this investigation is not possible right now. if this investigation is over, then we can name the persons who are guilty for this violations. but you are totally right by saying that it reminds us of the soviet time. we see how they are targeting the people which are targeting the people which are in national co—ordination committee or council, svetla na kuznetsova, other members of the co—ordination council. and i remember the time about 40, 50 yea rs i remember the time about 40, 50 years ago and this time was

in the soviet union and rostropovich and they were extradited from the country and they were prosecuted and persecuted and within the same story here in belarus and we know and it shows that people are different and the new generations are coming but the methods of certain institutions remain the same. you are playing a dangerous game, vilnius, where you sit today, has been described as a second capital of the bela rusian opposition and everything you told me today shows how determined you are to speak out against lukashenko and demand an end to his regime. you are going to be directly at odds with moscow and you know it, and it's very possible that you will suffer consequences as a result of that? you know,

democratic values, principal values does not have a prize. this is not cost benefit analysis like in the economic analysis like in the economic analysis —— price. this is the principles, the fundamental values we strongly believe in. we didn't forget our history, oui’ we didn't forget our history, our newest history of lithuania. let me remind you, 30 years ago lithuania declared independence. and it was like a dark tunnel and our life and we had hoped there will be light on the end of this tunnel. and, at that time, a small country, iceland, far away from lithuania, stepped in and recognised our independence and we didn't forget it. we think that now we must do the same

that now we must do the same that iceland did 30 years ago. but the danger is you may be inadvertently assisting vladimir putin. he wants to betray what's happening in belarus as an exercise in meddling from western interests, the european union, nato, forces trying to move into russia's sphere of influence and he says that is illegitimate and dangerous, not just for minsk, but for moscow as well. by being so strident you may be helping putin with his narrative. you know, you cannot push anyone who is already hurt by the bare. so i think this as a consequence of economic policy or economic modal, who lukashenko implement

it in the last 20 years, and this economic model was based on the cheap energy resources coming from russia —— bear. cheap salaries or cheap labour force and, of course, it is not sustainable. the belarussian economy is not competitive and it could be kept above the water only with cheap energy resources from russia. what is now going, we see high indebtedness of belarus towards russia, about 50% of this debt belongs to russia. and we see economic trade ties, very close ties with russia and, of course, in this situation, lukashenko loses course, in this situation, lu kashenko loses his course, in this situation, lukashenko loses his power and vladimir putin has many instruments, in many instruments, in many instruments just to achieve his

goal and his goal is, his ultimate goal is to merge those states into one body and now he sees lukashenko as a very convenient partner who lost the power and he who is totally exposed to the bill of vladimir putin... crosstalk. we should not blame belarussian people that the situation is like this. but what is the endgame here, mr president, you have just said the russians wa nt to have just said the russians want to see belarus effectively merged with russia by economic and political means and they will use whatever leverage they have over lu kashenko will use whatever leverage they have over lukashenko to achieve that over the next few weeks and months. so what is the endgame? if lukashenko looks like he is going to be toppled, do you believe russia will intervene militarily? i think

theyis intervene militarily? i think they is no need to intervene militarily because they can use another instrument and probably they learned some instrument —— lessons from ukraine. so they will try to intervene in a much more subtle way and much will depend on the people, on the ordinary people which are protesting in the streets. and we have to help them. and the european union and other powers in the world should not stand aside and just expressing rhetoric. rhetoric is not enough today. we need actions and we need actions as quick as possible because otherwise it will be too late. i want to ask you a question based on a bigger picture. that is, whether you are worried, right

now, that the will of the west, and let's talk about both the european union and nato, the will of the western powers to stand up to vladimir putin is not good enough, not strong enough. i'm thinking, for example, of the fairly muted reaction so far to what the germans insist was the poisoning of alexei navalny on russian territory. i'm also thinking of the american decision earlier this summer to begin withdrawing troops from germany and president macron recently saying that he fears nato is brain dead. do you fear that the west is losing the will to confront vladimir putin? i expect much more, really, i hope that we have to find the will, the political will to act much more decisively than we do right

now. so this is a problem. the european union was blamed many times that the european union reacts to slow, too late, and too little. so let us prove that the reality is different. let us take decisive measures andi let us take decisive measures and i hope that it will happen. nato, as an organisation, is totally good for lithuania. we think nato organisation, the brain of nato is not dead and we enjoy very good cooperation with nato on many levels, on the level of common military plans, we have enhanced presence in lithuania several yea rs presence in lithuania several years ina presence in lithuania several years in a row. ourselves, we are very and responsible member of nato, ally of the nato, spending 2% of gdp and we

expect that other countries will do the same, will increase the spending. i don't think that the potential of nato is exhausted. i feel this is that the potential of nato is exhausted. ifeel this is only one organisation, a very effective organisation of defence and deterrence. mr president, we're almost out of time. they want to raise other issue with you. you have talked about your discontent with the eu reaction to what is happening in belarus, but of course the eu was preoccupied with other challenges, not least owning out all of the problems connected with brexit. the british are due to end their transition relationship with the eu at the end of this year and the hope is there will bea year and the hope is there will be a trade agreement, but right now that looks very difficult, not least because the british government hasjust not least because the british government has just declared that it government has just declared thatitis government has just declared that it is going to pass legislation in the british parliament which ministers have explicitly said will override

elements of the withdrawal agreement with the eu and which will, in fact, violate international law. now, as a head of state of an eu member, how do you feel about what the british government is currently doing? i feel not good. and they regret the decision of the united kingdom to leave the european union, but i respect the decision. but now what is going on, to renegotiate, to correct the withdrawal agreement isjust not a cce pta ble agreement isjust not acceptable and this is really pretty ha rd to acceptable and this is really pretty hard to talk about such things, because we have to respect what we reached during a very long negotiation period with big efforts of the main negotiators. and we achieved this result and it'sjust negotiators. and we achieved this result and it's just not appropriate to reconsider this agreement right now. and a

final thought, all of the tough talk right now from london, from the boris johnson government, about how they, within weeks, may well have to walk away from any effort to get a trade agreement and accept there will be no trade deal with the eu after december 31 of this year, do you see this is just 31 of this year, do you see this isjust more political manoeuvring and bluffing or do you take it seriously when borisjohnson you take it seriously when boris johnson says you take it seriously when borisjohnson says that britain can regard no deal as a good outcome? is he being serious or not? no deal is not a good outcome for anybody, but no countries, for european union and britain too. so we are interested , and britain too. so we are interested, and i'm talking not only about the european union but also about my country. we are but also about my country. we a re interested to but also about my country. we are interested to have the process done and to have the united kingdom is a good foreign trade partner. we are like—minded countries in other fields to, security, defence

policy. so let us co—operate in the future and let us not undermine our good cooperation until now. all right, mr president, gitanas nauseda, i thank you very much indeed for joining me from bill —— vilnius. hello. for many, wednesday was a reasonable day but for some, and this was the scene and st ives round about the sort of the lunch time period, it was notjust a sparkly as it might‘ve been. that is because there was quite a mild flow coming in from the atlantic, and you have the weather front just to thickened up the clouds

there to be enough of a spot of rain. now, thankfully, that front moves away, and thursday, after a fairly cool start — and we haven't seen that for a wee while — that is looking like a half reasonable day. it does turns a wee bit cloudier later, as you will see, but for many, certainly across the greater part of england and wales, eastern side of scotland, it is a get—out and get—on with it sort of day. best of the sunshine perhaps early in the morning, through eastern scotland, certainly through eastern and southern parts of england too. northern ireland, always really rather cloudy throughout the day. it may, come the afternoon, just see a passing shower, but the obvious place where the weather really changes, is across the north and west of scotland. and it's notjust as warm as we've had it of late for sure. tops round about 19 or 20. and through the evening and overnight, the rainjust keeps on coming, into this north—western quarter of scotland. not a cold night here but, further south, if your skies stay clear for any length of time, you could be down into single figures. so what happens to the front on friday? well, its a real player all over the northern half of the british isles. the isobars quite tightly packed. it's an unfortunate mix, to say the least, of pretty wet and windy weather. the front eventually staggers its way through scotland,

through northern ireland, and the remnants of that rain move down to the north of england and the north of wales. further south, it's never a bother — 20 degrees is the high. and eventually, after that wet and windy start, things brighten up across scotland and northern ireland, to finish off the day. but that is not the end of the wet story for northern areas because the weekend sees, not one, but in fact a couple of pulses of really quite wet weather piling into the north and west of scotland and, at times, though northern ireland as well. the remnants on friday's weather, well, that'sjust a band of cloud pulling down towards the south and, again, much of england and wales in for a pretty dry day on saturday. again, if you've got plans for the outdoors, the weather won't get in the way. that won't be the case though for northern ireland and scotland, where saturday night is a really wet one, and quite widely and, come sunday, we are still talking about more rain coming into the western side of scotland, northern ireland but, further south, at this stage, things really are beginning to warm up quite nicely. take care. bye— bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm david eades. a second fire in as many days appears to have destroyed the remaining parts of the moria migrant camp in lesbos. leaked documents suggest the british government's plan to step up covid testing could cost billions. the skies above san francisco turn orange as devastating wildfires continue to rage across the western united states. and, serena sails on — the american player comes from behind to book her place in the us open semifinals.