this is bbc news, the headlines: authorities in the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol say a theatre that was being used by large numbers of civilians as a shelter has been destroyed by russian bombing. city officials say the building was deliberately targeted. russia has denied carrying out the attack. british—iranian woman nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has arrived back in the uk for the first time in almost six years. her husband and seven—year—old daughter were waiting as her plane touched down. she had been detained in iran, after being accused of working against the government in tehran, something she denied. travelling with mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was the british—iranian man anoosheh ashoori, who has also been allowed to return to the uk.

the retired civil engineer had been detained for almost five years on spying charges, which he too denied. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. with the world focused on russia's invasion of ukraine, it's easy to overlook one other key element of vladimir putin's greater russia strategy — moscow's ever tighter grip on ukraine's northern neighbour belarus, now used as a launchpad for the ukraine assault. belarus's authoritarian president lukashenko seems to be in putin's pocket, whether he likes it or not. my guest is exiled leader of the anti—lukashenko movement, svetla na tikhanovskaya. is the fate of belarus now tied

to the fate of ukraine? svetla na tikhanovskaya, welcome to hardtalk. hello. it's nice to have you in our studio. tell me, what are your feelings as you see your country, belarus, being used as a launchpad for vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine? you know, on 2a february, we woke up in a new reality, and we understood that lukashenko gave our land as the aircraft carrier for putin's troops to invade

ukraine. we were shocked. nobody believed that the war could start because we remember the pain of world war ii, and we didn't want something like this to repeat in our lands. but illegitimate lukashenko has to pay for the support he got from the kremlin after the fraudulent election in 2020. and now he's paying with our sovereignty, with our lands. and, you know, i really feel maybe shame, you know? he's doing it, and we belarusians feeling this shame that we became aggressive towards our brother, ukraine. you talk about shame, but i guess in practical terms there is nothing that any

belarus civilian can do to try to affect what is happening. there were 30,000 russian troops on that border in a joint military exercise with lukashenko�*s forces. they, of course, have now moved into ukraine. there was no possibility that any belarusian civilian could stop that happening. look, we are fighting against lukashenko�*s regime for a year—and—a—half, and a lot has been done for this period of time. of course, people can't see those beautiful big rallies on the streets of belarus because of massive repressions from side of the belarusian regime. but for this year—and—a—half, we started a lot of initiatives. we created a lot of organisations to fight with regime, and now all these organisations are fighting on the side of ukrainian people against this war. and in belarus, we still continue in ourfight, mostly underground. it's like partisan war, but every day we create multiple points of pressure inside belarus to show lukashenko that he lost his

legitimacy, he lost respect of belarusian people, and it also influences the situation. now he lost even support from the army, from soldiers, because belarusian people, belarusian soldiers, don't want to fight against ukraine. and it's the reason why our troops hadn't still crossed the border into ukraine. exactly, i was going to raise that very point. i mean, you say lukashenko is paying his price to putin for the support putin gives him, but lukashenko has not, as far as we understand it and despite some claims from ukraine, he has not actually sent belarusian troops across the border to fight inside ukraine. i wonder why you think he has not done that? er, maybe, you know, according to our information, belarusian troops had to enter ukrainian territory maybe a week ago, but it didn't happen because hesitation started among soldiers.

we belarusians applied to soldiers, "where are you going? are you going to fight against our sisters and brothers?" we have a lot of relatives in ukraine. the belarusian people, when they were fleeing from repressions, they went massively to ukraine, as well. and we... i want to be clear, are you saying that some belarusian forces did cross the border with russian forces, but then they came back again? they refused to fight? we don't have evidence that belarusian troops crossed the border at all. so our soldiers denied to do this. maybe this criminal order wasn't given, but who knows? under pressure of kremlin, lukashenko could make this order.

and our task now is to communicate with our army, with our soldiers, not to fulfil these orders. but if they are made to do this, so to defect, to go on the side of ukrainian troops, to fight for the ukrainian people. what evidence, specific evidence do you have that there is discontent and deep unhappiness in the belarusian military at what they are doing, cooperating with the russians? you say that you have contacts with mothers of soldiers, things like that. but the outside world would like to see some real proof, some real evidence if indeed there are now divisions emerging within lukashenko�*s military. do you have any evidence? the fact that our troops are still not on the territory of ukraine is the proof that people — our army doesn't want to fight. but that may be a strategic decision made by lukashenko himself. he may have said to putin, "i'll help you, but i'm not

going to go that far." maybe, but he didn't... he didn't give this criminal order because of the pressure of people, because of the pressure in the army. but i underline once again that if he doesn't have any choice at all, maybe he could give this criminal order. we don't know. you've gone further than just condemning russia's invasion of ukraine. you have said that you want to see belarusian volunteers joining the ukrainian resistance to putin, and you've said that you want people in belarus to carry out sabotage to disable, if it is possible, the russian military machine inside belarus. how on earth is that going to happen? 0ur belarusian men are already organising themselves and going to ukraine to fight against russian troops. our people inside belarus, despite of fear, despite of understanding that they will be detained for these actions, they stop railways, just

to prevent these trains going through our territory. our people, our workers on the enterprises going for small strikes, you know, to stop the enterprise, you know, that helps the military troops of russia. but if you go down this track of sabotage, of doing everything you can to halt and create obstacles to vladimir putin using belarus to invade ukraine, you run the risk of putin turning his forces and his anger on belarus. you know what putin is capable of, are you prepared to run that risk with the security

of your own country? look, our country is de facto under partial military occupation, and lukashenko is not responsible for his decisions any more. he has to consult with kremlin about his future actions, so we belarusians have to take responsibility for the independence of our country. and when we talk about invasion of ukraine, i have to say that belarus was first for invasion. but the difference is that lukashenko became a collaborant with the kremlin, and ukrainians didn't. obviously, it is very difficult to get real hard information from inside the belarusian military, it's very hard also to get information about what specifically is happening just over the border from belarus in northern ukraine. but what we hear right now are very disturbing reports that the power has been cut off to the chernobyl nuclear power

plantjust across the border from belarus inside ukraine. you know that area very well because you're from the part of belarus that neighbours chernobyl. have you heard anything about what is happening inside the chernobyl nuclear power plant? i have the same information as you have from the media. but, of course, it's so painful, the question about chernobyl and possible disaster, because the communications were cut off. i understand, i realise that it could be a nuclear catastrophe for the whole region, for the whole europe, and, you know, we have to do everything possible to stop this. i understand that, you know, for the kremlin, this war, people's lives don't mean anything. but for us — for belarusians, for ukrainians, for the democratic world — it means a lot, and wejust have to do everything possible,

you know, to stop this. it's awful. you have not been able to live inside your own country since that fateful election in the summer of 2020, when you claim and you insist that you won the election, but you also claim that there was systematic fraud and rigging. lukashenko claimed victory, and in the popular protests that followed, you had to flee with your children, and i believe you're now spending most of your time in lithuania, but you're travelling the world trying to tell your message to the international community about lukashenko. how would you say you have succeeded in terms of rallying the international community against lukashenko�*s continued

rule of your country? you know, i'm sure that belarus united a lot of countries, united parties, united people, because for this year—and—a—half of our fight, we saw such unity of actions against lukashenko�*s regime. of course, much more could be done. of course, we understand that the first sanctions, for example, have been imposed only ten months after the crackdown of peaceful people in belarus. but i am really glad that belarus is still on the agenda, on an international agenda, that our wonderful belarusians all over the world every day continue to speak about belarus, to tell people the truth, to tell the situation with our political prisoners, with lawlessness in our country, about torture and about repressions. but in a way, that's why i ask

you about how you view the success of your campaign, because the truth is that after all of those street protests in the summer of 2020, that feeling that lukashenko�*s grip on power may be weakened, he is still there. there are, according to the un's latest human rights report on belarus, roughly 1,000 political prisoners still being held, including your own husband. and your movement basically has gone completely underground. the street protests are almost wiped out. most of your key leaders are either in exile or in prison. lukashenko seems to have won. lukashenko didn't win. every day, he knows that he is not recognised

by his people. he's not recognised by international society. he's not recognised by democratic leaders. and so i want to ask the same question, why are political prisoners still in prisons? there is strong actions the democratic world could do in response to the crimes that lukashenko and his cronies did. so when we were going from country to country asking to impose tough and joint sanctions against the regime, we got words of support, words of condemnation of this regime, but not real actions. only after hijacking of ryanair flight, strong sanctions have been imposed, but even they left so many loopholes in those sanctions that lukashenko could easily avoid them.

after a hybrid attack with the help of migrants that lukashenko did in august, he didn't pay at all for this crime. you know, no powerful sanctions. nothing happened. of course he feels impunity. of course he understands that he can do everything. people are repressed in belarus. people are scared because every moment kgb people can enter yourflat and kidnap yourfather, brother, or whoever and you can't do anything. are you allowed to speak to your husband at all right now? because he's been sentenced to 18 years in prison. political prisoners in belarus are isolated. they don't have opportunity to communicate with their relatives. we can communicate only through the lawyer, who visits my husband once a week. because, again, there are terrible reports of physical abuse and torture of people arrested, detained,

and then imprisoned in belarus. can your husband tell you anything about the conditions he is currently imprisoned under? my husband is in solitary cell for more than one year already, and his physical condition is normal. you know, he's a strong person and he's a fighter. but we have a lot of stories when people have cut their veins, when people go for hunger strike because they can't endure conditions they are in. and, you know, a week ago, after war started, we had massive rally on the streets of belarus. about 100,000 people went to show, you know, the attitude to this war, and about 800 people have been detained for one day. and one of the things they were protesting about was the most recent referendum that lukashenko pushed through, where he ended belarus's commitment to be nuclear—free. and the implication

of that was clear, that if putin wanted to place nuclear weapons on belarusian territory, lukashenko would agree. when the protesters came out against that and against the war in ukraine, hundreds more were arrested and rounded up. it is very easy to understand, isn't it, why so many belarusians now are too frightened to make a stand in public? i think it's difficult for people from democratic countries to understand the level of fear in dictatorships, because you are scared to say a word. you are scared to go for the streets to say what you really want to say, because people in democratic countries don't understand, why aren't you fighting against your regime? it's impossible, the price is too high. the price is18, 10, 15 years injail. thousands of people had to flee the country because of repressions,

but they continue the fight. i suppose you face a big strategic decision now for yourself and the whole anti—lukashenko opposition movement. how do you respond to what putin has done in ukraine? because his message is quite clear — he will use all the force necessary to enforce his vision of a greater russia, which clearly includes control of ukraine and clearly includes control, ultimate control, of your country, belarus, as well. so is your message to your people in belarus that you now are fighting for a belarus that will break free of moscow's control and will, like the zelensky government in ukraine, look westward to membership of the eu, maybe of nato? what is your vision for belarus? first of all, we have to return

democracy in our country and then ask people, "what do you want?" because before the war started, there were polls where people responded that about 60% of people wanted a good relationship with russia, and the same 60% wanted a good relationship with the european union. we are really peaceful people. but the new generation is, of course, pro—democratic, the new generation know how we can live if we have a normal government. if we have normal management, our people wouldn't live in poverty in our country. but you said to me at the very beginning of this interview that putin's invasion of ukraine has changed everything. and i understand what you're saying, because it seems to me it's changed the nature of the decision that belarusian people have to make about their future. they may say that freedom and democracy involves turning westward, but they may also see for themselves that if they make that decision, the reality is russia, putin, will bring terrible retribution upon them and will seek to control

them by military force. so there's a new, stark choice facing your people. which way will they go? i think people now understand that there is a possibility of the second iron curtain between russia and western countries, and the question is where belarus will be. which side of it you will be on? yes. and isn't it quite plain that putin will use all military means necessary in belarus to ensure you are on his side of the curtain? of course, it could be his intention, but we always forget about people. country is notjust government, and it's notjust army, it's about people. and if people don't want to be on that side of the iron curtain,

they will fight for it. and it will be a region of constant instability, of constant rallies, of constant uprising. will it really, though? because, again, you know better than me that putin's message in some of his speeches, some of his writings over the last few years has been all about the degree of historical, cultural, economic, and political ties between the slavic peoples of ukraine, belarus and russia. his message is that, actually, the people of belarus want to be brothers and sisters with the people of today's russia, and that that bond cannot be broken. are you saying he's wrong? look, of course we want to be brothers and sisters with russians. we want to be brothers and sisters with ukrainians, but we don't want to be dragged into past, into the times of soviet union in the past, in the era of influences. we want to be an independent country with our own culture,

with our own language, where people are going where they want and they're not ruled by the third country. this is about people, it's about independence. but it's also about practical decisions. so for you, as, you know, leader, figurehead leader of the anti—lukashenko opposition, are you saying to me you could imagine a future where belarus is in nato, inside the eu, or not? what is democracy about? it's about the will of the people. before answering this question, i have to ask belarusians, "where do you want to go?" people want to live a normal life. we don't want our pensioners to live in poverty. this is what we want, our economy to develop — and how it will be fulfilled,

that's the question. and this question, people have to answer. isn't the truth that, as you sit here with me in london — you're about to go see the foreign secretary, political avenues you are pursuing across the western world — isn't the truth that your fate now and the fate of belarus really hangs with the fate of ukraine? if putin succeeds in asserting his control, subjugating ukraine, it is going to be a disaster for your attempts to remove lukashenko. you know, it's a pity to admit, but, yes, the fate of ukraine and fate of belarus are deeply interconnected. and on the outcome of this war depends how long my husband willspend injail, how long thousands of people will spend injail. and our task now is to support, to help ukrainian people as much as we can, and we really believe we're doing our best to be on the side of light. svetla na tikhanovskaya,

i thank you very much indeed forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you. hello there. there's going to be a different look to the weather on thursday and a change of fortune for much of the country as well. with the rain having cleared away, we had the sunnier skies across more western parts of scotland. there was almost an inch of rain in wiltshire and, for a while, we actually had some quite heavy rain here in lincolnshire as well. with that wetter weather clearing away out into the north sea and these showers yet to arrive

from the northwest, we're going to have some clearer skies developing. so, by the time we get to early thursday morning, it could be quite cold and frosty in a few places. temperatures will be close to freezing, maybe down to “4 or so in the northeast of scotland. we'll find those showers coming in from the northwest across scotland and northern ireland — notjust one band of showers, but two, and they could be quite heavy as well. some sunshine in between. those showers tending to die out as they move over the irish sea, one or two in the afternoon for northern parts of england and wales. but for much of england and wales, it will be dry with more the way of sunshine this time and lighter winds towards the southeast — temperatures here making 1a, perhaps even 15 degrees. we do have some weakening weather fronts moving down from the northwest, bringing those bands of showers, but high pressure is going to be building by the end of the week, so it looks like it'll be dry on friday. could have some moisture left over from the earlier showers, giving this patchy mist and fog across parts of wales and the midlands. that will tend to lift, and we'll see a good deal of sunshine, i think, on friday, the breeze starting to pick up in some areas later

in the day, but those temperatures are tending to climb as well. 13 degrees in the central belt of scotland, 15 or 16 perhaps in the east midlands and towards the fens. the weekend remains quiet and dry as well. a lot of sunshine around this weekend, but we're likely to have some stronger winds, too. after a chilly—ish start, i think, on saturday, it looks like a fine spring day — lots of sunshine around, dry day, but a noticeably stronger east or southeasterly wind, which means the highest temperatures are likely to be along the coast of northwest england and around the moray firth — 16 or 17 celsius. high pressure in charge this weekend. the centre of the high is drifting to the east of the uk, allowing these stronger winds to arrive and maybe threatening one or two showers in the evening on sunday in the far southeast of england. 0therwise, sunday is a dry day. temperatures a little bit lower. we may see a bit more cloud on monday and perhaps one or two showers.

this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. back home. after six years in captivity in iran, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe arrives back in britain to be reunited with her family. i think it's been a really difficult 48 hours. the expectation that they would be released, but we weren't sure and right until the last minute. families reunited. the first picture of nazanin back with her husband and daughter. ukrainian officials say a theatre in mariupol being used as shelter for civilians has been destroyed. russia denies attacking it.

and we meet the locals in one scottish village who've made