this is bbc news. will have the headlines and all them many new stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to a special edition of hardtalk from berlin, with me, stephen sackur. this city is currently marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, that extraordinary moment which symbolised the beginning of the end of the communist system and the end of the cold war. well, my guest today is this man — mikhail gorbachev,

the former president of the soviet union, the man whose policies of glasnost and perestroika were supposed to reinvigorate the soviet system but which, in fact, hastened its demise. well, today, he's going to reflect with me on the current state of east—west relations. mikhail gorbachev, welcome to hardtalk. it was 1989 here in berlin when the wall came down. it took two more years for the soviet union to collapse. but in your view, was it inevitable when this wall came down here in berlin that the soviet union was finished?

he speaks russian. russian translation:

the point i want to make is that you believed for a long time that you could reform and revitalise the soviet union, and you were wrong because, in the end, the process of glasnost and perestroika killed off the soviet union. and i wonder now, looking

back, whether you feel that was a good thing or whether, like vladimir putin, you feel, well, as he says, that it was a catastrophic event, the most catastrophic event of the 20th century.

yes. see, what followed you... what followed you were years of economic chaos and political chaos. vladimir putin's message to the russian people today

is that the chaos that came after the soviet union was deeply damaging to the interests of the russian public and that he, vladimir putin, is going to restore a sense of pride, status and power to greater russia, and, to many people outside of russia, it sounds and feels like a return to the mentality of the soviet union. people in russia still say that today.

there are politicians in russia today who want to put you on trial for treachery. they call you a traitor and they do believe that vladimir putin is going to restore russia's pride by, in essence, rebuilding a latter—day soviet empire. but to be clear...

but to be clear, when you tell me that you think putin is having a chilling effect on russia today, what exactly do you mean by that? when you talk about putin and the chilling effect you say

he is having on russia, you're talking about the internal issues and putin's lack of commitment to genuine democracy. many outside russia would say the most chilling effect of putin right now comes from his abroad strategy, from his determination to exercise power beyond russia's own national borders, particularly in ukraine. did it really end? did the cold war really end?

in putin's mind, maybe the cold war did not end.

if i may, when you say the result is we have a new division, i want to quote you the words of finland's president. finland has a very long border with russia. they know you and you know them very well. and finland's president said just the other day, bearing in mind what is happening in ukraine, with the annexation of crimea, with new reports of russian tanks and russian forces again in the regions of eastern ukraine just in the past few days, he said, "it seems to me "we are almost at the gates of a new kind of cold war that "could suck in all of europe." do you agree with him?

it's very interesting that you talk about the work you did with that generation of western leaders in that period, around �*89, �*90, and before. you famously said that you had a real trust and admiration for ronald reagan. margaret thatcher, she said, "mikhail gorbachev is a man i can do business with." but look today at the relationship between putin and obama. look at what putin said the other day when he said that the us unilaterally declared itself the winner of the cold war, it never tried to establish a new balance of power, it's only interested imposing a unilateral diktat which can only lead to conflict and chaos.

putin and his attitude to the united states appears to have a completely different approach from your own. very specifically, do you support putin's annexation of crimea, the fact that

russian troops are still reported to be in east ukraine and russia has recognised the recent elections in eastern ukraine, which the rest of the world has described as completely illegitimate? do you support putin's positions there?

when you picked up the nobel peace prize in 1991,

you said, "you know what? i am always an optimist." i wonder if there is much room for optimism today. when you see the crisis in relations between the western powers and vladimir putin, when you see conflict, again, on the eastern borders of europe involving russia, can you be an optimist today? the world could be on the brink of another conflict today.

mikhail gorbachev, we have to end there, but i thank you very much indeed for being on hardtalk. spasibo. ochen spasibo. hello. as we turn the weather page from summer to autumn, it looks like nature is taking its cue as well. big changes this weekend — there could be a bit of thundery rain around

across much of the uk. not everyone will see it and potentialfor some strong winds, as well. the weather charts really scream autumn. area of low pressure which will develop around that, bands of heavy and thundery rain, and potentially little smaller areas of low pressure within it, which could bring bouts of even stronger winds. complete contrast to what we've got out there tonight. into the morning, lightest winds across the northern half of the country, lowest of the temperatures down to 2—3 celsius. a bit more breezy to start the day in the south, 15—16 as we start the morning. could be a few distant rumbles of thunder towards the channel islands, maybe an isolated shower towards kent, too. most will be dry, a few showers in northeast england — but through the day, southern areas of england, wales, more cloud will develop and a few isolated showers of thunderstorms are likely. vast majority dry with the sunshine out, it's lighter winds — going to feel a bit warmer as we go through thursday, particularly so in scotland and northern ireland. into thursday evening and overnight, those showers and thunderstorms will break out a little bit more widely across the southern counties of england and wales. still very much well—scattered, hit and miss, many places

staying dry, but it will start to feel a bit more humid and not quite as chilly across scotland and northern ireland either, to take us into friday. so, this is the chart for friday — still some showers and thunderstorms around across the south, 1—2 showers breaking out elsewhere through the day, could be a sharp one, too. more likely, though, across parts of western scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon. the breeze picking up across northern scotland, compared what we've seen through recent days, but a warm and humid one in the sunny spells, even though there's a bit more cloud — temperatures 20—25. biggest changes will come this weekend — could see a zone of showery, thundery rain from southwest scotland, northern ireland, through towards east anglia. dry to the north of it with some strong winds, clearer slots to the south of it with some sunshine at times, but more in the way of heavy, thundery rain out in the west later. and the winds will be a feature on saturday to the west of the country, and more especially in the north — northwest scotland could see winds touch gale force at times. here, temperatures for saturday nice enough when the sun shines out — going to feel cooler, though, and the wind

and where you have the rain. and, as i said, potential for more rain to come not just through sunday, but into monday, and any of these areas of low pressure that spin up, whilst a bit of uncertainty around them, they could bring some strong winds, too.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. un inspectors arrive in the southern ukrainian city of zaporizhzhia, on a mission to prevent a nuclear accident at the russian held power plant. my mission is a technical mission, that seeks to prevent a nuclear accident. the un releases its long—awaited report on alleged human rights abuses against uighur muslims in china. no end in sight to the floods sweeping across pakistan — the rising waters turning roads into rivers in the worst—affected areas. as the tributes continue, preparations are being made for the funeral of mikhail gorbachov, the last

leader of the soviet union.