i'm helena humphrey, good to have you with us. we start with the developing situation in russia. russian authorities have ordered the arrest of the leader of the wagner mercenary group, yevgeny prigozhin, with claims he and his men have crossed the borderfrom ukraine into russia and will "destroy anyone who stands in their way." so far there's no evidence of their advance. this comes shortly after russia began a criminal investigation into prigozhin, accusing him of calling for an armed rebellion. here's footage of military tanks in moscow, as reports come in that the capital is stepping up its security. in a series of audio messages, prigozhin accused the russian military of launching deadly attacks on wagner camps. he also said russia had no reason to invade ukraine,

and that the claim that nato posed a threat was "a beautiful story." the wagner leader goes on to say that the war has been a disaster, needlessly sacrificing tens of thousands of lives so that russian oligarchs could get even richer by seizing ukraine's resources. prigozhin announced what he called a march forjustice, saying anyone who stood in his way would be eliminated. but he says this is not a coup. translation: they have been shooting at us, we have been shooting at us, we have been shooting at us, we have been shooting at them and that has been going on these eight long years. from 2014 to 2022. sometimes the amount of shelling and exchange of fire has increased and sometimes it has increased and sometimes it has eased. 0n has increased and sometimes it has eased. on february 24 there was nothing extraordinary. now the russian defence ministry is trying to deceive the president and the public by claiming there was insane aggression on there was insane aggression on the part of ukraine and they

were going to attack us along with the entire nato block. so the so—called special military operation on february 24 was launched for completely different reasons. meanwhile, the deputy commander of the russian ukraine campaign, sergey surovikin told wagner soldiers to stand down. translation: i addressed the command officers and fighters of wagner pmc. together we went down a long and difficult road, with what we do, we rested, we suffered losses, we had victories together, we are of the same blood. we must do this before it is too late. 0bey the same blood. we must do this before it is too late. obey the will and command of the elected president of the russian federation. stop the convoys, return to bases and places where you are stationed. live now to vitaliy shevchenko from bbc monitoring. thank you so much forjoining us. just bring us up—to—date with the latest, what you're hearing.

with the latest, what you're hearinu. , ., ., hearing. the situation in the russian capital _ hearing. the situation in the russian capital seems - hearing. the situation in the russian capital seems to - hearing. the situation in the russian capital seems to be| russian capital seems to be relatively quiet. all we know is that a certain number of troops have been deployed to the streets of moscow. we have seen videos and photographs of our need trucks and personnel carriers on the streets of moscow but the fact is that russia's media environment is very repressive and there is simply no independent media left to report objectively what's happening so all these statements issued by yevgeny prigozhin, they can give us an idea of what he is trying to do but it would be naive to take them completely at face value given his history of information, manipulation. within the past half hour, yevgeny prigozhin issued yet another audio message which was

posted on social media in which it claims his forces have crossed into russia's southern region which is right on the border with ukraine and according to prigozhin is trying to enter the city of rostov. we are not hearing any claims of clashes between the motion that let russian military and wagner mercenaries. that does not appear to be happening at the moment. 50 appear to be happening at the moment. , ., appear to be happening at the moment, , ., ., �* appear to be happening at the moment. ,, ., �* ., moment. so you don't have re orts moment. so you don't have reports of _ moment. so you don't have reports of that _ moment. so you don't have reports of that activity - moment. so you don't have reports of that activity at i reports of that activity at this moment in time but the fact that russian authorities have moved troops into areas such as moscow for example, does that mean that they are taking these comments from prigozhin �*s sake! seriously? there is that —— are they taking comments from prigozhin

seriously? the fact that they have made appeals to wagner and these videos are also circulating on russian social media. that means this is team taken seriously —— being taken seriously. certainly the former head of the russian forces in ukraine has called on wagner to stop and the other general who is the deputy head of the military in russia, he had spoken of a military coup and he has urged wagner to stop before it is too late. also, russian state tv which is reflective of the kremlin�*s views and intentions earlier this evening, it interrupted its programming to broadcast what it called emergency news bulletin which basically recapped all the official accusations against wagner and

denials of targeting its bases. also, unusually, it mentioned yevgeny prigozhin by name so that on state tv, and it also suggests that the kremlin is really concerned about what you have any prigozhin may be doing. —— yevgeny prigozhin may be doing. doing. -- yevgeny prigozhin may be doinu. �* , , doing. -- yevgeny prigozhin may bedoinu.�* , , be doing. and briefly if you don't mind. _ be doing. and briefly if you don't mind, you _ be doing. and briefly if you don't mind, you mention . be doing. and briefly if you - don't mind, you mention some of this is unusual, particularly, for example, mentioning prigozhin by name. a significant do you think this moment could be?- significant do you think this moment could be? there is a lot of speculation — moment could be? there is a lot of speculation about _ moment could be? there is a lot of speculation about whether - of speculation about whether this is real because people who have been watching russia for years, they used various games of smoke and mirrors and smoke and dagger so there is a lot of speculation about how the scene is being played by those in russia so a lot of people that

will be watching russia intently over the coming weekend. intently over the coming weekend-— intently over the coming weekend. ., , weekend. and you of course esnecially- _ weekend. and you of course especially. great _ weekend. and you of course especially. great to - weekend. and you of course especially. great to have - weekend. and you of course i especially. great to have your reporting. thank you so much for being with us. live now to ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group. ian, looking at all of this, what do you think could be going on right now? ian, thank you so much for being with us and listening to all of that including one alcoholic there from bbc monitoring had to say. what do you think could be going on right now? a serious situation domestically in russia since the beginning of the war. prigozhin is facing in all likelihood the end of his life as a free man. most probably the end of his life. so he is going to be experiencing extreme desperation. that means expect disinformation from of his channels and also expect

desperation in terms of the decisions that he is taking. the idea that he has entered russia itself is certainly plausible but we haven't seen any direct video of that nor have we seen reports of fighting against the russian military and certainly the russian military would be told at this point given that wagner headquarters have been raided by russian forces, to bring him in and to bring him tojustice if not to kill him. but we have to recognise that this is going on the same time as the ukrainian counteroffensive so the russian wagner forces which have been the most successful in fighting against the ukrainians are now no longer doing so. they are leaving their post. at the time of the ukrainian counteroffensive. a couple of things we should recognise — the first of —— the potential for russian forces to fall apart is very real which

means that ukraine might well be able to have some success in what has not been a very successful counteroffensive. maybe even breaking the land break that the russians have to crimea and then the question is at the same time that putin is facing a direct threat to his rule and we see the military massing in moscow, he also has the potential for this raw massing in moscow, he also has the potentialfor this raw —— war in ukraine, by far the biggest misjudgment in his career potentially turning away that disastrous national security. very dangerous situation.— security. very dangerous situation. . , ., ., ~ situation. ian, before we talk more about _ situation. ian, before we talk more about what _ situation. ian, before we talk more about what this - situation. ian, before we talk more about what this could l more about what this could potentially mean for the conflict and counteroffensive as well as vladimir putin himself, i dojust want as well as vladimir putin himself, i do just want to touch a little bit more on the situation that is unfolding with regards to prigozhin. and the fact he could be in dire

straits. what exactly may he have been trying to do, whether his pledge of pledging against the russian defence ministry, did actually have any teeth? it is hard to see —— say. he claimed —— he claimed there was an attack against his forces by the russian events forces but he has been increasingly unhinged over the past couple of weeks in his public outspoken opposition of the defence minister, the head of the russian forces on the ground in ukraine as well as the forces themselves and when putin specifically had his minister of defence order, just a couple of weeks ago, that all of the informal forces a couple of weeks ago, that all of the informalforces in ukraine needed to sign contracts with the russian defence ministry. the former head of chechnya who has been fighting on the ground in ukraine said sure, we will do

that. prigozhin said no. then you may remember a week ago putin had a meeting with a bunch of military loggers and in that meeting he reiterated the direct order that he expected that the wagner forces were going to sign these contracts. prigozhin didn't do it. i can tell you, i have never seen that level of insubordination against putin. that is a death wish in a country like russia and that was clearly unsustainable so i think we're coming to a head over the past week, there is no question. i over the past week, there is no cuestion. ., ., over the past week, there is no question-— question. i want to ask than a little bit more _ question. i want to ask than a little bit more about - question. i want to ask than a little bit more about that. - question. i want to ask than a little bit more about that. if l little bit more about that. if we see prigozhin then arrested, where do you think this would leave the wagner group? we know it has been pivotal in this war and we know that some senior russian generals are calling for three fighters to stand down. ., ., ., ~ down. right. you are talking about tens — down. right. you are talking about tens of _ down. right. you are talking about tens of thousands - down. right. you are talking about tens of thousands of l about tens of thousands of soldiers. some of whom are very badly trained, former

conscripts, horrible morale, outfitting, all of that. some of them are actually very capable, well—paid mercenary is the equivalent of special force training and that is how they were able to have some of the limited success that russia has had over the last six months of the war in back moot, for example. so if these wagner forces are now bleeding away from the front lines and if the russian defence forces are now primarily going to be focused on defending the homeland, you canjust imagine this means that the ukrainians suddenly have a new lease on life in attacking the russian lines of defence and then the big question is how does putin respond if his so—called redlines are breached by the ukrainians? what might he do? would he consider weapons of mass destruction? would he

consider carpet bombing of ukrainian cities, even putting his own air force at risk? would he consider blowing up the nuclear plant at zaporizhzhia? and as much as i hate to say this, all of these things are now open questions on the ground. {lila things are now open questions on the ground.— on the ground. 0k, all right, but ian, _ on the ground. 0k, all right, but ian, ultimately, - on the ground. 0k, all right, but ian, ultimately, do - on the ground. 0k, all right, but ian, ultimately, do you l but ian, ultimately, do you think this is a pivotal moment in this war? i think this is a pivotal moment in this war?— in this war? i think this is a ivotal in this war? i think this is a pivotal moment _ in this war? i think this is a pivotal moment for- in this war? i think this is a pivotal moment for our - pivotal moment for our relationship with russia. i'm not sure it is a pivotal moment in the war. the pivotal moment in the war. the pivotal moment in the warfrankly in the war. the pivotal moment in the war frankly was when nato got fully behind ukraine to ensure they were going to have enough defensive equipment and intelligence and training, that they would be able to not only defend their territory but ensure that russia would not have another bite at that apple. i think the us, the uk,

nato, microsoft, elon musk, they have all done that over they have all done that over the past 16 months. i'm not sure this is pivotal in ukraine this may well be pivotal for russia and russia had over 5000 nuclear warheads and is presently in a very uncertain state. �* ., �* state. all right, ian bremer, the president _ state. all right, ian bremer, the president of— state. all right, ian bremer, the president of eurasia - state. all right, ian bremer, i the president of eurasia group, thank you for being with us. we have the white houses�* first response to the ongoing situation in russia. a statement from national security council spokesperson adam hodge reads quote:. "we are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments." we also understand that president biden has been briefed on this matter. we turn now to warnings over the safety of the titan sub that imploded near the wreck of the titanic this week. according to e—mails seen by the bbc, the boss of the company that operated the trip repeatedly dismissed concerns over the craft�*s safety. deep sea specialist rob mccallum told 0ceangate ceo stockton rush that

clients could be at risk. and he urged him to stop using the sub until it had been classified by an independent body. in an e—mail sent in 2018, maccallum warned rush that �*i have given everyone the same honest advice which is that until a sub is classed, tested and proven it should not be used for commercial deep dive operations. he went on "as much as i appreciate entrepreneurship and innovation, you are potentially putting an entire industry at risk." "so i implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very, very conservative.�* stockton rush replied: �*i have grown tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation and new entrants from entering their small existing market. earlier my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke to our correspondent carl nasman who's on the scene in boston. great to see you. first of all, the us and canada have announced they are launching investigations into what happened, tell us more about

what they will be examining. earlier of course we heard from relatives of one of the people on that vessel, hamish harding, they had been calling for a full investigation into this incident, it looks like they will be getting two, on the us aside, confirming to bbc news the us national press safety board will be involved in an investigation into this incident which will be led by the us coastguard and on the canadian side, damp transportation board will be looking into this incident as well, they have announced they are launching a probe and they will be conducting some interviews on the ground in newfoundland, and new stjohn�*s where all of the ships had been launched, the closest landmass to wear a dive site is so we are expecting some investigations now, we're not sure exactly when they will mmp sure exactly when they will ramp up or how they will be co—ordinating between each other but there are now some national bodies into this. this announcement _ national bodies into this. this announcement coming - national bodies into this. ti 3 announcement coming as we said there are more questions being

asked about safety standards and 0ceangate. what have you been hearing?— been hearing? yes, there has been hearing? yes, there has been a cause _ been hearing? yes, there has been a cause of— been hearing? yes, there has been a cause of now, - been hearing? yes, there has been a cause of now, many i been a cause of now, many coming from that e—mail extends from 2018, so a testy extent, several e—mails we have seen at the bbc between the two, robert mckellen, an expert in the field and the ceo himself is the late stockton rush. and this was more of the same, we have heard this from apple experts, concerns about the materials used in the titan, in the whole, the carbon fibre used, outside of the norm for the industry, we also heard concerns about the lack of certification of the titan, and even seeing they should stop using this altogether until there was a certification done. interestingly this was back in 2018, the first dive to the site of the titanic wreckage was in 2021, so this was several years before the titan started making this trip, and

more recent concerns being raised in the last few days, the director of the movie also making several, more than 30 trips to the titanic records himself, and he has been speaking out about similar concerns are so this is a timeline dating all the way back five years or so, even before the titan was fully operational in terms of going to the steps. operational in terms of going to the steps-— operational in terms of going to the steps. can you bring us date and _ to the steps. can you bring us date and recovery _ to the steps. can you bring us date and recovery efforts - to the steps. can you bring us date and recovery efforts to l date and recovery efforts to pick up the debris of the titan submersible? these recovery efforts are continuing, and they are being led by some of these remotely operated vehicles, there is at least one in the area that will continue to scour the ocean floor, some two and a half miles below the surface, looking at the debris itself, we know that five key pieces of the titan have been detected already, they will take a closer look, maybe send some images above and eventually tried to recover those items altogether, ring them up to the surface and look

at them closely, examine any present carbon fibre they can find, see if that material had been stressed or fatigued, maybe that led to catastrophic implosion. also interestingly there will be looking at the debris fields, a couple of them that they found, they can tell by the size and shape approximately at what point that vessel may have imploded, a wider field would indicate that vessel may have imploded, a widerfield would indicate it imploded earlier into its time in a much smaller field would imply that it made it nearly to the bottom before some sort of catastrophe took place. live now to ocean explorer tom dettweiler. he led the team that found the wreckage of the titanic and he was also a friend of pierre—henri nargeolet, one of the men who very sadly passed away on the titan. thank you so much for being with us, at what i can imagine is a difficult time and i want to say how sorry we are for the loss of your friend loss of yourfriend pierre—henri. loss of your friend pierre-henri.- loss of your friend pierre-henri. �*, ., ., pierre-henri. it's a loss to the industry. _

pierre-henri. it's a loss to the industry. you - pierre-henri. it's a loss to the industry. you have - pierre-henri. it's a loss to | the industry. you have said pierre-henri. it's a loss to . the industry. you have said of our the industry. you have said of your friend. — the industry. you have said of your friend, that _ the industry. you have said of your friend, that he _ the industry. you have said of your friend, that he was - the industry. you have said of your friend, that he was the l your friend, that he was the ultimate explorer and i know you have been on many dives together in the past. tell us about him and how he will be remembered in your community, in the explorer community. he was one of— in the explorer community. he: was one of those people that everyone was drawn to, he was incredibly friendly, very knowledgeable, never talked down to anybody, he was just very warm and we immediately became friends and there's a lot of people in the industry who can keep down account him as a friend. he who can keep down account him as a friend-— as a friend. he made a phenomenal— as a friend. he made a phenomenal number. as a friend. he made a | phenomenal number of as a friend. he made a - phenomenal number of dives to the titanic wreckage in fact, over 30. what does his loss mean in terms of the extraordinary body of knowledge as well, the knowledge that he had about the titanic? he as well, the knowledge that he had about the titanic?- had about the titanic? he is one of the _ had about the titanic? he is one of the few _ had about the titanic? he is one of the few people - had about the titanic? he is one of the few people who i had about the titanic? he is i one of the few people who has continued going back to the titanic on a regular basis,

whose science background in engineering background really allowed him to make extremely good judgements of what he was seeing down there in passing thosejudgements onto seeing down there in passing those judgements onto the other experts in industry who are interested in following what is happening to the titanic as it disintegrates over the years. all those processes can tell us an awful lot, they can be applied in other areas. you have also _ applied in other areas. you have also set _ applied in other areas. you have also set of— applied in other areas. you have also set of pierre—henri that you hope your friends did not die in vain. what you think the nautical world should take away this tragedy?— away this tragedy? definitely this is going _ away this tragedy? definitely this is going to _ away this tragedy? definitely this is going to impact - away this tragedy? definitely this is going to impact the i this is going to impact the submersible industry. there's going to be a close look at how this particular submarine was built, how it was operated, whether shortcuts were taken, and that will trickle down to the remainder of the submersible programmes, and

anything that is learned will hopefully improve the safety of other programmes as well. is also going to tell us a lot about materials and how those materials should be used, and that will go throughout the entire industry, notjust submersible, but any sort of system that has been put under water. there could be a knee—jerk reaction where tourists, submersible is a stop completely, they may forbid going to the titanic at all, we don't know, i hope we don't go that far but... i don't know, i hope we don't go that far but. . ._ that far but... i want to play ou that far but... i want to play you something _ that far but... i want to play you something from - that far but... i want to play you something from william konan on that point that you started to make. he is a us waters expert, and i want to get your thoughts afterwards, take a lesson.— take a lesson. there are ways to be clever — take a lesson. there are ways to be clever and _ take a lesson. there are ways to be clever and go _ take a lesson. there are ways to be clever and go around i to be clever and go around things, so for sure it needs to be clear that a submersible like this would not be allowed in us waters, the coastguard

would not allow it, it would not be allowed to work in british coastal waters, because it would have required it to be certified, the same thing in canada. then, it turns out that the operator operated in international waters were no coastguard hasjurisdiction. you just started to touch on the potential response in the wake of this tragedy and you said you hope these kind of voyages don't ultimately end, but in the interim, is this investigation, as this investigation, as this investigation gets under way, do you think there should be suspended particularly for those coming outside of the exploring community? i don't think... inaudible. - exploring community? i don't| think... inaudible. certainly, programmes that don't meet the standards or don't follow the rules are another story, but this was the only one that i know i've that was doing such extreme types of diving and

system development, and not following the normal programme. you quoted robert mcaleny, robert is running an extremely successful and safe programme taking people, paying customers, down to the deepest spots in the ocean, far deeper than the titanic, so it can be done and i would hate to see his programme impacted because of safety measures that were ignored in this programme. thank you so much for sharing your insights with us and once again, oursincere your insights with us and once again, our sincere condolences for the loss of your friend. thank you. the us coastguard has declared the loss of the titan submersible to be a major marine casualty, it will lead the investigation, and the ntsb

has joined the investigation and will contribute to their efforts. we want to bring you our top story once again, russian authorities have ordered the arrest of the leader of the wagner mercenary group. the leader and his men have crossed the border into russia and will destroy anyone who stands on their way, he says. so far there is no evidence of their advance, and this comes shortly after russia began an investigation into him, accusing him of the beginning an armed rebellion, and operation fortress has been instigated in the city of 0rostov on don. thanks for your company, i will see you at the top of the hour. hello. after what's been another fairly warm week for many of us, the weekend is set to bring something even warmer. in fact, i think the days at times will feel quite hot and the nights will be very warm and humid as well.

but as we head into sunday, we are going to see a bit of a change. some thundery downpours swinging in from the west courtesy of a frontal system which is a long way away to the west of us right now, for the short term, high pressure isjust about in charge. and around this area of high pressure, particularly as these weather fronts squeeze in, we've got a feed of humid air wafting its way across our shores. so quite a warm and humid start to saturday morning with a fair amount of cloud actually, and some mist and murk around some of the coasts and over some of the hills. a lot of the cloud will tend to break through the day to give some spells of sunshine, a bit of rain moving across the far north west of scotland. there's a small chance for the odd shower in parts of northern england, down into the midlands, but wales in the south of england likely to see the lion's share of the sunshine. and wherever you are it is going to be a warm day. 24 degrees for belfast, 25 for aberdeen, 29, the expected high in london. and that warmth does not ebb away quickly as we head into the evening.

in fact, temperatures holding up at around 23 degrees in london and in sheffield at 10:00 in the evening. so it could well be a little bit uncomfortable for sleeping. those temperatures falling a little bit further into the early hours of sunday. but with the humid air in place, sunday is going to turn into another very warm day. however, this frontal system pushing in from the west will bring a change for some of us with a band of heavy, thundery rain already in place across northern ireland. first thing that will push its way eastwards and ahead of it, some showers will pop up across parts of northern england, eastern scotland. these could be heavy and thundery in nature, but further south and particularly further southeast, it should stay largely dry with lots of sunshine and that warmth being squashed into the southeast corner. so temperatures in london likely to get to 31 degrees, but just 19 for belfast, fresher in the west. and that fresher air will move across all parts of the country as we move into the start of the new week. there are, though, further frontal systems lying in wait, so we will see further outbreaks of rain at times and potentially some quite strong winds as well, particularly towards the north

and the west of the uk. not as much rain further south and it is not going to be as warm as it has been.

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