♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

announcer: and now, "bbc news". anchor: hello i'm chn fraser. this is the context. >> four years he has prisoners so that absolutely no one would leave for him. >> this is the case that they are ready to be extremely cruel. it sends messages to the broader audience. we will not stop. >> he has been optimistic all of these years. even now, he is trying to tell is that there is actually some hope for change. ♪ christian: first, he was poisoned, and now they have locked him away in a super max prison. opposition leader alex sentenced

to 10 more years on top of the nine he is already serving. -- we will bring you reaction tonight from the director of the documentary. and tonight the world's oceans hit their warmest ever recorded temperature. ukraine says it is carrying out a c drone attack on a navy ship in the black sea but it is not all going ukraine's way. and the counteroffensive details coming up. good evening, alexei navalny knew what dangers he was facing when he returned to russia in 2021. he would be recovering in germany from poisoning. it looked like a failed attempt for russian intelligence to silence him once and for all. he has been a constant born in president putin's side he consistently revealed the

corruption -- and mr. pruden never refers to him by -- mr. putin never refers to him by name. it was an extremely brave thing for him to go back, and how he is paying for it. alexei navalny was already serving nine years in jail, but today a judge added another 10 for his extremism work saying it was entirelyabricated. our reporter was in court and he sends this report. reporter: this is the closest we were allowed to get to russia's most famous prisoner. alexei navalny was already incarcerated there. journalists were not allowed into the makeshift court room, we had to watch on a screen. for the kremlin critic, this is

a trial behind bars. he was found lt on extremism charges and was handed a 19 year prison sentence. we may be allowed here to watch the verdict on a tv screen, but keep in mind this court case an actual proceedings were closed to the press and public and held in a high security is in describing this trial as behind closed doors. it feels like an understatement. ahead of a verdict, a message online he wrote that the long prison sentence for him was made to scare russians. and he maye on trial again for terrorism. a charismatic protest leader and anticorruption crusade leader, alexei navalny fell into the hands of the kremlin long ago. in 20 in siberia he was poisoned with a nerve agent and airlifted.

he claims he was poisoned by the kremlin but they denied this. when he returned to russia in 2021 comic he was arrested and jailed. ever since, he his face trial after trial, punishment after punishment. >> it communicates that they are ready to be extremely cool -- cruel. it sends messages to the broader audience that we will not stop. the machine is working and it means -- the mission is working and it means that they are -- ready to continue trials against residents. reporter: that includes this man, igor is no stranger to this. he is criticized -- and now he is under arrest as the kremlin tries to crack down on any kind of criticism.

back at the trial, once the verdict was delivered, we were ushered off of the colony premises. after today's conviction and more charges against him to follow, alexei navalny is said to remain locked away for years to come. steve rosenberg, bbc news. in russia. christian: once we got that report, we have word from alexei navalny in a post formerly known as twitter. he has more than 3 million followers and 19 years in the maximum security colony. the number of years does not matter. i perfectly understand that like many political prisoners i am sitting on a life sentence and life is measured by the term of my life or the term of life of this regime. the sentencing figure is not for me, it is for you. you, not me, are being frightened and denied the will

to resist. you are being forced to surrender your country, russia, -- with thieves and scoundrels who have see -- seized power. putin must not achieve his goal. do not lose the will to resist. -- the director of oscar-winning documentary about the opposition readers poisoning the journalist from the investigative group. thank you for joining us. he was right and set -- what he says in the tweet facing 19 years in maximum security prison. a sentence he might not survive, but it is there that sentence to scare and intimidate anyone that follows him. >> that is like the regime -- that is right the regime has been consistent in squashing -- they have done everything they can to completely destroy anyone

who has any morsel of the stent in russia. he and many of his colleagues are paying the price for that. reporter: i watch the documentary again last night and the part that is hard to watch is the moment that he leaves germany with his wife and they fly back to moscow. he knows and stares out of the window, he knows exactly what he is going back to. when you consider what has happened today, would his purpose not have been better served in writing and campaigning as a dissonant aside russia? reporter: that is a challenging question, but that is one that i and many people have asked themselves many times. at the end of the day the decision to go back was a decision he made between himself, his family, and a higher hour. what vladimir wanted to do was to get rid of navalny and have

him murdered and if not have him thrust into exile. and i think navalny staying away was giving the kremlin to grade a gift. he wanted to go back and be the moral leader of the nation. some people call that savior complex. some things that he would have been more effective outside of the country, but whether you have criticism or not you cannot find -- do anything but find his courage admirable. christian: absolutely. why do you think they would not invite orrin journalist into the prison today? reporter: everyone knows this is a show trial. it is not too terribly different than foreign correspondent than the prison hearings in stalin's time. that kind of gives it -- it is not a complete farce. i am not asychologist, i don't not know it directly the reason for it, but if it would be a little too obvious, maybe it is

obvious enough if they board the journalist. but it parallels from court hearings from alin's time it. christian: since we are talking about extremism, can we go back to august 2020 when alexei was poisoned and he did so many -- so much work with daniel on that trip to siberia. do you think the work that you've done since, that the group has done since enables you to say that this was without doubt oh poisoning carried out by the state ordered by vladimir putin? reporter: yeah, absolutely. have to assume that it was putin because if it was high-profile, you cannot imagine this being done by some underling. as we saw from the documentary in our investigation that the documentary, the team that

trailed navalny and poisoned him was not one random row guy, it was a full team of a dozen people that offered support. chemical weapon and they were working in it, it was a big project, it was not one guy that poisoned him it is a whole team of them who did it. it is hard to think it is not a group from the very top. christian: in the documentary, it is one guy who listed what happened. unwittingly. -- he is from this institution in moscow that produced -- i am very -- very soon after this video you produced errors, this documentary, he went missing. he has disappeared. has he ever been found? reporter: i think eric may be able to speak to this with greater clarity, but my

understanding is the journalist -- that fuels this investigation and the documentary found him in a covid database from somewhere in siberia about 18 months after the events and the phone call that are depicted in the movie took place. it is my understanding that he is still alive but he is probably in a horrible desk job that nobody would want in the region. christian: when that suggest that there is a cleanup operation to hide what they have done to alexei navalny? david: it could be. they have tried to hide the poisoning not just this one but one in saulsberry a number of years ago. some of them were reassigned to t so great gigs. and sometimes they were moved to the residential administration. a few weeks ago, iver anaya who was in charge of the operation to poison secretary -- powell

and accidentally his daughter in saulsberry, he showed up in an african meeting later there and he was given a speech and introduce their.it is not like they are all being sent off to the block of disgrace, some of them are being promoted for their work. this is not necessarily a shameful thing. for security services it is maybe shaful that it failed, and those at the bottom are getting reassigned but those at the top are not suffering serious consequences. christian: the documentary you produced starts with alexei staring into the camera and you ask him the question, if you killed what message would you leave behind for the russian people? and he answers this as if he does not think in the moment that death is the outcome. i wonder if he might answer that question differently today. eric: well, yours is a good

question but again it is one we would have to post to alexei mself. i cannot answer this for him. but i cannot help but think he would reconsider his options when he decided to go back. it was about a year after he decided to go back that the war was launched. i am sure that would have change the calculus, but i am also not sure. at the end of the day, navalny is deeply committed to his country. he is very patriotic. he did not feel comfortable eating exiled. it just goes to show what one man is willing to sacrifice for the future of his nation. his courage is stunning and it is a real tragedy that we are not getting to see him for a long time. christian: he has been on a hunger strike and he did look -- he did not look great today. the shadow of the man who left germany.

do you ever wonder and consider why they keep them alive? eric: it is hard to say. they have long history of keeping political prisoners around for a while. a future ploy, you think of high profile prisoner swap's and you think of his profile he was imprisoned for a long time. -- and it is an act of goodwill towards the west with a prisoner swap. he is not doing a terrible amount of harm in prison i suppose. he has his twitter account, but his organization has been labeled extremist. members have scattered through the baltics and others. they are not a threat to the regime right now. as long as he is in prison he could be useful down the road for a high-profile prisoner swap or after the war years down the line maybe he is released as an effort or token of a thaw

thinking into the future. you cannot really do that if he is dead, i suppose. thinking years in advance, that may be a future chip to play. christian: that is interesting. let me give you the final word, daniel. there is a woman in the documentary that is waiting for the return of him at the airport and she says she has come because he is a symbol of russian freedom. i wonder in the state of war that we are at at the moment, if that is actually true. that his freedom he is now similar to thes. daniel: you know, i think navalny sees himself as part of a movement. at the end of the day, i think that he cannot help but be emblematic of the future of russia. it is tough to have hope, but navalny preaches hope. he says we have to be optimistic. that is part of his brand. he talks about the future of

russia. it is the old adage bed the night is just as dark -- the darkest before the dawn. -- history is not yet going to remember him for having achieved disgrace achievement. it will have a great deal of resilience for him to get to the end of the road to survive this prison sentence, but i know if anyone can do it it is him. christian: it is a great watch. the documentary if you have not seen it find it. it is great to talk with you both this evening. thank you. eric: thank you so much. christian: around the world and across the u.k. you are watching bbc news. some of the headlines, -- an extension to london with the ultra low emission zone. and they have announced all londoners with a noncomplying card can have 2000 pounds to replace their vehicle.

the partner of a pregnant woman killed by a driver speeding at 123 miles per hour has a sentence. he was jailed for 10 years after causing the death of frankie joe's harm in manchester in may. she had pulled over on the shoulder with a tire puncture when she was hit by the speeding hicle. a man who murdered his two-month-old stepson has been jailed for life for a minimum of 28 years. jacob crouch was found dead in his cot with dozens of energies -- injuries in 2020. jacob's mother was given 10 years for allowing the death of the child. you are live with bbc news. here the government has set up to expand the use of private sector to tackle hospital waiting lists. 17.5 million people are waiting for treatment alone that is 3

million more before the pandemic. in the u.k. the private sector already carries out hundreds of thousands of -- thousands of treatments and appointments but they believe that they could do 30% more. to unlock that potential, they are relaxing the rules on how contracts are awarded to create more flexibility for bosses. and they announced today eight new privately run community diagnostic centers. and let's speak to the associate professor at the health of excellent -- health and economics -- welcome to the program. 17.5 million people on the waiting list, will this help? >> yeah, thank you. this is absolutely something we have to tackle. one potential part is -- [indiscernible] it is one of the best performing -- worst performing systems

across the country and now -- quality. going back to your question, i would say this is one that is a part of the resolution. absolutely. christian: there are 30 new diagnostic centers for sca and testing that would speed up diagnoses they announced today but only eight will be privately run. not the others, why? why does it make sense to have privately run diagnostic centers in one part of the country but not the other? >> that is a very good question. i think the context, the local needs, the capacity that we have possibly is one of the -- [indiscernible] what we have said we need to do is not increase any disparities between different areas of the country. we definitely look into the outcomes of these -- near the

centers. christian: i have done this story before and i remember 20 years ago there were independent providers who were providing this sort of treatment. i am curious why we have just stopped building on that. why did we sort of abandon that strategy? >> we looked into the data for the last 10 years, the date it clear that the contract going onto the independent sectors has been increased all these years. [indiscernible] i do not think it is an idea we abandon, it was just slowly getting this into revision. christian: yeah there is an awkward debate in this country it is a difficult one for the conservative party. when they talk about the private sector getting involved, they

are accused of not valuing the nhs and public health. is that a similar debate in europe? how do we compare in terms of private provision? >> absolutely. the conversation is the course of -- many political discussions about help systems around the world -- health systems around the world. in the netherlands 15 years ago they were saying -- there were more private -- providing health care services. the question is, i have to admit, is that if we go that way using a framework to ensure quality of services, improved outcomes, then who provides the services has less importance about the quality and improvement that the population has. christian: ok we have to leave it there. thank you for coming on. >> of pleasure.

christian: military government has promised immediate response to aggression and interference by the west african neighbors. the leaders says it has a plan for a possible intervention and there is a deadline sunday for the country's president to be reinstated. a delegation traveled to niger but left after a few hours. the president has written a article for the washington post. he says he is currently being held hostage by the military and he warned the entire region could fall under russian influence soon. we have a senior lecturer and politics of international relations at -- university. thank you for being with us. can you talk with me about this delegation? what were they doing there and why did it end so quickly? >> >> yes, thank you for having me. they were there to try and see

-- if diplomacy and mediation would work. initially, an ultimatum was given and we are told that they did not restore this within seven days they would use force. but at the same time, everyone understands that force would not favor anyone. the whole idea of the delegation was to try and see if they could get some concession or try and secure the release of the president. but as you reported, this did no work. the delegation is back in nigeria. christian: what happens on sunday when the deadline passes as it inevitably will as it seems, and the legitimate government is not restod? what are they proposing to do? >> everyone is keeping the element of surprise. i just listen to the spokesman a couple of minutes ago and he

said that the use of force is still on the table. he said that the logistics have been agreed and the result as you mentioned -- it has been agreed, but the time and place of -- will not be announced. so it is still going on to say that -- at the moment, the use of force is still very much on the table. christian: i've only got about a minute left so keep this brief if you would, but i am reading the president's commentary piece on the washington post today. he says it makes up 40% of our national budget but it will not be delivered if the coup succeeds. we know the united states and france have already said they will cut ties with niger. and presumably that endangers hundreds of millions of dollars of aid. can they survive without it? >> no, i do not think they can.

it is one of the poorest countries in africa and world. though they depend on a lot of aid from the region -- and already -- the sanctions imposed the price of basic staples are already going up. so they really need these allies. that is why they cannot just walk away. christian: thank you very much for coming on the program. one serious situation to watch over the weekend as the deadline approaches on sunday. do stay with us we will go to a short break. and then we will talk about the warming oceans and the new record being set all the time in the summer in the northern hemisphere and we will also talk about ukraine with some success from a military perspective today with an attack on a russian naval ship. but some news that they are being jammed, their equipment is being jammed on the front line. we will tell you about it.

stay with us. narrator: funding for this presentati of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

announcer: and now, "bbc news".