they come up to accuse the russians with designed to leave a sour taste in the mouth of people who would otherwise commend the russians for organizing successful events. he is ready to plant at least an hour any diplomacy to the russian vent sic cetera side to even try to sort out what's going on here it's not going to be helped by the fact today that the u.k. defense secretary is telling moscow to basically what he did he said shut up and go away it's not exactly very diplomatic or a helpful way forward in practical terms is it to try and get to the bottom of this well that's right but i mean this is a politician of lesser competence who is trying to punch above his weight who doesn't really care about russian sensibilities because of course in fact the angrier the russians get with his words the more money he's likely to get back in his military budget for so-called defense against the good russian bear so he doesn't mind offending the russians what he really wants to do is to impress the british at home with how hawk like he is at the moment everyone's going to look

like a hawk otherwise they'll be viewed as beyond the pale of political discussion in britain at the moment so you can see in britain why there's anger everybody wants to find an answer everybody wants to get to the bottom of who was behind this know russia saying it's got nothing to do with it is doing everything it can but it's got nothing to do with it it's not being included properly in the investigation as far as russia stands at the moment tonight is it doing all it can has it done all it can given what i've just said. well russia has been excluded from doing what it can we should understand that this particular nerve agent is something that the inventor of it or one of the inventors of it has been in the u.s. for the last twenty years the u.s. had access to where this nerve agent was being used in his biggest fan from the late ninety's on words and it's been described by this particular russian emigre scientist who is now in the states in his own book a book called state secrets an insider's guide to russia's chemical weapons program now in that book he reveals the formula required to make this particular chemical

compound and it's been established by a professor at sheffield university that on the basis of what he what he described that compound could be produced almost anywhere by a chemist in a modern lab today so this idea that it was produced then is false and the idea that it couldn't be reproduced by someone else by any other you know it depends if you listen to we're also hearing it could only mean produced it could only be produced new very technologically advanced state sponsored kind of law but hey that's another conversation we're out of time for the incorrect you're saying again well thank you very much marco and thanks coming on the program to appreciate it mark augustus the political commentator. for that is tonight a well known ukrainian m.p. is accusing top tier of officials of being involved in a shooting massacre that took place during the twenty fourteen my done uprising member that events there led to the overthrow of the time to the country's government now after the. public were incendiary claims she was interned accused of

plotting a terror attack on ukraine's parliament building now it was a former helicopter navigator you may recall a face there she was sentenced to twenty three years in jail here in russia after being found complicit of the murder of two russian journalists in eastern ukraine she was later pardoned and exchanged for prisoners of war who was initially hailed as a hero indeed in ukraine when she returned from russia after facing increasing criticism though after the nicaea and picks up the story discussed the latest scandal in this latest twist with a do it today. stories had so many twists and turns and this is yet another one yes . well basically ukraine's general prosecutor has asked and called for her immunity to be stripped in order to arrest and the reason for that is that they claim that she is behind organizing a terror plot her intentions apparently were to blow up parliament using grenades now this call to separate immunity happened after she spoke out at

a press conference and she made some very bold accusations indeed according to her she's claiming that a number of m.p.'s ukrainian m.p.'s were responsible for organizing sniper fire at both sides of the crowds about means the authorities and the protesters at the twenty fourteen mass protests and those protests of course but the trigger of the government being overthrown so that's what she's saying a little bit of a situation let's have a listen to what she said. i said that i saw a van people with weapons were coming out of people who are in parliament people who gave orders who committed crimes who were always look for a scapegoat the prosecutor general needed to become the prosecutor so that he's crimes against the ukrainian people are never investigated but these are extraordinary accusations are very bold words indeed and a complete u. turn of course she's gone from hero to enemy of the state we can take

a quick look at what her profile is. your precondition you. spoke intrinsically. should be just a. little. off almost two years in a russian prison a ukrainian pilot is back home and so quite a significant moment there for the polish the president and the ukrainian nation germany she's

a hero and for ukrainians her release will only reinforce that. she was previously accused of being complicit in the killing of two russian journalists and served time there and she was also part of a prisoner of war swap and during that swap actually she was met by president bush and south. and she has enjoyed a very successful political career but she doesn't have that support now what is interesting is that her whole story has commanded an awful lot of international media attention but will this new turn attract as much attention as she has had in the past. and sorting out international to milo from moscow coming up donald trump has got designs on a military unit that through all of this world but the internet but it's an idea that's what the president proposed space force this is about a more break. join

me every thursday on the all excitement and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics or business i'm sure business i'll see you.

again so donald trump's latest speech to the military in the u.s. to stir the imagination of so far he's announced a new frontier for america outer space a special space force to go with it but as a nation sethi explains well such a field day with themes jokes on the internet others a warning of the dangers of space militarization. the army navy and air forces aren't enough in the battle for world dominance it's time for new developments and donald trump isn't short of a death space is a war fighting domain just like the land air and sea. we may even have

a space force develop another one space force we have the air force one of the space corps we have the army the navy trans comments have captured the imagination of twisties as with many wondering whether help become the guardian of the galaxy or will he be training in all me of power ranges all still in trip as ready to file a says and the extraterrestrial threats. and even some of the president's general seem to be a list same page or planets there is no war in space just as there is no war in cyberspace there is only war and war can extend into any demain not a new idea it's been proposed many times in the past and it's always been rejected by the new something that people have been promoting again recently and i think that would be a very negative move actually because it would create a constituency whose natural interest then is is used to further the weaponization of space and create

a greater danger of actual war in space but not all the way both the us defense and the air force secretaries have labeled the space plan as unnecessary wear across and costly and the house in fact spin a space command's for over thirty years is part of the us as force and carries out intelligence operations and make sure space isn't militarized then there's also the nine hundred sixty seven outer space treaty no small obstacle to any american ambitions to put weapons in orbit it was created to stop the setup of military bases and out of space and address other costs make concessions although the us has previously blocked or abstained from the un effets to regulate space weapons.

so it's at least past our twenty year or is it not young the united states has had no interest in any discussion of our space arms control so although it's hard to tell how sincere trump is at this point one thing is for sure trying feels the force is with him. this is a few days after have for the russian presidential election candidates to try to win over voters out there doing the rounds on nationwide t.v. debate one such discussion wednesday made the headlines for all the wrong reasons though after it descended into a good match. i would if you put in them and you bought it from annoy yeah by disputing your nitish to make it will. fail. and i think that says me as a chance to feel like they're actually in the city so much she was even my disease

i mean yeah. yeah i was really going to do you really feel you were going you know you. got a short you. got. over here yet you never know the color of it is that it's the way you have somebody . that was. just you was the last moment is your chance to. succeed you sort of do you know the old that was you know as we continue our profile of the candidates we also want to let you know to about some of the people who really got stuck into that on air spat talking blood image or an oscar that is long time face of politics here the leader of the russian liberal democratic party's one and all but one presidential election in fact since they began back in ninety one he wants to introduce this time a progressive. income tax system instead of the current all round flat rate he also

wants as well as to tackle poverty he wants to tackle employment he wants to tackle illegal immigration its critics though say he's simply pandering to easy populism and that his party of a vote in line with the kremlin in parliament anyway is virtually off he stands in his own words. it would seem to me we must be strong and the president should be tough with such a foreign policy that will make everyone scared of all this is the make him respect as usual and no one will dare to close russian schools press russian language for me i will move death to stop our journey six nor make his turkeys and no one will dare to kill our ambassador because i will do everything to make russians and our language respect your. yes i choose to go on russian citizens to be proud of our country not be proud of

sausages or smart phones it's disgusting they're hearing overnight to buy a new phone it's not that's not what price even though i promise all military officers new ranks and the new no one will be left without a flat and you know you'll get them immediately as no more waiting there's lots of vacant flannels when you will increase pensions for all veterans and you give bonuses free to restrict the i will protect all of us the away and we will be proud of our country will. see that we need to have a strong army out of that know what actions here those three friends with somebody who are we going to be friends we know it's going to nato forces at our borders it will take you five minutes to fly to st petersburg to get aboard seven minutes in moscow the moscow that's our genuine any rashness they are planning to destroy our country and they want the whimpering only you will travel there to get a shingle visa it gets a bit better economy but you're kind of economy it's all in your power if they bomb the hell out of us tomorrow that we're security is the first.

these people shouldn't even be allowed to serve in ordinary civil i knew and they want to become president i thought that's a disgrace here and it would change a lot of so and you weren't see this political garbage at the new year's election when you may get brought up always very vocal always controversial to go to majors should ask you to field a pay you get reprofiling all the presidential election candidates here on this channel over the next few days and from saturday night as well just letting you know we've got a special election coverage kicking off in red square continuing over the three days across the whole. yes. because it will become all your lordship

getting it toward your career as well but i guess it was a more scary year beach invaded so i was carrying one hundred fifty added steel official line is that he does not exist so i will study is in the us occupied territory it would be libya right source what should not so i will study in school probably develop nukes and if that happens what about japan what about taiwan what about vietnam all this country's have a lot of free is also developing. this baby and. say this on march eighteenth vote with your remote. for special coverage of the russian presidential election exit polls opinions real time results monitoring and much more.

welcome to the alex salmond show in a dramatic week when a poisoning in the english city of sells spree has developed into a full blown international crisis. the identification of the soviet to developed nerve agent in over chalk as being the substance which poisoned the double agent circus cripple and his daughter yulia turned to issue from an attempted murder to the u.k. government have turned an act of state a creation this is what the major players have had to say over the course of this week with permission mr speaker it is now clear that mr script and his daughter were poisoned with a military grade nerve agent of the type developed by russia this is part of

a group of nerve agents known as no free trial. based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world leading experts at the defense science and technology to poetry at porton down our knowledge that russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so. we think not think that it's going to think so. because they got the facts straight and we're going to begin with the british were . very separate today as we get the facts straight if we agree with that we'll get that right whatever may be but i have got the garage door job done later will be asking commentators both domestic and international with exactly this escalating confrontation is likely to lead but first over to alex for discussion as

someone who's been on the receiving end of many human rights abuses of touch all shot to prominence in the bellman sit by election is going to be free one of the most controversial and losing confrontations of the political central. but this is not with his story ended he has pursued for half a century a worldwide campaign for l.g.b. tea and other human rights and that's been greatly to his personal cost peter tatchell joins benaud you're welcome to the alex i'm unsure going to join you give me an idea of the sort of attacks you've heard over the long period you've been campaigning for for human rights well over the last fifty years i've been via your solve over three hundred times three hundred three hundred times more than fifty van tax upon my flat including three arson attempts and a bullet through the front door. it's been very very very tough and the people targeting me are homophobes far right extremists supporters of various tyrannical

regimes around the world who i've challenged. but are not defeated by us and the way i take the attacks as a backhanded compliment obviously i'm doing something right i'm running those who are abusing human rights and this is their reaction so you know i take it with a pinch of salt you've taken your campaign to many countries but you've also taken it to russia and maybe taken so tell me your experience when you took your campaign for able to beat the rates to russia. well you have been several times but in two thousand and seven i went there at the invitation of russian and human rights activists to support the right to hold a gay pride parade in moscow now under russia's law and constitution. the right to peaceful protest is guarantee so that if you were asking for anything special or illegal but the protest was banned and i went with the russian delegation

to try and deliver a letter to the moscow city mayor and we were then violently attacked by the riot police and by neo nazis who i believe were acting in coordination with the police i was almost beaten unconscious the police thought all around watching me while i was being beaten by ultranationalist a neo nazis and the noise when i was about to lose consciousness they stepped in and arrested me while my our silence were allowed to walk free and when i was in the police van i saw at least one of those assailants the guy punched me in the eye and cause any permanent damage i saw him approach the police line show some kind of id be waved through so the suspicion is that he was actually a plainclothes police officer or someone working in collusion with the police to attack me and the other gay pride marchers. a number of occasions still competing

what would your message be to vladimir putin and to the rest of the russian leadership in terms of their attitude to gay rights. well i love the russian people love russia as a country i want to see good relations with russia but essentially today russia is a police state you know protests are routinely banned and violently attacked by the police the media is largely under state control and subjected to extreme censorship we've got many examples of opposition politicians and critical journalists have been assassinated this is a lawless police state and the. latest development with the allegations about this by in britain being killed that's really an addition to a whole litany of terrible things that the russian state is doing and i do think that with any human rights abusing regime where that we rush or any other country

the international community needs to take a stand and i would like to see the universal application of the minutes gapped to the last the act on financial transactions which will load the targeting of specific individuals that's right under the magnitsky act human rights abuses not just russian but anywhere would be subject to the seizure of assets travel bans and other kinds of financial penalties i think we need to take a stand against all human rights abuses and i'm not saying that britain united states have a blemish free record but what russia has done to its own people and what it's done in chechnya georgia ukraine and syria are clearly violations of international human rights in the war and we need to take a stand in terms of upcoming events at the commonwealth the world with the summit which is just coming up and the calm of day we've just had this week and the calm

of games of course starting next month for the gold coast of australia why do you see a campaign as worth that the coming of group of caucus. well there are fifty three member states in the commonwealth and thirty seven of them have a total prohibition on homosexuality. nine of them have life imprisonment in parts of two countries two commonwealth countries. people can be put to death that is completely in violation of the principles of the commonwealth charter which guaranteed universal human rights and which all those member states have signed up to so again the commonwealth needs to wake up it needs to stand true to its principles and we need to ensure that the one hundred to two hundred million there's been gay bisexual transgender people who live in ca most countries where it's criminalized but that criminalization is ended and their protection against discrimination and hate crime lastly is it possible to use events for example like

the comment games to send a positive message and are the prognosis duty bound to make sure that happens. well absolutely the calm of the founded on principles of human rights there is a commitment that every com wolf this isn't a matter which country or who they are has full and equal human rights but it's not just l g b t rights they're being violated in the commonwealth many other human rights are also being violated and we just need to say i think to come with countries if you want to be part of the commonwealth you have to live up to its principles and you know what is shocking is that commonwealth leaders completely ignore human rights abuses they're having a summit in britain in april and i bet that human rights won't be on the agenda and one of the reasons is of course so many come of countries violate human rights and that has got to change. there's been a long campaign pursuit as i said at the great personal cost over the peace over

the the half say you relatively pleased with the progress has been made or alternatively you think there's so much still to be done but undoubtedly there's been a huge progress not attribute not just to people like me activists but also the many members of the public in this country around the world who have rallied to the support the principle of human rights for everyone and so on an optimistic and but also mindful of the work that still needs to be done so i've been doing this for fifty one years i'm hopefully going to carry on for another twenty or thirty. to me human rights are a fundamental principle of our humanity and everybody in every country deserve them . you're best known obviously for your work and their g.b.t. rates domestically internationally but that really doesn't do justice to the full range of you your human rights tell us about that i'm striving to support democracy

and human rights campaigners in many different countries including russia syria saudi arabia iran and pakistan these people are really heroic defenders of human rights. it's many of them are suffering credible abuses by governments and i think it's really important to stand with them although i'm a critic of religious homophobia i also campaigned to defend religious minorities christians persecuted in pakistan sunni muslims persecuted in iran to me human rights are universal. actual work just one more thing for appearing on the alex salmond show you are entitled to the quick gallic for a loving cup you know you know the drill the whiskey and the quick pass that road only of course close friends and of course only scotch whiskey thank you very much alex i will treasure it like a silver just. dominating the headlines all week has been mere reaction to the

chemical weapons poisoning in souls but these are the exchanges from the house of commons yes the eyes are this was a direct act by the russian state against our country or conceivably the russian government could have lost control of a military grade nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others mr speaker it was right to offer russia the opportunity to provide an explanation but their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. they have provided no credible explanation that they that could suggest they lost control of then the agent no explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the united kingdom no explanation as to why russia has an undeclared chemical weapons program in contravention of international law. instead they have treated the use of a military grade nerve agent in europe with sarcasm contempt and defiance. so mr

speaker there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of mr script and his daughter and for threatening the lives of other british citizens in salzburg including detective sergeant nick bailey has the prime minister taken the necessary steps under the chemical weapons convention to make a formal request for evidence from the russian government on the article nine point two. how has she responded to the russian government's request for a sample of the agent used in the sols reattack to run its own tests. has high resolution trace analysis been run on a sample of the nerve agent and has that revealed any evidence as to the location of its production all the identity of its perpetrators. it was clear it's clear

from the conversations i've had with our allies that we have a consensus with our own eyes it was clear from the remarks that were made by backbenchers across the whole of this house on monday that there is a consensus across the butt benches of this house yes i am only sorry that the consensus does not go as far as the right on the ball change. i. would do could have taken the opportunity as the u.k. government has done to condemn the culpability of. the prime minister cut a door that a well mean body of the house of commons where for overnight of the government or the foreign office what available to be interviewed on this program what you can stand to stand on the words from the house of commons itself when when the time.