that was bill browder there speaking with us earlier now to syria and its civil war u.n. war crimes investigators say that both russia and the u.s. led coalition have caused civilian deaths with airstrikes it also says that syrian government forces carried out unlawful chemical attacks in rebel held eastern ghouta now that enclaves plight will be on the agenda when the u.n. security council meets tomorrow to discuss a failing truce in the region. and. eastern ghouta to flex its every corner. of the struggle for survival here is ceaseless. sustained shelling on the city has led to the u.n. calling this the deadliest week for the syrian town since a cease fire was broken at the end of last month i don't want to marry children have been the west affected. this cameraman stops to rescue a severely injured infant the image to profit to show. you the rest of the human children's fund says the situation is desperate. the first two months of this year have been especially bloody for children we have received reports of over one thousand should one who were killed and seriously in

she joins me in london, as does businessman bill browder, once the largest foreign investor in russiat critics of the putin regime. >> ann, what's the significance of what happened? >> the significance is that the russian government used chemical agent, a military grade chemical agent which it would have known, would have been traced back to moscow, and that's because they invented it. and in the city, they carried out the brazen murderer of somebody who had been a british spy and had been traded. in doing so, russia broke all kinds of unstated rules. you don't attack spies that have been traded, traded and pardoned. the use of a military grade chemical weapon in a small city, all assumptions we make of how civilized countries behave inside one another's borders had been broken. it was destain for london, we don't think you're going to do anything to us, we just don't care anymore. >> luke, why would putin do something like this? it seems provocative, somewhat reckless. is it, you know, is it a new kind of aggression? what is going on? putin is supposed to be a smart guy. what is the

all right let's bring in our guests for today's program from london we're joined by bill browder c.e.o. and co-founder of hermitage capital management from brussels and a national and former m i five intelligence officer and also in london samuel green director of the russia institute at king's college london thank you all for being with us today's inside story bill let's start with you what's your take on the script poisoning who might be responsible how was it done what was the motive well let's look at the facts as we know them so far we have the mr scrip always an enemy of russia he was considered to be a traitor by putin after becoming a double agent to the u.k. he he has been felled along with his in his thirty three year old daughter with a poison the poison has been determined to be some type of chemical weapon a nerve agent. so what does what what what can we conclude from this we can conclude that that an enemy of russia has been has been poisoned with a nerve agent that only a state could get his hands on and therefore i would conclude on the basis of this information that t

and here in the studio, i am joined by bill browder, who calls himself putin's enemy number one, and itsky — was, he believed, murdered by the russian government. nice of you both to join us. bill, you are right in front of me, what is your sense of what has gone on here? we don't know the details yet, but when a major enemy of russia suddenly becomes critically ill from an unknown substance, one has to assume the worst. and one should start with the worst assumption and work our way back from that. i would assume until proven otherwise the assumption should be that this man was poisoned, with some type of substance from what is known as the kgb poison factory. they have a scientific research unit in moscow, part of the fsb, in which they come up with poison to assassinate their enemies. they have used those before with litvinenko. there was another shocking death connected to my case, a man who dropped dead in surrey in 2012 after blowing the whistle on a major russian government corruption scheme. people die on a regular basis outside the country and so we should assume for the mome

♪ >>> and we are back with luke harding, anne applebaum and bill browder.out russia and its methods. what do you make of this report that cambridge anylitca that tried to help the trump campaign bring out voters and suppress voters and the russians had some contacts? which had been previously denied by both sides. the contacts were through a big russian oil company. is that a direct tie to the kremlin? is it possible this was something just unrelated? when you read that story, what did you make of it? >> i was deeply disturbed. it was an astonishing investigation published today, and of course, it's not like your regular oil company. it's an appendage of the kremlin, and i think the big point here is the way in which unscrupulous powers like russia can take advantage of the porousness of the western system and the fact that we're open, and for decades, the kgb was trying to reshape european and american politics, but now these methods have been updated for the age of facebook and twitter and social media, and what we're seeing is an astonishing ability to m

is a man who has had his own run ins with the kremlin is bill browder author of red notice how it became number one enemy he joins us from washington welcome to d.w. do you agree with the british government's assessment that russia poisoned the union square park. it's absolutely clear to me that russia is behind this all the evidence points in that direction he was a considered to be a traitor to russia. russia has a history of assassinating people they consider to be traitors both at home and abroad russia has a history of using rare poisons as in the case of letting it go they were caught in the. case and now we've discovered what the name of the poison is the name of the nerve agent which comes from russia so it's it's pretty definitive that this was russia behind it now the big question is what happens next here what's particularly i mean this thing is fraught with things that are boring but what's supposed is particularly worrying is as a former double agent who was who settled in britain after a spy swap aig now looks as though but doesn't wipe the slate clean as far as russia is c

that is it fair to make this in france says well there's a definitely strong words there from bill browder you have to point out of course that there have been some high profile deaths of opponents of the russian government over the years however there are often in most cases hasn't been any direct evidence linking the kremlin to those deaths and russia has always denied denied being linked and in this case bill browder is pointing out the case of takes on that particular. russian spy who died in two thousand and six after his tea was poisoned. and there are a lot of parallels in that case as well russia denies being linked but you have to remember that city hall was actually part of voluntary spy swap that took place in two thousand and ten so russia gave him up voluntarily and also relations with the west are already pretty bad between the west and russia and between the u.k. and russia things were just getting better. johnson made his first state visit to russia just a few months ago after five years after relations worsened after this you can yankel case in particular so it wouldn't re

now a man who has had his own run ins with the kremlin is bill browder author of red notice how it became who turns number one enemy he joins us from washington welcome to d.w. do you agree with the british government's assessment that russia poisoned the union square park. it's absolutely clear to me that russia is behind this all the evidence points in that direction he was a considered to be a traitor to russia. russia has a history of assassinating people they consider to be traitors both at home and abroad russia has a history of using rare poisons as in the case of letting it go they were caught in the. case and now we've discovered what the name of the poison is the name of the nerve agent which comes from russia so it's it's pretty definitive that this was russia behind it now the big question is what happens next here what's particularly i mean this thing is fraught with things that are boring but what's why dispose is particularly worrying is as a former double agent who was who settled in britain after a spy swap aig now looks as though that doesn't wipe the slate clean as far

brent: that was bill browder speaking with us earlier.olombia is facing one of the world's biggest and least talked about migration crises. more than half a million venezuelans have crossed the colombian border, fleeing a political crisis and poverty at home. colombia's government has tightened the border and warned venezuelan immigrants that they could destabilize the country. dw's ofelia harms arruti reports from bogota. ofelia: it is one of the biggest bus stations in bogota. every day, dozens of venezuelans gather here to eat, talk, or simply enjoy each other's company. most came to bogota on their own, leaving family and friends back home. >> i have two little boys, twins that are four years old. just imagine, staying in venezuela would have meant letting us all star feared -- all starve. i suffer from hypertension and it was not easy to get my medication. reporter: she now sells candy inside the so-called trans millennial busses which she can jump on and off with just a single ticket. >> yes, i'm another venezuelan who came to this

find out what has made them ill all right let's take you now to london where we can speak with bill browder he is a former banker who lived in moscow ran a successful hedge fund there but he's become a prominent kremlin critic and wrote a book calling himself putin's number one enemy to believe his lawyer was murdered by russia's government a very good evening sir before we talk about this very disturbing incident can you first tell us a little bit about your experience in dealing with the russian government. yes so i was a major investor in russia i expose corruption in retaliation i was expelled from the country my lawyer sergei magnitsky was arrested tortured for three hundred fifty eight days and murdered in russian police custody in november of two thousand and nine and since then i've been on a mission to get justice for survey which has led to another person being murdered here in the u.k. a whistleblower came for him alexander. he dropped dead in from his house and surgery which is a server area of london and one more of my colleague is a guy name one hundred carroll worse a who had

bill browder got it brought in in america because it was his lawyer who died in prison on what they saiduldn't do something like that. staying with the telegraph, further down, chaos for accident and emergency, a bit of a meltdown...?lj think i speak with a certain interest in this because my son is a paramedic. i do sometimes wonder about the calls they are sent out to, as do most ambulance crews who are probably working tonight. and we completely, everybody understands the dispatcher has got a terrifically difficult job, and the dispatcher has got a terrifically difficultjob, and if someone says, terrifically difficultjob, and if someone says, i have chest pains, you know you do not know if they are having a heart attack or whatever it is but when we heard the report last week of some repeat callers, one person making over 3000 calls, to an ambulance service, there has to be somewhere that you are gauging these, because there are people going to hospital who perhaps do not need to be in accident and emergency and people who need to have other services, mental health, social services, m

well we can now speak to bill browder, anti—corruption campaigner against the putin regime. bringing in the magnitsky act in 2012. as he heard, his business partner was sergei magnitsky. hejoins us live from our studio this evening. —— mr browder joins live from our studio this evening. —— mr browderjoins as lad. why would it be so important for the uk to bring in this act to try to get to bring in this act to try to get to russians and others in terms of human rights violations? as your previous guest pointed out, the one thing putin cares about is money. he is not like a normal head of state, he is effectively a mafia boss who is in charge of a country, who has stolen an is in charge of a country, who has stolen an enormous is in charge of a country, who has stolen an enormous amount of money. he does not keep that in russia, he keeps it in the west. in london, switzerland and new york. by going after his money and that of the top people in his regime, including the oligarchs holding the money for them, that has a dramatic unserious affect on how putin views the world —— d

bill browder is a former banker who used to live in moscow but the murder of his attorney turned him into a prominent kremlin critic brother believes the russian government is behind the killing he's written a book detailing what it's like to be on president putin's bad side but the one thing you should stand about putin is that he kills traders and it's very important for him to do that because he's got a lot of people who are not particularly well motivated that work for him and all the security services they don't work for him out of luck they were either work for him out of money because they get to steal a lot of money or they work for him out of fear because they are afraid once they get into it that they have any any any exit will cause problems and so putin has to create these vicious circumstances for traders and they did that with alexander litvinenko the man who was murdered in london with polonium. back ten years ago and more than ten years ago and and they've done that with other people all over the world there that this is that this is that for anybody who is a traitor

of us have been looking for in this house for some time would she invite the heroic and brave bill browder has done more than any other single individual to uncover the kremlin's methods to give her a full briefing about what he knows of putin's cronies money laundering exploits in london and british political figures who have been corrupted by kremlin money and will she make sure that the whole of the government machinery is now giving full cooperation to robert morris inquiry in the united states because of what he has already uncovered about what the russians have been doing here yeah i say to the right of the gentleman we've already been clear in relation to the. inquiry the we will of course respond to appropriate requests i'm told that the other individual that he referred to. has actually already met the security minister and therefore has been able to brief him on on what he knows. vicki ford mrs speaker friends from especially scandinavia the politics and cross eastern europe have often told me how much they feel increasingly at risk from allies in russian aggression how my right

investigation was already over and russia was found responsible for what had happened in salzburg bill browder prominent critic of president putin has accused the kremlin of killing a number of its enemies including his own lawyer surrogate magnitsky in a russian prison in two thousand and nine. it's clear that something very dramatic happened based on the chronology of events and you had this man walking along the street with his daughter and then twenty minutes later they were found both in a state of unconscious and apparently in critical condition and so it's it's quite alarming it's not clear what was used on them what they were exposed to and i'm comforted by the fact that the that the police are taking are treating this as a as a terrorist incident and they've sent in the end anti terror unit from from the metropolitan police to look at this because that means that we're not going to end up in some stupid situation where they destroy the evidence before trying to figure out what happened the main thing that they've done horribly wrong is that there was a similar murder which took place

i spoke to bill browder, his russian lawyer died in a moscow prison in 2009 after exposing russian government corruption. welcome, thank you for being here. the poisoning in britain has all the earmarks of russian action. any doubts that it was russia? >> not just the earmarks, it was russia. >> this was a military grade nerve agent only produced by the russians and the victim was someone who is considered a traitor. >> why would the kremlin -- i assume the kremlin would have to approve this. why would he take this risk on foreign soil? >> you are not calculating other issues. the main thing he has going on is russia is running out of money and the way he motivates and keeps loyal all the secrets intelligence agents and generals etc. allowing them to steal money from the state or get money from other forms. >> how does he get money from this operation? >> there is not enough money in russia to keep them loyal so if you can't use honey you have to use vinegar. if you can't -- he has to send a message to them. he takes someone in england who has been gone for a while, killed him, tries to kill

also on the list, bill browder. >> i've been on the hit list for a long time and i haven't been hit. it's a different life for most people. >> he was once the biggest foreign investor but when he accused authorities of being involve in corruption, he became an enemy of the state so he moved to england. >> they hate my guts. they are after me in every possible way. >> do they know where you live? >> i'm sure they do. >> does that frighten you? and your family? >> yeah, yeah, it's all very scary. >> the only thing scarier than finding your name on a hit list is when someone else on the list is hit. on march 4th, sergei was found on a park bench. his daughter next to him. he remembered the call, the l list. >> do you have a doubt skripal was poisoned by them? >> i think he was poisoned and intentional intentionally. i think it was blunt and well-executed operation run by secret service. >> that was not obvious to the first responders on the scene. they didn't know skripal's background. he was a russian paratrooper that became an intelligence officer. in 1995 in spain, he was turned by b

i spoke to bill browder, his russian lawyer died in a moscow prison in 2009 after exposing russian government corruption. welcome, thank you for being here. the poisoning in britain has all the earmarks of russian action. any doubts that it was russia? >> not just the earmarks, it was russia. >> this was a military grade nerve agent only produced by the russians and the victim was someone who is considered a traitor. >> why would the kremlin -- i assume the kremlin would have to approve this. why would he take this risk on foreign soil? >> you are not calculating other issues. the main thing he has going on is russia is running out of money and the way he motivates and keeps loyal all the secrets intelligence agents and generals etc. allowing them to steal money from the state or get money from other forms. >> how does he get money from this operation? >> there is not enough money in russia to keep them loyal so if you can't use honey you have to use vinegar. if you can't -- he has to send a message to them. he takes someone in england who has been gone for a while, killed him, tries to kill

bill browder believes it could be him.can-born financier who pushed through the passage of an american law that targeted putin and his cronies for corruption and human rights violations. browder has lived in britain for several years under constant protection. >> what are the security threats you have received? >> the russian government has made numerous death threats against me. they want to kill me. they'd like to kidnap me. they'd like to have me arrested and sent back to russia. >> putin has a long track record of allegedly targeting his opponents with poisonings. an anti-putin activist who's campaigned for more open elections in russia says he's been poisoned and sent into a coma twice. the closest anyone has come to tracing a political murder directly to vladimir putin, the 2006 death of former russian intelligence agent alexander lipfinenko. someone slipped the radioactive substance polonium into his tea in london. the british investigated. >> there were all sides represented. there was tons of evidence. on the basi

let me commendis the actions of bill browder who i've had the opportunity to meet him, who is personally been massive risk and dusted up to the effects of russian state power. mr. speaker, financial sanctions are welcome and we must redouble our efforts against any money laundering by those responsible. it must be clear to the russian authorities that we will not tolerate activities that infringe international law. whilst we support the pms actions will continue to scrutinize them carefully and we must ensure proper scrutiny as any new proposed legislation. our thoughts are with those in russia with separate from abuse of state power. there isf no doubt that that is what we are seeing. and inan doing so we look forwad where we can engage probably for decent cooperation but the only be a ae to date much robust one towards the kremlin and to russia. >> hear, hear. >> can i -- can i -- [shouting] mr. speaker, can't i i once agn thank the right honorable gentleman are not just the tone of his responsible for the comments he has made? can i reassure him that a course in images of proposals we

>> one of the other prominent names on the list was a businessman named bill browder. i've interviewed him before. he says he knows the russians want him, that the kremlin wants him dead he thinks. said that this is no -- he told me specifically if something ever bad happens to me, everyone should know who did it. he means the kremlin. so that his name was on it and other people who russia considers -- who the kremlin considered traitors. >> nina khrushchev, poisonings on foreign soil, this is missile test that russia launched today putin saying impervious to american defenses shutting down con is sue lats. spies kicked out of this country. a lot of people's minds we read about, saw, witnessed during the cold war. when you look an the present moment, the state of relations between the two countries how do they stack up? >> it's very cold warrish. i'm constantly confronted with the thought i'm watching something from the spy who came in from the cold and reading john la ca ray. it's developing in front of our eyes. it's a very chilling reality and it is a possibility th

investigation was already over and russia was found responsible for what had happened in salzburg well bill browder a prominent critic of president putin has accused the kremlin of killing a number of its enemies including his own lawyer surrogate magnitsky in a russian prison in two thousand and nine. it's clear that something very dramatic happened based on the chronology of events and you had this man walking along the street with his daughter and then twenty minutes later they were found both in a state of unconscious and apparently in critical condition and so it's it's quite alarming it's not clear what was used on them what they were exposed to and i'm comforted by the fact that the that the police are taking are treating this as a as a terrorist incidents in the sense of the end anti terror unit from from the metropolitan police to look at this because that means that we're not going to end up in some stupid situation where they destroy the evidence before trying to figure out what happened the main thing that they've done horribly wrong is that there was a similar murder which took place h

which he invited the heroic and brave bill browder stent more than any other single individual to give her a a full briefing about what he knows of putin's cronyism money-laundering exploits in london and british political figures who have been corrected by kremlin money? will she make sure the whole of the government machinery is now giving full cooperation to robert mueller sinclair in the united states because of what is already covered about what the russians have been doing here? >> hear, hear. >> my friend can we have already seen clear the relation to the molar inquiry. we will of course respond to appropriate requests. i am told other individual that he referred to has acted met with security minister and their friends been able to break them on what he knows. >> thank you, mr. speaker. friends from the special skin of the baltics and across eastern europe have often told me how much they feel increasingly at risk from russian aggression. can my right honorable friend update the house on how we work with our allies in response to this incident? >> my honorable friend is absolut

he said to journalists, "it's a shame that he's dead and bill browder is alive and running around." and my colleagues are not safe. do you think you should have and need more protection than you get here in the ushg? i take care of myself. i don't believe that the government has the capability to deal with a situation like this. if putin really wa nts to situation like this. if putin really wants to get me, he'll get me. there is no way to avoid it. the one way to protect me, which would be better than anything else, would be to have a robust and meaningful response, a serious response, notjust kicking out a diplomat or two go after the assets of putin's ole gashes if it's proved he has done this killing. thank you. we can speak to our political correspondent, vicki young. you were listening to the foreign secretary, robust and tough talking language from boris johnson secretary, robust and tough talking language from borisjohnson on all of this? there was. interestingly, the debate was what you were talking about. how much can britain do to really punish president putin and the san

since then, on at least five separate occasions, bill browder has presented the government with dossiersof evidence, showing that money from that crime was laundered here in london. twelve other countries have initiated investigations into laundering of that money. as far as i am aware, that has not happened in the u.k. why is that? mr. johnson: as i said earlier to the committee, first of all, we do have powers under existing statute to go after people who we think are involved in the abuse of human rights. mr. austin: but they have not been used. mr. johnson: what we are doing now is strengthening those powers under an amendment to the sanctions bill, to give further encouragement to law enforcement agencies to go after such individuals. mr. austin: with the greatest of respect, foreign secretary, it should not have taken another attempted murder on the streets of britain for the government finally to have woken up to the severity of this issue. it should not have taken that. i agree with you that we should be tough and robust, but nothing you have said this afternoon will have boots q

this morning, i spoke with bill browder — who was once described as vladimir putin's number one enemy used to poison sergei skripal and his daughter. the fact they have used effectively a chemical weapon is highly significant. everyone was saying, slowdown, do not blame anyone, do not blame the russians, when you have a chemical weapon, a nerve agent, that totally narrows the possibility of who could have done this crime, there are not that many organisations in the world that have access to nerve agents. generally a government type of... it is something only a government can do. because you cannot knock up a nerve agent in your garden shed, it has to bea agent in your garden shed, it has to be a proper lab, potentially state—sponsored? be a proper lab, potentially state-sponsored? just like the polonium 210 back in the day with litvinenko, sarin or some similar type of thing, it is something only a high level and malicious government could use because it is not even something... we are trying to eliminate chemical weapons in the world and we know that north korea uses them, assad use