at passport control, i was told the fsb security service had banned me for life.s returning from belarus where i had confronted alexander lukashenko on the mass repression and torture of peaceful protesters. his loyal supporters rounded on me. it was a coordinated attack. rosalind was watching that at the time and posted this reaction... sarah rainsford has been back in the uk now for a couple of weeks and she joins me here in the studio. thank you so much for coming into news watch, and as he can tell, viewers feel admitted —— admiration for your work. they is still bbc correspondence there, why do you think the russians expelled you? it's a good question and one that they haven't really given me a straight answer to a themselves. and suddenly they did single me out, and that happened more than a year ago when i started getting short—term visas. they put me on three—month visas. they put me on three—month visas instead of a one—year visa, and eventually got a two month visa which is a clear signal that they didn't like something about me or certainly they had pla

pulled aside at passport control, i was told the fsb security service had banned me for life.i'd confronted alexander lukashenko on the mass repression and torture of peaceful protesters. his loyal supporters rounded on me... ..in a coordinated attack. vladimir putin's presenting this as just another working visit. .. i've reported from russia for two decades — the whole span of vladimir putin's presidency. there've been highs — like the world cup — but i've also charted the slow erosion of freedoms here. the crackdown on dissent. a year ago, the government put me on short—term visas. sarah rainsford... then i became the news, as state television announced i had to leave. after tense negotiations, i had been allowed to enter russia... they let me in — for now. ..but only to pack. i was then told my visa wouldn't be renewed — supposedly what happened to a russian reporter in london, but that was two years ago. when i was called in here, to the foreign ministry, they kept insisting that my expulsion was nothing personal — they talked about it as a reciprocal move — but they refu

pulled aside at passport control, i was told the fsb security service had banned me for life.ander lukashenko on the mass repression and torture of peaceful protesters. his loyal supporters rounded on me... ..in a coordinated attack. vladimir putin�*s presenting this as just another working visit. .. i�*ve reported from russia for two decades — the whole span of vladimir putin�*s presidency. there�*ve been highs — like the world cup — but i�*ve also charted the slow erosion of freedoms here. the crackdown on dissent. a year ago, the government put me on short—term visas. sarah rainsford... then i became the news, as state television announced i had to leave. after tense negotiations, i had been allowed to enter russia... they let me in — for now. ..but only to pack. i was then told my visa wouldn�*t be renewed — supposedly what happened to a russian reporter in london, but that was two years ago. when i was called in here, to the foreign ministry, they kept insisting that my expulsion was nothing personal — they talked about it as a reciprocal move — but they refused to even e

>> reporter: yeah, well, remind you that alexander litvinenko was a former fsb federal security service operative who fled to britain and was helping the british security services there when in 2006 he met some former colleagues from russia, had a cup of tea with them in the lobby of a hotel and he became sick very shortly afterwards and it was identified the substance that poisoned him as being this very rare radioactive substance called polonium 210, originates in specific kinds of nuks of nu rea reactors. there was a reactive trail plotting their journey. other people in britain and london were contaminated as well with this polonium 210 because it left that kind of -- that kind of a trail. in 2016 there was a public inquiry in britain that identified the russian security services as being responsible and this latest ruling in the european court of human rights basically backs it up saying it has beyond a reasonable doubt that the russian security services were involved in this. it is another reminder, i think, looking back on this incident, which i covered back in london and in mosc

even some information they had that he might try to break out in a lawnary cart and then the russian fsbld take him to the plane. there was concerns about an active shoot out on the streets of london. that was briefed to trump. he was told this could get ugly. >> i don't even know where to begin to try to wrap this up so i guess i'm not going to other than tell people they really should read this article. it is a fascinating read. anybody who is interested in spy craft or secrets and all that kind of thing, michael, it is extraordinary, a deep dive. i thank you for coming on. i want to remine our viewers that nbc news has not independently confirmed michael and his two colleagues over all yahoo's reporting but nonetheless we appreciate you sharing what you do have with us michael. thanks so much. >> any time. much >> any time. are the things america makes out here. the history she writes in her clear blue skies. the legends she births on home town fields. and the future she promises. when we made grand wagoneer, proudly assembled in america, we knew no object would ever rank with the bes

at passport control, i was told the fsb security service had banned me for life. that i had been declared a security threat that it really hit home that for some reason i had been singled out. but i think this isn'tjust an attack on the end ——on me and on the bbc, obviously it's an attack on journalism and on free speech because it's happening in a context of a real clampdown on free speech in russia. so i think it has to be seen in the context of what's happening, but certainly i think perhaps may reporting touched a nerve, i have been there long time telling a lot of stories, but it does feel like i've been singled out, yeah. that lukashenko news conference in particular, even watching it i felt tense. did you think at the time, there may be repercussions from its? no, because i don't think you can think about that when you are asking questions and doing your job. i was there at an event which gave us the opportunity to speak to the president of belarus after those mass protests in august 2020, so that was a huge story, you know, there were hundreds of thousands