jens stoltenberg, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. you agree the presidency of donald trump brings an unprecedented amount of uncertainty into global security policy? nato is an alliance of 28 democracies and in democracies, people elect different leaders. with different ideas, different perspectives. and nato has been able to handle that for almost 70 years. you have 28 members, one dominant member, the united states of america. the united states of america now has a president who, just a few days ago, declared nato "obsolete". nato is the most successful alliance in history, because we have been able to adapt to change. for a0 years we did collective defence in europe, deterring russia. then we adapted after the end of the cold war. we projected stability beyond our borders and in conflicts in the balkans, kosovo, bosnia, fighting terrorism in afghanistan and we are adapting again. responding to a more assertive russia in the east. how do you adapt to a us president who believes nato to be obsolete? what i will tell him and what i a

it is why i have raised with jens stoltenberg, on budgets.is why i have raised withjens stoltenberg, the secretary general of nato, the need to make sure the alliance is as quick to fight terrorism and cyber warfare, as it is to fight more conventional forms of war. america's leadership in nato supported by britain must be the central element around which the alliance is built. but alongside this continued commitment, i'll also clear that eu nations must similarly step up to ensure this institution that provides the cornerstone of the west's defence continues to be as effective as it can be. yet the most important institution is, and should a lwa ys important institution is, and should always be, the nation state. strong nations form strong institutions. and they formed the basis of the international partnerships and cooperation that brings stability to our world. nations, accountable to their populations, deriving as the declaration of independence puts it, theirjust declaration of independence puts it, their just powers from declaration of

the nato chief, jens stoltenberg, accepts that there is a problem, that some states are doing this, butically name any country, including russia. would you like nato to do more? we have to prove it, case by case by case. we have to defend ourselves, support our cyber security, absolutely true. but we have proved it in germany, where it was clear that it was the kremlin who tried to interfere with public opinion. i will give you an example, of the case of lisa f, where there was a rumour out that refugees, plural, had raped a 13—year—old girl of russian descent. none of it was true. it had a huge reaction in the russian—speaking community in germany, and it ended with the foreign minister of russia saying this time he hopes germany would not hide the facts. so the good part in it, and this is an ugly story, is that the german media dismantled and showed the whole fake news plot, and what the intentions behind it. therefore, we are learning the patterns. and i am talking about thatjust to say, just to make sure, don't try to interfere in that way, because we are showing the patterns to th

and in half an hour, stephen sackur is in brussels to speak to nato secretary general jens stoltenberghardtalk good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has called on president trump's state visit to the uk to be called off — until his ban on refugees and citizens from several muslim countries is lifted. it comes as a judge in new york upheld a legal challenge aimed at stopping the deportation of people being detained under donald trump's new immigration policy. the american civil liberties union — which filed the case — estimates that hundreds of people are being detained at airports or in transit. president trump has denied that the measures are a ban on muslims and said that the plan was ‘working out nicely‘. his executive order halted the entire us refugee programme and also instituted a 90—day travel ban for nationals from iran, iraq, libya, somalia, sudan, syria and yemen. andy moore reports. protests have spread across america's airport ever since donald trump's travel ban came into force. at the time, theresa may was in turkey for trade talks where

at a recent news conference, the nato secretary general jens stoltenberg expressed solidarity with turkey >> it was shocking to visit the national assembly in ankara, where i saw the damage caused by bombs from f-16s, bombing the and of course turkey has the right to prosecute those behind the failed coup attempt. >> reporter: and stoltenberg avoided taking sides over the extradition question. >> regarding the turkish officers, it is up to the nato nations to assess and to make decisions on requests for asylum. that's not a nato decision. >> reporter: it's estimated that 70,000 people have been in arrested in what critics describe as a purge. as a result, hundreds of turkish officers serving in nato countries have defied orders to return and have sought asylum. the highest ranking asylum seeker to go public, was based at the giant ramstein base in germany. he is air force brigadier mehmet yalinap, >> what i see is, the number of people who have this common denominator, like having strong belief in ataturk's founding principles of our state: democracy, freedom of speech, openness, integrat

jens stoltenberg. secretary, thank you so much for speaking to bloomberg.couple of hours, donald trump gets inaugurated. have you had personal securities is -- assurances that he will stay committed to nato? francine: i spoke. stoltenberg: with president-elect donald trump after he was elected and he relayed a message to me and the alliance that he and the united states will stay strongly committed to nato. and that has also been a message has nominated as the new secretary of defense and the new secretary of state. mathis,o tillerson and they have strongly expressed strong support to nato. i'm confident the united states will stay committed to nato. questioned the, defense clause and called the alliance obsolete. gen. sec. stoltenberg: nato is the most successful alliance in history because we have been able to adapt to change. for 40 years, we were focused on collective defense in europe, deterring the soviet union. after the cold war, we went out the wars helped end and the balkans and fighting terrorism in afghanistan, and fighting -- in africa. now we