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00:00:08MUSIC
00:00:11Live from London. This is BBC News News with me, Ben Brown. A look at
00:00:15at our latest headlines. And Saudi Saudi Arabia has threatened what
00:00:17what it calls a serious response response to the deadly Houthi attacks
00:00:21attacks on Riyadh International Airport.
00:00:26Airport. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia hit
00:00:28hit a power plant in Ukraine immediately immediately after Donald Trump claimed
00:00:32claimed both sides had agreed to
00:00:34to an energy ceasefire. It was clear
00:00:38clear that Putin does not read Truth
00:00:43Truth Social and his cheeky drones drones follow a different set of
00:00:47of instructions. As the mid-term mid-term elections loom in the United
00:00:51United States. We have a special special report on one of the key
00:00:55key political flashpoints the data data centres that are powering the
00:00:58the current AI boom. Big night planned.
00:01:03planned. And the actor Robert Pattinson Pattinson tells the BBC why he took
00:01:06took on the role of a journalist journalist who helps expose child
00:01:10child predators in his new film,
00:01:13film, Primetime.
00:01:23Hello. Saudi Arabia is threatening what it calls a serious
00:01:27serious response to deadly Houthi Houthi attacks on its airports and
00:01:31and energy facilities, as the Iranian Iranian backed rebels warn people
00:01:34people to avoid the kingdom's airports.
00:01:37airports. Saudi officials say one one person was killed and 11 were
00:01:40were wounded in an attack on King King Khalid International Airport
00:01:44Airport in Riyadh on Sunday. That
00:01:46That came just a day after 13 people people were killed and more than
00:01:50than 300 injured in another missile missile attack on the airport, the
00:01:54the deadliest attack on Saudi soil soil in more than a decade. Well,
00:01:58Well, this footage from Saudi state
00:01:59state television shows the orange orange flash of the missile blast
00:02:03blast passengers waiting for their
00:02:05their flights managed to escape from
00:02:08from that particular blast. Well, Well, the Iranian backed Houthis
00:02:11Houthis say they are targeting Saudi Saudi Arabia because it supports
00:02:14supports the Yemeni government in
00:02:16in the country's civil war. The Houthis,
00:02:19Houthis, named after their founder, founder, are an armed political and and religious group from northern
00:02:23northern Yemen. They championed the the country's Shia Muslim minority,
00:02:26minority, and they see themselves themselves as part of an Iranian
00:02:28Iranian led axis of resistance to to Israel. The civil war in Yemen
00:02:32Yemen has flared up again in recent
00:02:35recent weeks after the Houthis seized
00:02:37seized more territory. There. Let's
00:02:39Let's talk to Thomas Copeland, who
00:02:41who joins us now from BBC Verify
00:02:44Verify and the BBC Verify team has
00:02:45has been taking a look at the footage
00:02:48footage of those Houthi attacks at at Riyadh airport. What more can
00:02:51can you tell us, Thomas? Well, first first of all, this is part of a wider
00:02:54wider change in the way this conflict conflict has panned out. So we have
00:02:57have been tracking for weeks now
00:02:59now attacks on oil facilities across across Saudi Arabia. We know and
00:03:03and we have verified footage of Houthi Houthi attacks on the exporting port
00:03:06port at Yanbu refineries in Jeddah. Jeddah. That east west pipeline has
00:03:10has come under attack there. Clearly
00:03:11Clearly the intent to be to damage damage Saudi Arabia's economic ability
00:03:15ability to export oil. But experts experts have told us that Saudi Arabia
00:03:18Arabia has shown a strong ability ability to repair after those attacks
00:03:21attacks to keep oil flowing. And And what we've seen really in the
00:03:24the last about a week or so is an an increase in escalation in attacks
00:03:28attacks on civilian airports. The The one in Riyadh is clearly at the
00:03:31the heart of that. But we've also also seen escalating attacks on airports
00:03:34airports at ABA Nasra, King Abdullah. Abdullah. And remember, in all of
00:03:37of this, Saudi Arabia has quite strict strict rules about the kind of content
00:03:40content video content that can be be uploaded online. So the footage
00:03:44footage that is typically available available to us to verify, to understand understand what's happening, there's
00:03:48there's less of that than we would would normally find. So what we're we're seeing and what we can show
00:03:51show you is probably only really really a snapshot of what's actually actually happening on the ground.
00:03:55ground. And that airport, Riyadh Riyadh in particular is an especially
00:03:58especially important target because because it is a real hub, isn't it?
00:04:01it? Well, yes. I mean, it's important important both symbolically it is
00:04:04is the main international airport airport in Saudi Arabia. Strategically
00:04:08Strategically as well. And we've we've sort of seen a ramping up of
00:04:10of the attacks on that particular particular airport last Wednesday,
00:04:14Wednesday, the Saudis say that they they intercepted a ballistic missile.
00:04:16missile. Then on Thursday, that really really dramatic footage that showed
00:04:20showed a strike on an aeroplane. aeroplane. We know that a pilot was
00:04:22was killed, at least three others others in the surrounding facilities
00:04:26facilities of the airport. Then on on Saturday, that major attack, at
00:04:29at least 13 killed more than 300 300 injured and then a Sun on Sunday.
00:04:33Sunday. You know, another person person killed as well. The impact
00:04:36impact is really clear. Delays, cancellations,
00:04:39cancellations, airlines pulling out out their planes from some of the
00:04:42the routes having a real impact on on civilian life in Saudi Arabia.
00:04:46Arabia. And it's also the case, you you know, the Houthis have been warning
00:04:49warning airlines and passengers not not to fly into Saudi Arabia in airports,
00:04:53airports, not to use the airspace. airspace. The UK Foreign Office, Office, for example, warning against
00:04:56against all travel in large parts parts of Saudi Arabia. And I mean,
00:04:59mean, we know that over the last last few years, the government in
00:05:02in Saudi Arabia have been spending spending billions and billions on
00:05:06on defence, on military hardware.
00:05:08hardware. What I suppose many Saudi Saudi people, civilians will be asking
00:05:12asking how on earth can all these these missiles get through? Well, Well, this is a really important
00:05:15important question for the Saudis. Saudis. They have a close military military alliance with the US. They
00:05:19They purchase a lot of military equipment equipment from the US. We know that that Donald Trump has said that the
00:05:23the US is weighing up getting involved
00:05:26involved directly or more directly directly involved in this conflict conflict by striking the Houthis
00:05:29Houthis directly. The UK government, government, for its part, is already
00:05:33already providing an air to air refuelling refuelling support to defend against
00:05:36against some of these incoming missiles. missiles. We understand the UK government government is considering increasing
00:05:40increasing its level of support, support, but fundamentally and we we have seen this time and time again
00:05:44again over this conflict. In particular, particular, there is a deep asymmetry
00:05:47asymmetry here. It is cheap and it it is easy for the Houthis to fire
00:05:50fire ballistic missiles and drones drones over the border. And remember, remember, of course, that Saudi Arabia
00:05:54Arabia is a very large country, a a lot of territory to defend Saudi
00:05:58Saudi Arabia. And for any country country that's looking to defend defend against those attacks, it
00:06:01it is more expensive and it's just just harder to do so in all of this.
00:06:05this. And we understand from experts experts as well that Iran has been
00:06:08been providing the Houthis with an an increased technical and logistical
00:06:11logistical support. But there's a a fundamental asymmetry there that
00:06:14that is always going to be hard to to resolve. Thomas, thank you very
00:06:17very much indeed. And we can also also talk to Rob Geist Pinfold, who's
00:06:20who's a lecturer in international international security at King's King's College London. Thank you
00:06:24you very much for being with us and
00:06:26and talk us through how you see this this conflict. And let's just pick
00:06:30pick up on that point because Saudi Saudi Arabia does seem relatively
00:06:33relatively helpless, doesn't it, it, in the face of these Houthi attacks
00:06:36attacks at the moment? Well, Ben,
00:06:38Ben, it's important to stress that
00:06:41that this predates the Iran conflict.
00:06:43conflict. The US and Israeli attacks
00:06:45attacks on Iran at the start of this
00:06:48this year, the conflict between the the Saudis and the Houthis have been
00:06:51been has been going on for quite quite some time. And the long and
00:06:55and short of it is that the Saudis Saudis felt like they could contain
00:06:58contain the Houthis. They had numerous
00:07:01numerous unwritten agreements or or understandings with them and with with other factions within Yemen.
00:07:05Yemen. They'd even agreed to pay
00:07:08pay the salaries of government employees
00:07:11employees in Houthi territory. So So the Saudis felt like they had
00:07:15had the Houthis contained. They hadn't hadn't reached some sort of long-term
00:07:18long-term agreement with them, but
00:07:20but they tried to insulate that conflict
00:07:23conflict from the broader regional regional tensions, which obviously
00:07:26obviously started on October 7th 7th of 2023 and have got progressively
00:07:30progressively worse since. And this
00:07:32this is a case of that understanding understanding collapsing now where
00:07:35where basically the Houthis are pushing pushing the Saudis. They want they
00:07:38they don't want to take over Saudi Saudi Arabia, but they want to come
00:07:42come to a deal with the Saudis that that is on their terms. And the Saudis
00:07:46Saudis are, of course, very, very very resistant to that and are likely
00:07:49likely to start trying to push back. back. Yeah. How will they push back?
00:07:52back? How will they respond to all all of this, do you think and will
00:07:55will they try to get some of their their allies in the region and indeed
00:07:58indeed the United States to join
00:08:00join them, to help them? Well, in
00:08:03in 2016, under Defence Minister Mohammed
00:08:04Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudis launched launched Operation Decisive Storm,
00:08:08Storm, which was something the Saudis Saudis don't normally do, which is
00:08:11is a which was a Saudi led military
00:08:14military offensive to destroy or or to severely degrade the ability
00:08:17ability of the Houthis to threaten threaten the Saudis. Now that backfired
00:08:21backfired spectacularly. And of course, course, Mohammed bin Salman, who who was then Defence Minister, is
00:08:25is now crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
00:08:28Arabia. But he seems to be, I suppose,
00:08:31suppose, affected by the negative negative effects of that conflict. conflict. The fact that it didn't
00:08:34didn't get a solution and it also also caused a lot of international
00:08:38international opprobrium against against Saudi Arabia. So the Saudis
00:08:40Saudis do not want to go to all out
00:08:45out war against the Houthis. They've They've been resistant to that for for some time. They want to come
00:08:49come to some kind of an understanding understanding not just with the Houthis Houthis but with all factions within
00:08:53within Yemen. The problem here is
00:08:55is that is far more difficult when when those factions not only don't
00:08:58don't want to come to an understanding, understanding, but in the case of of the Houthis, they want to use
00:09:02use force to escalate. They're doing doing exactly what Iran did during
00:09:05during the recent war, targeting targeting that critical infrastructure
00:09:09infrastructure in the Gulf. And the the results are that they are having,
00:09:13having, unfortunately, far greater greater kinetic effect than Iran Iran ever did in terms of the number
00:09:16number of casualties they are generating generating with those consistent
00:09:20consistent and repeated attacks on on Saudi infrastructure, particularly
00:09:24particularly but not exclusively exclusively airports. And we talk
00:09:26talk about the Houthis being Iran
00:09:29Iran backed, Iran supported. To what what extent is Iran really pulling
00:09:32pulling the strings in this conflict? conflict? And to what extent is what
00:09:36what we're seeing the civil war in
00:09:37in Yemen really a mirror of the
00:09:41war in Iran? Now, the Houthis are are often labelled in Iranian proxy.
00:09:44proxy. That is far too simplistic
00:09:46simplistic an explanation. Nevertheless,
00:09:49Nevertheless, this recent escalation escalation began when the Saudis
00:09:52Saudis had been monitoring and observing observing a clear build-up in Iranian
00:09:56Iranian military personnel and equipment equipment being moved to Yemen specifically
00:10:00specifically to serve the Houthis. Houthis. It began, of course, when
00:10:03when the Saudis struck a runway that
00:10:06that was carrying that that was supposed supposed to land where the plane
00:10:09plane was supposed to land, coming coming back from Iran, this was carrying
00:10:13carrying the Houthi leadership. But But the Saudis alleged it may have
00:10:16have had other things on board as as well, particularly Iranian Revolutionary
00:10:19Revolutionary Guard personnel. So So that's where everything started.
00:10:22started. But as I said, this conflict
00:10:24conflict predates the current tension tension between Iran, though they
00:10:28they are of course all interconnected. interconnected. This is very much
00:10:30much a case of the Iranians at least
00:10:33least giving the Houthis a yellow yellow light because they know that
00:10:36that the more they pressure the Saudis, Saudis, the more they can create
00:10:39create another maritime choke point, point, not the Strait of Hormuz,
00:10:41Hormuz, but the Bab el Mandeb, which
00:10:43which will keep gas and energy prices prices high throughout the world.
00:10:47world. So this the Houthis are not not an Iranian proxy, but at the
00:10:49the same time, they're working closely closely with the Iranians to make
00:10:53make sure that there is no stability
00:10:56stability and Western consumers are are hurt by the current lack of a
00:10:59a resolution to the conflict. All All right, Rob, thank you very much.
00:11:02much. Rob Geist Pinfold, lecturer lecturer in international security
00:11:05security at King's College London. London. We're going to take a very
00:11:07very short break back in a moment moment with the latest from Ukraine
00:11:11Ukraine around the world and across across the UK.
00:12:14Brief live with an audience here
00:12:16here on BBC News. Ukraine says that
00:12:24that Russia has attacked its power power plants despite a claim from
00:12:27from President Trump that both sides sides in the war had agreed to an
00:12:31an energy ceasefire. Ukraine says says attacks on energy infrastructure
00:12:34infrastructure in the capital Kyiv Kyiv and in Kharkiv caused power power blackouts in several areas,
00:12:38areas, raising fresh doubts about
00:12:41about that supposed agreement. President
00:12:43President Zelensky said he was surprised surprised by President Trump's claim
00:12:46claim that a ceasefire had been agreed,
00:12:48agreed, while Moscow is yet to comment.
00:12:51comment. Here's our correspondent
00:12:53correspondent Joe Inwood. Vladimir
00:12:58Vladimir Putin may not have formally formally responded to Donald Trump's
00:13:01Trump's claim of an energy ceasefire,
00:13:03ceasefire, but in the city of Kharkiv, Kharkiv, people feel they've received
00:13:07received his answer. An overnight overnight strike near a shop killing
00:13:11killing at least three people and
00:13:13and injuring nine more. But according according to one woman who saw the
00:13:17the attack, the actual target was
00:13:18was the city's thermal power plant.
00:13:22plant. We'd already seen the statement statement that they wouldn't target
00:13:24target energy facilities, and we we really believed it. Ten minutes minutes had passed and there had
00:13:28had already been five strikes. My My child and I saw a missile hit
00:13:32hit thermal power plant number five
00:13:34five and watched it burn there. It's
00:13:37It's horrific. This weekend has seen
00:13:39seen a head spinning, chaotic series series of events, all stemming from
00:13:43from rising fuel costs in the US.
00:13:46US. On Friday, Donald Trump announced announced he'd done a deal to buy
00:13:49buy Russian diesel completely reversing
00:13:52reversing previous policy and seen seen as a betrayal by Ukraine and
00:13:55and many others. On Saturday, Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian
00:13:59Russian glide bomb attacks were a
00:14:01a thank you for what he called a
00:14:03a weak deal. Later that day, Donald Donald Trump blamed Ukrainian attacks
00:14:07attacks on Russian refineries for
00:14:09for rising diesel prices and called
00:14:12called on President Zelensky to quit. quit. Before last night announcing
00:14:15announcing on his Truth Social platform platform that both Russia and Ukraine
00:14:19Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking
00:14:20attacking each other's energy infrastructure, infrastructure, seemingly without
00:14:23without either side's knowledge,
00:14:25knowledge, the Ukrainians have repeatedly repeatedly called for an energy ceasefire
00:14:29ceasefire but say the Russians have
00:14:30have refused to sign up. It was clear
00:14:34clear that Putin does not read Truth
00:14:38Truth Social. Speaking at the Warsaw Warsaw Security Forum, President
00:14:42President Zelensky said if Russia Russia continued to attack his power
00:14:46power plants, he would target their
00:14:47their refineries. Those refineries
00:14:50refineries that Putin is so shamelessly
00:14:53shamelessly trying to sell to the
00:14:55the world. The solution claiming
00:14:59claiming they can somehow make up
00:15:02up for the losses in global oil supplies
00:15:05supplies caused by the crisis in
00:15:08in the Strait of Hormuz. He mentions mentions the Strait of Hormuz and
00:15:10and in some ways this weekend's events events come back to the war with
00:15:14with Iran. The real reason that diesel
00:15:16diesel prices are so high Donald
00:15:18Donald Trump is facing a vital set
00:15:20set of mid-term elections. He knows knows many voters hold him responsible
00:15:24responsible for rising oil prices. prices. He's hoping to deflect some
00:15:28some of that anger onto Ukraine.
00:15:32Ukraine. Back in Kharkiv and the the clear up is under way. This country
00:15:36country has faced many dark nights nights with an energy cease fire
00:15:39fire looking highly unlikely. There
00:15:41There may be many more to come. Joe
00:15:45Joe Inwood, BBC News. And actually,
00:15:48actually, we've just heard from Ukraine's Ukraine's President Zelensky saying
00:15:51saying it is clear Russia will not not agree to stop hitting energy
00:15:55energy targets. He said, quote, it it is increasingly evident that Russia
00:15:59Russia is unwilling to accept an
00:16:01an energy ceasefire proposed by the the United States. Well, we've also
00:16:04also been hearing from Nato Supreme
00:16:07Supreme allied commander in Europe. Europe. Alexis Grynkewich, who's
00:16:10who's delivered a stark warning to to Russia at the Warsaw Security
00:16:13Security Forum. Whenever the nation nation that's come under attack is
00:16:16is ready and has met their legal legal requirements to attribute the
00:16:19the attack, we ought to do that. that. That lets the Russians know
00:16:22know a that we're onto them. It lets lets them know that their network network wasn't as unattributable
00:16:26unattributable as they thought it it was. They think they can get away away with this because we won't be
00:16:29be able to figure out who it is. is. We ought to tell them. We can
00:16:32can figure out who it is. The second second thing that I mentioned is is one of the main objectives is
00:16:35is to break the West's will to continue continue flowing support to Ukraine.
00:16:39Ukraine. So one of the best responses responses is to prove that false
00:16:43false to them. And when they come come in, when one of these attack
00:16:46attack happens, respond by increasing increasing your contributions to to the Purl programme or respond
00:16:50respond with a donation of air defence defence interceptors and show that
00:16:53that the Russian premise for their their activity is false and you're
00:16:57you're only strengthening our resolve.
00:17:00resolve. And we can speak about Ukraine Ukraine now to the country's former
00:17:03former deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Vladimir Havrylov, who joins me now.
00:17:07now. Thank you very much for being being with us. So, I mean, President
00:17:10President Trump was claiming there there is this energy ceasefire. Have
00:17:12Have you seen any evidence at all
00:17:15all to support that? As our president
00:17:19president already mentioned. We don't
00:17:22don't see any specific changes in
00:17:24in the Russian policy to target Ukrainian
00:17:27Ukrainian infrastructure including
00:17:29including our energy infrastructure. infrastructure. That's why we are
00:17:33are looking for the next couple of
00:17:35of days to understand what is going
00:17:38going on with the implementation implementation of the President Trump
00:17:41Trump announcement. But we are very very realistic that Russia is not
00:17:45not interested in any ceasefire during during this conflict, because that
00:17:49that kind of ceasefire could demonstrate demonstrate the weaknesses of President
00:17:53President Putin for his to his population. population. And that's not the case.
00:17:56case. They would like to have. Would
00:17:59Would Ukraine be willing to be part
00:18:00part of an energy ceasefire? Yes,
00:18:04Yes, Ukraine already we confirmed confirmed that we are ready for ceasefire.
00:18:08ceasefire. But of course we understand
00:18:11understand under this that Russia
00:18:13Russia will stop targeting our energy energy infrastructure. And of course,
00:18:17course, we are ready to stop our
00:18:20our targeting the refineries. And And that's our clear position. Can
00:18:23Can I ask you about the broader picture
00:18:25picture of the war? Which has been
00:18:28been going on for so long now. Now
00:18:30Now your troops on the battlefield
00:18:32battlefield have been making some some progress recently, certainly
00:18:35certainly holding the Russians and and taking far fewer casualties than
00:18:39than the Russian side. But the Russians Russians have been inflicting some
00:18:42some very serious civilian casualties casualties in Ukraine. How do you
00:18:46you see the state of the war at the
00:18:48the moment, as the country's former
00:18:50former deputy Defence Minister? The
00:18:54The escalation of Russian air strikes strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure
00:18:57infrastructure and civilian infrastructure infrastructure demonstrates the desperate
00:19:01desperate situation Russia has on on the ground, on the frontline because,
00:19:05because, yes, this year is a very
00:19:06very crucial year for Ukrainian military military because we succeeded to
00:19:10to deploy a lot of new solutions
00:19:13solutions related to unmanned system system systems different missile
00:19:16missile strike and deep strike capabilities,
00:19:18capabilities, which gave us an opportunity opportunity to target Russian logistics
00:19:21logistics on the depth up to 200km
00:19:26200km deep in the further the line
00:19:28line of contact. That's why they
00:19:31they stopped advancing on, on the the front line. We only can see some
00:19:35some tactical some small advances,
00:19:37advances, but not like the previous
00:19:39previous year. But they pay a huge
00:19:42huge price for that. So every day
00:19:44day losses for Russia is not less
00:19:48less than 1500 killed and wounded wounded on the front line because
00:19:50because they're trying to achieve
00:19:52achieve some kind of goals which
00:19:56which were just stressed by the Putin
00:19:58Putin and his leadership in Moscow.
00:20:00Moscow. But our capability is on on the rise, especially on the unmanned
00:20:03unmanned system. We are very good good in using that new innovative
00:20:07innovative solutions. We also succeeded
00:20:10succeeded to scale up our deep strike
00:20:12strike capability to target Russian Russian infrastructure defence related
00:20:16related infrastructure deep in Russia.
00:20:18Russia. And that's why in this desperate desperate situation, Putin is more
00:20:22more concentrated on civilians in in Ukraine to create a panic, to
00:20:25to create instability and to push
00:20:27push us to kind of capitulation. capitulation. Well, we're grateful
00:20:31grateful to you for your time. That's That's Vladimir Havrylov, who's Ukraine's
00:20:35Ukraine's former deputy Defence Minister. Minister. Thank you so much for being
00:20:38being with us on BBC. Thank you.
00:20:39you. Thank you. Bye. Now discussing
00:20:43discussing Ukraine in a few hours' hours' time is The Security Brief
00:20:46Brief which is going live in front front of a studio audience here at
00:20:50at the BBC at 7:30pm UK time. That's
00:20:53That's on BBC News iPlayer and YouTube. YouTube. Christi Christian Fraser
00:20:56Fraser and Mikey Kay will be bringing bringing you live analysis of the
00:20:59the war with a panel of guests and
00:21:02and Sam McManus, who's part of the the programme, joins us live now
00:21:05now to take us behind the scenes. scenes. Sam, what have you got in
00:21:08in store for us? Thanks, Ben. And
00:21:12And yes, welcome everybody to the
00:21:15the historic BBC Radio Theatre here here at BBC headquarters in central
00:21:18central London. These seats will will be filled within hours for a
00:21:22a special live show of The Security
00:21:24Security Brief. As we take you inside inside Ukraine's war with Russia,
00:21:27Russia, we've got a stellar cast cast of guests to answer questions questions from both the audience
00:21:31audience here and people watching watching on YouTube, iPlayer and
00:21:35and on the BBC News channel, including
00:21:36including Fiona Hill, the former former Russian Trump Russia adviser
00:21:40adviser and also Stu Nass, who's
00:21:42who's the head of a UK drone coalition
00:21:44coalition supplying and manufacturing manufacturing drones to Ukraine.
00:21:47Ukraine. And with me are two of the the men that are taking us through
00:21:51through this Mikey Kay and Christian
00:21:52Christian Fraser. Hello. Just two two very excited. Mikey, tell us
00:21:56us more about what we can expect expect this evening. Yeah, I think, think, you know, I think the headlines
00:22:00headlines coming out of the weekend weekend have made the timing of the
00:22:04the show tonight really, really important. important. And what we do on The
00:22:07The Security Brief to the loyal viewers viewers you'll know. But to those
00:22:09those that don't is we take a really
00:22:11really deep dive into the capability capability components and the evolution
00:22:15evolution of that technology. So So not just from a Ukrainian perspective, perspective, but what the threat
00:22:19threat is from Russia and how that that technology has evolved. So we'll
00:22:22we'll be doing a lot of that tonight. tonight. We'll be giving the views views and insight into what that
00:22:25that capability is, but also a stellar stellar line-up. We've got guests guests that have been at the heart
00:22:29heart of decision making over the the last ten years. Geopolitically, Geopolitically, we've got guests
00:22:33guests who have just left the military military who have never done media media before, and then we've got
00:22:36got guests that are coming all the the way specifically from Ukraine
00:22:40Ukraine in the unmanned ground vehicle vehicle area that are going to be
00:22:43be here with us. So an absolutely absolutely fantastic line-up. And
00:22:47And Christian, our presenter, just just tell us how over two years this
00:22:50this security brief has reached to to this point that we're at now.
00:22:53now. It's the coming of age for The The Security Brief tonight. We started
00:22:56started this programme about two two years ago on the context, as
00:22:59as people will know, and it has grown grown and grown. And I think that
00:23:02that is because people want to fully
00:23:05fully understand how this war is is evolving and it is evolving so
00:23:08so fast. And many of the weaponry weaponry systems, the kit that we're
00:23:12we're going to show people tonight, tonight, I think does put important
00:23:15important context into what the Ukrainians Ukrainians are facing and how they've
00:23:18they've had to change over the last last 4 or 5 years to keep pace with
00:23:22with what Russia is throwing at them. them. So it's important perspective,
00:23:25perspective, as Mikey says, some some really important people on stage
00:23:29stage tonight who will give us the the lowdown on what they're trying
00:23:32trying to do to support the Ukrainians, Ukrainians, what the thinking might
00:23:35might be in Washington. I hope people people will enjoy it. I think they
00:23:37they will get a lot out of it. Come Come and join us at 7.30. There you
00:23:40you have it. A mammoth operation. operation. We're excited for it. it. Back to you, Ben. All right.
00:23:44right. Sam, Mikey and Christian,
00:23:45Christian, thank you very much indeed.
00:23:48indeed. Now a BBC investigation has has revealed the world's biggest
00:23:52biggest accountancy firm helped in in falsifying documents in order
00:23:56order to hide the former Chelsea Chelsea football Club owner Roman
00:24:00Roman Abramovich's wealth. BBC Panorama
00:24:02Panorama has uncovered hundreds of of documents that were backdated
00:24:06backdated by the Russian billionaires billionaires advisers. Many were
00:24:08were drawn up with the help of Deloitte.
00:24:11Deloitte. Roman Abramovich denies denies any wrongdoing. Deloitte says
00:24:14says it complies with applicable
00:24:16applicable laws. Here's Richard Bilton.
00:24:20Bilton. Things have changed for Roman
00:24:22Roman Abramovich. He has been sanctioned sanctioned because of his links to
00:24:26to Vladimir Putin. He's been forced
00:24:28forced to sell his beloved Chelsea
00:24:31Chelsea and now revelations from from inside his financial empire.
00:24:34empire. If you want to understand understand Roman Abramovich, follow
00:24:38follow the money. This is Cyprus,
00:24:41Cyprus, home to a web of companies
00:24:43companies that were holding his wealth
00:24:46wealth working with the Bureau of
00:24:48of Investigative Journalism. Panorama Panorama has been investigating a
00:24:52a data leak which shows the lengths
00:24:54lengths some of his Cypriot advisers
00:24:56advisers went to hide his billions.
00:24:59billions. They falsified and backdated backdated hundreds of documents.
00:25:03documents. It is trying to cover
00:25:04cover up something and what we appear
00:25:07appear to have here is a fiddle factory
00:25:09factory in a fiddle factory you fiddle
00:25:12fiddle the transactions, you backdate
00:25:14backdate them and that is what appears appears to have been happening here
00:25:18here regularly. In 2003, one of Roman
00:25:21Roman Abramovich's Cypriot companies
00:25:24companies called Kravin Investments, Investments, had almost $2 billion
00:25:27billion of his money in the bank.
00:25:30bank. Deloitte confirmed certain certain changes will have to be made
00:25:33made to the accounts. That's Deloitte
00:25:36Deloitte apparently advising on falsifying
00:25:39falsifying financial records by backdating
00:25:40backdating them. The evidence suggests
00:25:43suggests it allowed Mr Abramovich
00:25:45Abramovich to evade millions in tax.
00:25:49tax. It's a straightforward and blatant
00:25:56blatant move to protect from legitimate
00:25:59legitimate taxation assets which which should otherwise have been
00:26:03been subject to tax. So it's tax tax evasion? Yeah. Straightforward.
00:26:06Straightforward. And how serious serious is that? Well, again, if
00:26:09if it happened in England and it it was in the millions His Majesty's
00:26:12Majesty's Revenue and Customs would
00:26:14would be thinking about a prosecution.
00:26:17prosecution. Roman Abramovich's lawyers
00:26:18lawyers say he denies he evaded tax
00:26:21tax or concealed his fortune. They
00:26:24They say he was not involved in the the day to day operation of the companies,
00:26:28companies, and Panorama has provided provided no evidence that he knew
00:26:32knew of authorised or directed the
00:26:35the falsification or backdating of
00:26:37of any documents. Deloitte Cyprus Cyprus says it's unable to comment
00:26:41comment because the documents are are more than 20 years old and no
00:26:45no longer accessible. Richard Bilton,
00:26:48Bilton, BBC News. And just to say, say, if you are here in the UK, you
00:26:51you can see Panorama: Roman Abramovich:
00:26:55Abramovich: How He Hid His Fortune. Fortune. It's on iPlayer now or it's
00:26:58it's on BBC One tonight at 8 pm.
00:27:03pm. Plenty more coming up. Do stay stay with us. We're going to take
00:27:05take a short break. You're watching watching BBC News.
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