lipped about what they may have learned about the details of how that poison was ingested. you can understand that, natalie. this is a very delicate investigation. it s results will be scrutinized not just by the people of salisbury and the british, but the entire world. they have been invited to take sides since this began. thanks. let s go back to jill and talk more about that. russia has been blamed for similar attacks in the past, jill. now, as we heard from melissa, the uk, mr. johnson believes it was a direct order from vladimir putin. where does this make the relationship between the countries? where does it stand? we know other countries backed the uk in condemning russia. yes, i mean you have the allies. you have the united states, france and germany who have
backed up in a statement issued a few days ago what the british are saying and alleging. now, the reaction here in russia is furious, especially furious as it touches on president putin himself and you have heard that very, very sternly. i think, you know, what they are this is a sensitive time, too, because don t forget tomorrow, today is saturday, tomorrow is sunday. that is the presidential election here in russia. there s great sensitivity about the timing of all this. some russians, i would say probably quite a few russians here believe that this was all a set up to hurt president putin, as he goes into this election. so, the sensitivity of it is very great. absolutely. thank you so much, jill daugherty for us and melissa bell. thank you both. george? thank you. turning to the other lead story, we are following this hour. the firing of the former deputy
take. but, the tone of this is very angry and very serious. jill, thank you so much. let s go to melissa now. she is in england for us covering the investigation. is there going to be word, melissa, on definitively that russia was behind this? where is the investigation headed in that regard? reporter: well, the british authorities have wasted no time, natalie, in being absolutely clear about that. we have seen a ratcheting up of rhetoric during the course of the week. it began monday with theresa may in the house of commons and laid the blame squarely at the feet of moscow. that rhetoric was ratcheted up further on wednesday. of course we heard boris johnson say it is highly likely it was ordered by vladimir putin, himself. laying squarely at the feet of the russian president. the british authorities have
governments to make different decisions, at least about matters of policy that don t rise to the level of war and peace. in the russian system, putin is really the only decision maker. the opportunity to make the case about steps we need him to take, and to put down firm markers as was just said, is unusual and important to take advantage of. jill, is there a way to intimidate vladimir putin? i don t think so. i really don t. putin s very good at thrusting back, you know, pairing and thrusting. he often he usually knows something that he will use, or exploit in a conversation about the other person. and maybe establish a little camaraderie by quoting what the other person thinks. he s very skillful in almost a lawyerly fashion in saying, you ve made that point, but you have these faults, too. especially america has these faults. it will be fascinating to
now. former chief of staff, secretary of state john kerry. jill daugherty. and steve hall. john, i ll start with you. you ve been in the room with vladimir putin several times when he met with then secretary of state john kerry. give us an idea of what that s like, the vibe he gives off. thanks, john. the trick with the meetings is to maximize the amount of time you re spending on the agenda that you have and minimize the amount of time that is inevitably a fairly lengthy russian diatribe in foreign policy. they usually start the meeting with. they ll go back in history to the cold war, to the arab spring, to the iraq invasion, to try to put the person across the table on the defensive. i think the key is being able to rebut it when absolutely necessary, and then shift to your own agenda, which is, you know, the most important reason why you re there.