Salome zourabichvili, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you for having me for the third time. Do you think that russia wants control of georgia . Russia wants control of not only georgia, but probably parts of europe. It has its. Old ambitions and old aspirations of remaining as an imperialist state. But should we be thinking about what russia wants or what we want . Well, the last time that you came on hardtalk, which was at a time when russia was on the back foot in ukraine, it was the end of 2022. You said you didnt think russia would invade georgia. The situation in ukraine looks very different now. And i wonder if you fear for georgia, particularly if President Putin is successful in ukraine . Well, i think that we should, again, all fear if President Putin is successful in ukraine. But i dont think that he is successful in ukraine. He has been losing in ukraine all his first ambitions, Strategic Ambitions taking kyiv, dividing the government and the population, dividing ukraine from eur
alternatives to this either an open war or creeping russian occupation. our correspondent jenny hill is in chisinau, and has more on the summit. today was largely about symbolism, as is often the case with this kind of summit. it s no accident that those european leaders chose to meet here in moldova. of all of ukraine s neighbours, it arguably has the most reason to feel vulnerable in the wake of vladimir putin s full scale invasion of ukraine. moldova is a former soviet state. it s wedged between ukraine and the eu. for many years it s been heavily dependent on moscow forfuel, forfinance, and whilst its government leans heavily to the west, it s desperate to join the eu, there is a region, transnistria, which is in the hands of pro russian separatists. there are still russian troops there. it s a hangover from the soviet era and the way in which it ended in this part of the world. so for those european leaders who gathered in that rural castle today was about sending a me
to keep russians out. my guest today is the president of finland, sauli niinisto. mr president, finland hasjust made a major strategic shift. thank you. this country is now prepared to join nato. how big a deal is that? cold war ended, that s beginning of 90s, we have all the time developed our interoperability with nato, our armament is, well, quite modern, usa based mostly. so, in a way, we have been very prepared all the time. but the change is, like you said, remarkable. it s remarkable because public opinion has moved so far so fast. just a year ago, polls suggested that 20% to 30% of finns liked the idea ofjoining nato. now it s 75% to 80%. yes. is that based on a new level of fear of neighbouring russia? first of all, even though so many said a year ago that no reason to apply for membership in nato, they were not actually against nato. it was more like a rational or pragmatic opinion. we don t need it now. and that s why we kept on saying, our governments, that we ke
was on the highway to climate hell with no sign of slowing down and that humanity needed to co operate or perish . now on bbc news, it s hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk from helsinki. i m stephen sackur. when vladimir putin launched his invasion of ukraine, he probably didn t consider the impact it would have on another neighbour, finland, but maybe he should have, because after decades of pragmatic coexistence, finland has made a big strategic decision to join nato, to send weapons to kyiv, and to build a big fence along the border with russia to keep russians out. my guest today is the president of finland, sauli niinisto. do finns now see russia as the enemy next door? president sauli niinisto. welcome to hardtalk. thank you. mr president, finland hasjust made a major strategic shift. this country is now prepared to join nato. how big a deal is that? it is, but if you look back, let s say time before.after cold war ended, that s beginning of 90s, we
my guest today is the president of finland, sauli niinisto. do finns now see russia as the enemy nextdoor? president sauli niinisto, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. mr president, finland hasjust made a major strategic shift. this country is now prepared to join nato. how big a deal is that? it is, but if you look back at the time before the cold war ended, that is the beginning of the 90s, we have all the time developed our interoperability with nato. our armament is, well, quite modern, us based, mostly. so, in a way, we have been very prepared all the time. but the changes, like you said, remarkable. it is remarkable because public opinion has moved so far so fast. just a year ago, polls suggested that 20 to 30% of firms liked the idea ofjoining nato, now it is 75 to 80%. is that based on a new level of fear of neighbouring russia? first of all, even though so many said a year ago that no reason to apply for membership of nato, they were not actually against nato, it was mo