country right now because of vladimir putin. and nic, we ve heard top u.s. officials warning that a russian tike ukraine could be imminent. they ve been warning it for week. does something give this warning, something like this warning, does it make it different? i think it does soec much th putin has now opened up a way to get into the separatist areas. this whole separatists asking for the troops to come in and support them in a battle that is purely of their own construction speaks to that. speaks to how this is sort of moving to that end point. one of those separatist leaders, in an interview with a television anchor here, earlier today, a television anchor whom i interviewed a couple weeks ago, who is very, very pro
on state secrets charges. she worked as a television anchor for chinese state media, but was detained in 2020 and formally arrested a year ago on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. i m joined now by stephen mcdonell, who s in front of the courthouse in beijing. talk us through at this stage what we know, and what in fact is going to be taking place today. 50 is going to be taking place toda . is going to be taking place toda ., is going to be taking place toda . ., ., today. so we are here at the second intermediate - today. so we are here at the l second intermediate people s court in beijing for the trial of cheng lei. people are going to want to know, what is she accused of doing? what is the evidence against her? what does she say about this, and what do her lawyers say about the accusations? we don t know any of that because the entire thing has been kept secret
who has gone on trial today in beijing, on state secrets charges. she worked as a television anchor for chinese state media, but was detained in 2020 and formally arrested a year ago on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. 0ur correspondent in beijing stephen mcdonell explained what had been happening in court. well, here at the number two intermediate people s court in beijing, the trial of australian journalist cheng lei is going on completely in secret, behind closed doors. people will want to know what she has been accused of, what her lawyers are saying, what her defence might be. we know none of that, we know none of the detail at all, other than that she has been vaguely accused of supplying state secrets to somebody overseas. in china, a state secret can be many things. it can be a piece of information, could be a photo, who knows what it is? it s very vague.
this is bbc news, the latest headlines. us intelligence suggests president putin feels misled by his armed forces, resulting in tensions with top generals. ukraine s military has warned that russia is regrouping its troops, a day after moscow said it would scale down its operations. to another story now for you about the australian journalist cheng lei, who is going on trial today in beijing, on state secrets charges. she worked as a television anchor for chinese state media, but was detained in 2020 and formally arrested a year ago on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. our correspondent stephen mcdonnell is outside the court the court in beijing.
just say wasn t us. it s just not true. and that s exactly the tactic that they deployed this time. confront with this photographic evidence that there are bodies in the streets on march the 18th. when bucha, that town on the northern outskirts of the ukrainian cam waurg in the control of the russian forces. we can see it with our own eyes. there are bodies strewn across the major road. the russians are saying, the kremlin is saying, look, this is a fake attack. it was set up after russian troops left. no amount of photographic evidence will change the kremlin s point of view. one example of a top russian state, television anchor basically making a joke about it. i think it was a joke. he was saying, this must have been a british special operation. this butcher massacre. because the word butcher, the