Is Vladimir Putin the mastermind behind Russia's global web of poisoning? | Under Investigation

[Music] vladimir putin is seen as one of the 21st century's most ruthless dictators [Music] he's amassed unimaginable wealth and a cult cult-like following [Music] his devotees lured by his carefully crafted calendar-like images but putin's power it seems relies heavily on his poisons man-made chemical weapons his secret agents deploy to keep putin's enemies wherever they may be at bay he was suffered so badly russia's current chemical of choice is the deadliest poison on earth it's a sophisticated chemical probably the most deadly chemical that man has ever made a single egg cup full of novichok could decimate an entire city and kill a million people tonight we'll investigate vladimir putin's 20-year campaign of terror that seems to know no bounds and respects no borders the wolf has tested blood and it's not going to stop it it's now on a trail and we'll explore russia's latest attack the poisoning of putin's nemesis opposition leader alexei navalny has putin finally met his match good evening i'm liz hayes and this is under investigation joining me tonight dr robert hallbarth of latrobe university who for 30 years has been researching the struggle for democracy in russia you start working for the enemy then this is what will ultimately happen to you dr trevor findlay who was a chemical weapons disarmament expert and principal fellow at the university of melbourne school of social and political sciences it could be regarded as attack on another country by by russia and former diplomat to moscow and a former australian ambassador tony kevin who believes vladimir putin is the target of a western conspiracy i'd say something it's absurd but you talk the most amazing rubbish thank you very much for joining me i'm going to hit you right up is vladimir putin an international terrorist we now have compelling evidence that at the highest levels of the russian state the use of chemical weapons was authorized terrorist is not unreasonable is it appropriate i think it is we clearly had in mind that terrorism could be a problem but i don't think we had in mind was it would be the leader of one of the founders of the chemical weapons treaty who would be involved in such a thing well tony kevin how do you uh sit with all of this to call this man a terrorist is to my mind and with respect to my colleagues grotesque and bizarre there is has been this characteristic treatment of russia as outside the camp of the friendlies and it's very easy to be misled into seeing the world in machiavellian terms is made up of good people and evil people [Music] it's august last year and the cries of pain on this aircraft are those of russian opposition leader alexei navalny who has just been poisoned by nobuchon i see you the hugely popular navalny described as the man vladimir putin fears most was targeted by russia's secret service using the deadly chemical weapon that's been dubbed putin's poison i get out of this bathroom turned over to the flight attendant and said him i was poisoned i'm gonna die as navalny lay in a coma in a german hospital barely clinging to life laboratories there as well as in france and sweden confirmed the chemical was knobbach it is now irrefutable evidence that the nerf agent of the novichok group was used to try to assassinate mr navandi it's just incredibly toxic if chlorine is toxicity one novichok is a hundred thousand times more toxic than a molecule of chlorine novichok is an intensely powerful nerve agent the tiniest trace of this poison can kill shutting down the central nervous system causing its victims to die agonizingly by asphyxiation [Music] it was developed in secret by russia to circumvent the international list of banned chemical weapons and was designed to be virtually undetectable by western experts and inspectors it's what's called a fourth generation chemical weapon very much more technical than previous nerve agents novichok is is a form of nerve agent but much more sophisticated it's almost undetectable and it gives the russians an advantage over over the west but alexey navalny is just the latest target of vladimir putin the latest victim of his secret poison the poisoning of navalny is really significant because he's such an important figure in the opposition to putin when there's an attempt to murder someone from the stature it sends a message to everyone about what the regime will tolerate navalny's survival and return to russia where he has been arrested and imprisoned is fueling massive and ongoing protests they tried to poison navalny only for him to survive and now he willingly walks back to russian jail so that he can inspire democratic movement in russia and it has laid bare the brutality of vladimir putin's regime the only thing out doing the kremlin's bottomless cynicism is their own horrifying cruelty and his willingness to use banned chemical weapons at home and abroad that is why today the eu has to choose the dictator putin or the russian people led by navalny [Applause] the world first learned of novichok's existence on march the 4th 2018 in salisbury the picturesque city southwest of london famous for its cathedral and nearby stonehenge on that march morning terror struck the first use of a nerve agent on european soil since world war ii the target was ex-kgb spy sergey skripal just a tiny amount of the deadly novichok was sprayed on the door handle of his house the russian agents using a perfume bottle in which the poison had been smuggled into britain just those few sprays turned salisbury into a chemical war zone [Music] sergey skripal had been a double agent for britain's mi6 arrested imprisoned then allowed to leave russia and settle in salisbury as part of a spy swap but vladimir putin never forgave him russia's secret service not only sent a chemical hit team to salisbury to murder scribel but chose a time when his daughter yulia was visiting unwittingly spreading the novichok from the door handle of their house to sites around the city they visited the skripals were found on a park bench close to death anybody who who opposes the russian state you know expect to get your comeuppance you know sergey skripal putin had said anybody who opposes him you know he would sort them out and he he absolutely did colonel hamish de breton gordon is an internationally renowned chemical weapons expert and salisbury resident he lived through the attack on his home city and it's almost the russians sort of going you don't know for sure it's us but this is our marker and we can do whatever we want wherever we like and if we decide it's time to kill you we'll do it whether you're in salisbury in russia or wherever trevor what was your reaction when you saw the reports come through well i was shocked that this represented a great power undermining international law russia was a foundation member of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons it had purportedly destroyed all its chemical weapons by 2017 under international verification it was supposed to have declared anything it had left over and not be engaged in this sort of activity so if it really was not a shock by the russians then this would be regarded as attack on another country by by russia against its own citizens so that's equally bizarre of course for you tony this is bollocks you believe salisbury and that which happened there was not the work of russia and indeed not the work of vladimir putin you believe that's the work of british intelligence british intelligence yes and the point of that would be let's look at the political context the the attack took place in 2018 are in the middle of the tumultuous trump presidency please stop giving me that credit well i'm sorry we should probably have to sit in different places uh because your face just this is not designed so anyway just to continue with that no but i want a serious answer why why on earth would britain poison its own people i'm telling you it was a determined attempt to discredit russia and put it outside the the society of civilized nations and that's exactly what's happening again now and the the scriptural affair and now the nevadi affair are hoaxes the idea that a western intelligence agency would be using chemical weapons in circumstances where the only beneficiary of the attack appears to be the russian state is so absurd that that it is possible even to discuss it i find astounding how did the russian state benefit from the script house ah well it's a useful message to potential traitors you start working for the enemy then this is what will ultimately happen to you and you can see from the use of norvichock that it was us it was the state that did it an innocent woman dawn sturgis was killed by another choc at salisbury she sprayed herself with the poison from a contaminated perfume bottle having no idea it had been discarded by vladimir putin's hit team others survived exposure to the poison but suffered terribly they included dawn's partner charlie rowley the intended victims sergey and julia skripal and a local policeman nick bailey everything was juddering my whole body was just dripping with sweat i was very very unsteady on my feet the sweating had gone from my forehead down my back i was confused i didn't know what was going on and it was it was really really frightening their lives were saved through intense and immediate medical treatment assisted by the early analysis that the poison was novichok that was done by the uk's only chemical weapons research lab portend down which is just 10 kilometers from salisbury their lives may have been saved but they were also deeply affected policeman nick bailey would never work again shattered physically and psychologically by the novichok attack there is another person who can talk about the terrible symptoms suffered by those poisoned in salisbury russian opposition politician and close ally of alexey navalny vladimir karamosa who was twice poisoned by a nerve agent which he believes was novichok the first thing i felt was that i was unable to breathe and it's i have to say it's very frightening as well as well as painful when you're trying to take in the air and you feel as if you're suffocating as if no air is coming in that was the first thing both times and i started vomiting and sweating profusely and my heart started racing it just lasted for a few hours before i lost consciousness and then i went into a coma for several days and both times doctors had told my wife that had about a five percent chance to survive [Music] i think we all agree um maybe not on who did it but this is an appalling way to deal with your enemies and do you see that as a signature of the russian agents i i think it's also really important to understand that vladimir karumuriza is a very significant figure in the russian democratic opposition another traitor he would have been seen as well he exemplifies something that tony fails to understand that a lot of the ways that the west has responded to democrats in russia this has been provoked by people like vladimir karumuza he lobbied he he and navalny and many other russian democrats and human rights activists put pressure they agitated they went to the united states and said do something i can perfectly understand why putin has a deeply corrupt political leader found that threatening whatever else vladimir putin may be he is a kgb man through and through and the kgb tradition is quote if anyone betrays us we kill them we follow them to the ends of the earth when you have a murderous dictator who gets away with it he'll continue to do it until he's stopped and it's the west's duty to create consequences so he stops and so far the west western governments have not done that american bill browder the former head of a billion dollar business in russia who fell foul of the russian regime believes he is high on vladimir putin's hit list and expects any attempt on his life will involve putin's signature novichok well he loves the use of poison because it's he can talk out of both sides of his mouth on one side of his mouth he can say this has nothing to do with me you can't prove that anybody did this because it's poisoning is so hard to pin down out of the other side of his mouth um he can say to everybody who's his enemy look if you cross me you're gonna die the most horrible death from poison tony what i want to know is you think putin is a good guy is that what you're saying i think he's a patriotic and responsible leader of his country yes does that make him a good guy look i'm not going to get into the moral territory well that's what we're saying that's that is bad well that's what we're questioning here i'm saying he's an effective and conscientious leader of his country i don't think one needs to go any further than that coming up he was suffered so badly the spy targeted for death by vladimir putin this was a classic russian secret service type operation that's next on under investigation 68 year old russian president vladimir putin likes to be seen as a tough guy but three years ago putin also exposed a very nasty streak when a quiet english community became the new front line in his war against his enemies in 2018 two russian secret service agents traveled all the way to salisbury in the uk to murder ex-kgb spy sergey skripal with novichok a deadly poison which only russia possesses they didn't care that his daughter yulia was visiting nor that their actions would kill an innocent member of the community and cause others to become gravely ill the two individuals named by the police and cps are officers from the russian military intelligence service also known as the gru with just a quarter of an egg cup of novichok hidden in a perfume container salisbury was devastated it took us 18 months to decontaminate salisbury for a quarter of an egg cup of this stuff because what we had to do is work out exactly where the two russian agents went exactly where sergey skripal and julia his daughter went trace them and sample almost every blade of grass they they trod on in case they dropped some novichok and then destroy that i think you know it took 13 000 hours 37 vehicles were buried or destroyed and tons and tons of rubble were taken away from sorcery and buried or burnt samples from salisbury were tested and the presence of novichok confirmed by a swiss laboratory working for the international organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons the opcw which australia supports it is time to stop putin's impunity the kremlin needs to learn that their crimes come with a very high price but to one australian former ambassador and diplomat to moscow tony kevin both the salisbury poisonings and the recent assassination attempt using novichok against opposition leader alexey navalny are part of a conspiracy against russia concocted by britain and its western allies tony kevin spent 30 years in the diplomatic service but now his self-appointed mission is to rewrite public perception about vladimir putin and russia's role in the poisonings if you accept that we're in a situation of indeed what is the context what is the motive who did it and the way in which both of you i'm sorry rushed to the conclusion that russia must have done it to me just snacks of brainwashing you've both been brainwashed they're both russia in both cases they're russian citizens and you're suggesting united kingdom would kill one of its own citizens and main people and put the whole city of south africa at risk okay so i didn't tell us who do you think i'll answer the question what was done to this griphouse was not an attempt to kill them what happened to the skripals was designed to make it look like novichok everything that the british did afterwards was designed to make it look like novichok so they put a lot of fresh nobby chalk in just to make sure that the stupid scientists in switzerland did not miss it tony kevin believes that british intelligence mi6 doctored the samples from salisbury having actually carried out the attack themselves using a nerve agent created in the nearby uk chemical weapons research laboratory porting down it was by british scientists at salisbury weapons lab which was conveniently just down the road they is that actually a reason the geographical location of something do you think they wouldn't have the brains to actually if if that was a clue that they could have done it somewhere else you know i think one of the most ridiculous things coming out of the russian press was that prime minister may had made the knowledge shock in porton down the defence laboratory here the accusation is crazy um we have all the evidence we have the two russian giu agents who we tracked from heathrow down here to salisbury twice and back again we have copies of their passports well the novichok attack on salisbury was a terrifying wake-up call for western countries that a chemical attack could happen on our doorstep in reality one already had 12 years before this time it involved the deadly radioactive poison polonium-210 made in nuclear power stations polonium-210 is a very very rare isotope they reckon it's about a million dollars a drop so who else is going to be able to get hold of this stuff in 2006 an ex-kgb spy living in london alexander litvinenko met two russians posing as businessmen in an upmarket hotel the pair were actually agents for the gru russia's military intelligence service they slipped a tiny amount of polonium-210 into litvinyenko's tea he was suffered so badly he couldn't eat he couldn't drink it was constant pain alexander litvinenko's wife marina watched her beloved sasha as she called him suffer for 23 days doctors having no idea what was killing him until the very end you know at the end sasha was poisoned only because sasha survived for 23 days and it was last day when he was checked and polonium was discovered but now no it was polonium there was evidence to show that was polonium and that russian agents were responsible for that do you accept that yeah i don't dispute that narrative and and how do you feel about that then oh i haven't really thought about how i feel about it i mean i believe it i believe it probably happened in the way in which marina has just described and i feel very sorry for her and for her family that's the russian state poisoning its own on foreign soil there were stories that that viennenko was engaged in trying to subvert other russians but the way in which it was dealt with is what we're talking about that's not acceptable no it's not acceptable it's dirty stuff sure but dirty stuff has been happening and vladimir putin has been a party to that too so i don't know whether vladimir putin was a party to it i don't even know whether the russian government was a party to it liz i think there was evidence though that this was the work of the russian state the operation was probably approved by mr bakuchev then head of the fsb and also by president putin distinguished former high court judge sir robert owen assisted by a massive scotland yard investigation found that alexander litvinenko was murdered by these two russian secret service agents dmitry koften and andre lugavoy final proof of their guilt in the murder was a trail of radioactive polonium they left at locations across london almost from the moment they stepped off their flight from moscow far from being punished the secret agent andre lugovoy became a member of russia's parliament which many saw as his payoff for services to vladimir putin's regime the poisoner is in the russian parliament and that poisoner went on to support a whole series of repressive laws so that embrace of the poisoner by the russian state is compelling evidence that it had support at the highest levels [Music] coming up could it happen in australia could sydney be the next salzburg that is scarily close australia has put great effort in trying to keep that sort of threat from from the country that's next on under investigation vladimir putin and his russian agents are seemingly impervious to international laws when hunting down their enemies the attempted murders of ex-kgb spy sergey skripal in 2018 and opposition leader alexei navalny last year using the deadly russian nerve agent novichok has raised the fear that any western country giving safe haven to an enemy of vladimir putin could be vulnerable to another chock attack do you believe a salisbury could happen in australia absolutely i think it's you know could it happen of cour of course it could happen you know there will undoubtedly be russian agents in australia it is to me quite disturbing that russia of all countries would seek to undermine this framework chemical weapons expert trevor findlay points out that a deadly nerve agent has already been used by another totalitarian regime right on our doorstep on february 13 2017 north korean dictator kim jong-un sent a chemical weapons hit team to kill his half-brother at kuala lumpur airport he's been under constant threat since an earlier assassination attempt in 2012. so certainly that is scarily close and australia has put great effort in trying to keep that sort of threat from from the country through the chemical weapons convention so we we need to be uh very mindful this could actually occur closer to our region if not in our own country along with most nations in 1993 russia signed the international convention banning chemical weapons vladimir putin swore that russia had destroyed all its stockpiles of chemical weapons he even supervised the actual destruction on live tv but it wasn't true and that was proven beyond all doubt on a flight in august last year in an attempted killing that shocked the world the cries of pain are those of russian opposition leader alexei navalny vladimir putin's greatest enemy as he suffers the agony of an attack by a chemical nerve agent after giving him life-saving treatment in a berlin hospital germany announced it had conclusive proof navalny was poisoned by novichok it was very important to have that public announcement from the german government because this sort of uh you know pierces away from this fake plausible deniability that the kremlin tries to hide behind every time something like this happens i understand that that putin hates me and i understand that these people who are sitting in the criminal they are ready to kill it could have not been happened without direct order of putin because it's oh it's big scale navalny is part of a very small group of russians they're very small fanatically a dissident group of people they believe nothing that the russian government says is true they subject conspiracy theories they live in this fantasy world of everybody's out to get them and frankly nothing they say can be trusted if putin tries to kill one is that another argument that they're so minor they're so out of the in in which case they shouldn't be a threat to them we are the target of this information warfare not the russians they know the government it's patriotic and except for a few crackpots and looney tunes like navalny and his crew they are basically accepting of i'm just not looking at you anymore trevor because you're a clown you're calling navalny but putin is at the head of the state that rules the society called russia and if you're a patriotic russian unless you belong to a very small minority fringe you say well we will be patriotic russians that's what most russians think your confidence in what most russians think is very impressive i assume you've spoken to most of them the reality the reality is every day state propaganda is saying they're out there the enemy is out to destroy us they want to ruin our country and there are traitors within trying to explain away the damning scientific evidence from multiple laboratories that alexei navalny had been poisoned with novichok vladimir putin's official conspiracy theory was that navalny had ordered his close aid a woman named maria pevcik to poison him on an aircraft in order to bring blame and condemnation on putin it's a conspiracy believed by former australian ambassador tony kevins you'll be familiar trevor with the fact that maria perchick accompanied navalny on the trip to germany from amsterdam any other conspiracy theory it would also be familiar it would have only taken a few seconds for maria pefcek to just spray a little bit of perfume in his face and that's it enough to give him a trace when he arrives in germany this is completely absurd and if jeff chick is one of the violinies closest to him completely insert every time i say something it's absurd but you talk the most amazing rubbish and that's not absurd i i've actually researched navalny's role in russian politics for many years i know maria piochek's biography she is an anti-corruption activist she's on navalny's side she's risking her life basically to work with navalny why on earth would she poison navalny when she's on his side and she's his closest aide if they felt that it justified if the end justified the means they would do it and a man like navalny would say yes i'll take one for the team i'm frankly amazed as to why people would even waste time to try to cook up alternative crazy so-called explanations i mean if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it's usually a duck and what happened with alexa in the violin was a deliberate attack against the leading political opponent of vladimir putin's regime carried out with a method that has long been a signature of soviet and later russian security services do you believe that vladimir putin is the man he knows it's happening he orders it well i think there's there's absolutely no doubt that the russians are responsible in the russian state um unequivocal evidence across the piece the actual team of agents from russia's secret service the fsb who carried out the assassination attempt was exposed named and their photographs published by the uk investigative website bellingcat why is it that they continue to use poisons given we do point the finger directly back at them i think there are a number of reasons first of all the russians don't care they really don't care they don't care about collateral damage and the second thing is you don't run a dictatorship like russia without making sure that any dissent is absolutely crushed and the evidence proving putin's russian secret service hit team targeted alexei navalny was not only damning it exposed them as ludicrously clumsy in an extraordinary telephone sting one of the agents spoke to navalny believing he was their boss [Music] the team of chemical weapons specialists that was sent after navalny they didn't obey their own operative rules either they switched on their mobile phones to check their email this makes perfect sense it's a reflection of the nature of putin's system which is deeply corrupt corrupt people break the kinds of mistakes which is why we know exactly what happened coming up how can you be this machiavellian puppets and rings all over the world how did tony kevin become vladimir putin's australian ambassador we don't know that navalny was poisoned with novichok you're falling deeply for the conspiracy theory as well haven't you oh here we go that's next on under investigation [Music] for nearly 21 years vladimir putin has been in power as prime minister and president of russia he likes the control and has indicated that's not about to change but the failure of his secret service the fsb to kill his bitter enemy opposition leader alexey navalny with the deadly poison novichok may turn out to be putin's greatest mistake navalny returned to russia a hero and his arrest and imprisonment by putin has sparked nationwide riots and international outrage [Applause] navalny unquestionably is the greatest individual threatening putin today the exposure of the role of the fsb clearly operating on putin's orders in navalny's murder is a major legitimacy crisis for the regime they're still working out how to deal with this they obviously didn't expect to be found out if putin had been involved in any chemical weapon attack on the melanie why did navalny live why wasn't he simply given enough of whatever it was to kill him well that seems to be a certain element of incompetence oh here we go i was waiting for in confidence tony now you're laughing at me i am i'm laughing at seven because you're really funny now how can how can you be this machiavellian puppets strings all over the world especially everything's a conspiracy tony so it's impossible to convince you of the truth we don't know that navalny was poisoned with novichok if he was we don't know who did it we don't know why we don't know whether he was intended to live or to die so you're seeing maurice payne who's who supports the conclusions of the opcw and somehow the whole australian cabinet are in on this i mean it just doesn't stand up there that's an option why is it nonsense they've they've supported the organization they've agreed with the conclusion this was another chocs this is a gigantic concern a lot of people yourself included apparently there's no need to insult me tony but tony the point is that you're saying these are people who are part of a conspiracy theory but the reverse is to be said about you you're fallen deeply for the conspiracy theory as well haven't you i've said there are two deeply conflicting information narratives in the world today you either decide one side's more likely to be telling the truth or you decide the other side's more like and you've had to make that decision clearly and i've made it tony kevin's pro-putin stand came when he revisited russia after many years and saw what he believed was a nation being unfairly maligned i mean this is a decent honorable country where people love their children where people don't think that's not at all i think everyone i love we do agree that it's a wonderful country it is oh good it's all good it's the government but i have a problem it's the power that we're talking about here so and you i think you say you've lost friends because of the position you've taken of course i have so you're obviously deeply committed i'm committed to giving my fellow citizens in australia what i believe to be truth i'm not a cold warrior i think robert is uh he clearly has a massive distaste for russia in the christian island i find that statement offensive one of many western observers of russia who've spent years of their life living there and who've listened to the voices of ordinary russians and to the voices of those russians who stand for a democratic freya russia a russia that respects human rights this is the real world the real world is that the western powers do not trust the russian government and the russian government does not trust the western powers so the real world the real world is that the putin regime is an authoritarian dictatorship since 2004 the putin regime's propaganda apparatus has been churning out conspiracy theories of of the kind that you specialize in recirculating tony can i say that i asked vladimir kara musa his view of your views about your defense of vladimir putin just take a look i can just say honestly that i i hope that these people never have to live through what i've lived through when you lose your friends and colleagues when you have to you know live in a reality where there are no democratic elections where there's no right to peaceful assembly where all television channels are controlled by state propaganda and those people who live in countries such as yours and who enjoy these rights and freedoms and who often take these rights and freedoms for granted when they step forward and try to justify an abusive and kleptocratic and despotic regime such as the regime of vladimir putin you know god be their judge i have nothing to say to them well i would i would like to respond to that if i may yes i'd like to hear you since i've been talked about although my name hasn't been mentioned the gentleman we've just been listening to if russia was as he describes it he would not be on that screen at this moment he would be being interrogated in a russian prison well he was saying people like he and navalny and others have suffered greatly for uh seemingly opposing the the power of the nation navalny loves suffering he's a bit of a masochist he likes to get out there that's an extraordinary thing for you to say perhaps i can only say it because i have some experience of it myself we're not so different from russia i know you gentlemen like to portray russia as a sort of the mordor of this world but it's not no i i portray the russian state not the russian people oh that's a that's a false it's an absolutely fundamental distinction the putin regime's propaganda says putin is russia russia is brought in they are different things and voices like navalny remind us every day voices like vladimir they tell us that the state is not us coming up australia should not be complacent there's terrorism being exported by vladimir putin is this a new war on terror this is extremely dangerous what russia is doing that's under investigation next for nearly as long as he's been in power vladimir putin has proven to be both ruthless and dangerous in the past 20 years russia has poisoned its enemies at home and abroad [Music] most recently using the deadly nerve agent novichok against russian opposition leader alexey navalny in august last year [Music] that attack and now navalny's arrest and imprisonment has sparked massive protests in russia and internationally many countries are saying enough is enough we could end on the strongest terms the rest of mr navalny and others today we call for the instant release what can and should australia do in terms of standing up to vladimir putin and his regime well bill browder who believes he is high on putin's hit list has found an internationally effective response he travels the world promoting legislation he calls the magnitsky act named in honor of his russian business lawyer who was arrested and died in jail after exposing corruption the act freezes the assets and stops the international travel of those responsible for human rights offences including poisonings and assassinations we're all at risk of of people like vladimir putin the world has become a global place and dictators don't just unleash their terror in their home countries you know we talk about uh terrorism when we think about islamic terrorism but there's terrorism being exported by dictators like vladimir putin this is state-sponsored terrorism australia's parliament is currently debating whether to introduce our own magnitsky act as have many other western countries like the us uk canada and the eu australia should not be complacent australia should join the rest of the civilized world in passing magnitsky act and using a magnitsky act on people in vladimir putin's regime and people in other regimes who do terrible things chemical weapons expert trevor finlay also points out that australia and virtually every nation in the world including russia signed the chemical weapons convention banning the use of poisons like nobuchok trevor do you think that the world has responded appropriately to these attacks not as well as i would like the difficulty is that this was an unforeseen event in terms of uh international law that's been crafted for chemical weapon news we were expecting a major attack on a battlefield using chemical weapons not this very individualized use this is extremely dangerous what russia is doing after the 44 year old was arrested at the airport on his arrival in moscow his lawyers say they'd been prevented from seeing their client what kind of evidence would you need to say yep vladimir putin and his russian agents are behind the scriptural poisonings the navalny poisonings the litvinyenko poisonings first i need evidence of what substance was used to poison scripple and navalny i'd want to know what substance was used to incapacitate them who administered that substance and to what purpose and are you up for learning the terrible truth that it might be vladimir putin i would always be capable of being convinced by facts but nothing i've heard from our colleagues today at the table smacks of being factual to me it's conspiracy it's aimed against russia it's global and uh russia is defending itself as it as as it has to i i think no matter how you look at it uh when we start getting caught up in chemical warfare somebody has to call that out that has to stop i agree with that it does we've all agreed internationally these horrendous weapons should be banned and someone has now used them and in my mind russia had both the motive and the means to do this that's my bottom line in russia alexei navalny the opposition leader who miraculously survived a novichok attack has been sentenced to three years in a prison camp but despite his best efforts vladimir putin has not rid himself of his biggest threat navalny's supporters are making sure of that there is nothing more the putin regime would like more than for navalny to leave the country but as a patriot he insists on returning so the risk that this crisis whose ultimate outcome is still unclear but it's a major threat to the regime and it's a regime that likes to respond to domestic challenges with aggression on the international stage and that's something that we should all be very very worried about thank you so much all of you for joining us tony and robert and trevor it's an important conversation to have so thank you very much for joining us i'm liz hayes good night hello i'm liz hayes thanks for watching our brand new event series under investigation subscribe to our channel now for more great stories from both under investigation and 60 minutes australia for other exclusive under investigation content visit nine now dot com dot a u and the nine now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 3,818,441

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, 60Mins, #60Mins, putin, vladimir putin, novichok, salisbury, salisbury poisonings, putins poison, russia, russia poison, chemical weapons, alexei navalny, Russia's opposition leader, alexei navalny dead, alexei navalny prison, chemical warfare, putin terrorist, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Maria Pevchikh, Alexander Litvinenko, kgb, ex kgb spy, web of poisoning, under investigation, under investigation with liz hayes

Id: XpMNoeIuEys

Length: 50min 2sec (3002 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Substation78]

Tonys living in the cold war past and will die on his self created small brained hill in complete denial of all reality. Perhaps to sell more books to fellow far right commies.

He doubles down on Twitter each day an its fucking hilarious tbh!

What I don't understand how you can be a diplomat for 30 years and be so one sided with your views. Diplomacy is a two way street, you need to retain the views of your own country (1st) whist trying to develop and maintain a sound relationship with the host country (2nd). It involves tack, to which he has none.

Australia has provided support to Ukraine, from his stance this appears to go against his russian ideals, making it even more weird.

[u/DeathGuppie]

The scariest thing about this is the brainwashed conspiracy guy that backs up evil Putin