independencde in 1960. this is the first of almost 80,000 artefacts that will be returned for display in museums in the drc. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. when vladimir putin ordered his invasion force into ukraine in late february, is this the scenario he imagined for earlyjune? a brutal war of attrition in the donbas, a defiant ukrainian government deploying more heavy weapons from western allies, russian losses mounting, a punishing sanctions regime on moscow and more nato expansion in the offing? well, my guest, in an exclusive interview, is russia s ambassador to the united nations, vassily nebenzia. where does russia go from here? ambassador vassily nebenzia at un headquarters in new york, welcome to hardtalk. good afternoon, london time, mr sackur. it s a pleasure to have you on the show, ambassador. let me ask you this. after more than 100 days, would you say that russia s invasion of ukraine is going to plan?
well, my guest, in an exclusive interview, is russia s ambassador to the united nations, vassily nebenzia. where does russia go from here? ambassador vassily nebenzia at un headquarters in new york, welcome to hardtalk. good afternoon, london time, mr sackur. it s a pleasure to have you on the show, ambassador. let me ask you this. after more than 100 days, would you say that russia s invasion of ukraine is going to plan? well, i think it is progressing. nobody promised to deliver it in three or seven days, as some pundits are saying now, that the russian special military operation stalled and is not progressing at the pace that was initially envisaged, but the progress is being made. that s clear. one of the reasons of the so called slow pace is that we are not targeting. we are not targeting. ..civilian infrastructure and there is deliberately only hitting military targets, and it takes time. we are not doing carpet bombing or anything else like that. but the progress is th
railways. we start with the war in ukraine, and russia is denying that its invasion has caused a global food crisis, despite the fact that we ve seen soaring wheat prices driven by the collapse of ukrainian exports. its foreign minister, sergey lavrov, is in the turkish capital, ankara, for talks with his turkish counterpart mevlut cavusoglu. on the agenda creating a potential sea corridor for ukrainian agricultural exports. throughout the war, russia has been blockading black sea ports, including odesa. 20 million tonnes of grain is now stuck there grain many countries are reliant on. but mr lavrov says the onus is on ukraine to demine the waters around them, which were laid by ukraine as part of its defence. here s mr lavrov. to resolve this problem, we need one thing for the ukrainians to allow access to their ports, either by demining or the provision of safe corridors. nothing more is required. ukraine wants proper assurances that any safe, demined pathway wouldn t
assess oppression and violence. good morning, everyone. today, the state department is releasing the 2021 international religious freedom report. this report offers a thorough fact based review of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world. we have produced this document every year since 1998. starting under the leadership of that secretary albright, his life and legacy, we continue to celebrate. back then, the office of international religious freedom which leads its own process of after work was the only the [indiscernible] i d like to thank you for your leadership. [indiscernible] conduct the findings of the department s report. [indiscernible] faith leaders, religious organizations, and others who share their perspectives. [indiscernible] every day in every part of the world. [no audio] nations are stronger in the lives of their people richer. when citizens have the freedom to choose to claim and exercise their religious
good morning, everyone. today, the state department is releasing the 2021 international religious freedom report. this report offers a thorough fact based review of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world. we have produced this document every year since 1998. starting under the leadership of that secretary albright, his life and legacy, we continue to celebrate. back then, the office of international religious freedom which leads its own process of after work was the only the [indiscernible] i d like to thank you for your leadership. [indiscernible] conduct the findings of the department s report. [indiscernible] faith leaders, religious organizations, and others who share their perspectives. [indiscernible] every day in every part of the world. [no audio] nations are stronger in the lives of their people richer. when citizens have the freedom to choose to claim and exercise their religious identity. indeed, religious fre