Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240704 : vimarsana.com

Region, and said ukraine targeted an oil refinery and several Fuel Stations inside russia. The head of russias Electoral Commission said there have been 20 incidents so far of people targeting ballot boxes. Protests could continue on sunday when supporters of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny are calling on people throughout russia to protest against president putin. Meanwhile in the estonian Town Of Narva, where many residents are russian, people crossed the border to vote in russias president ial election. Narva is one of only a handful of places where the border between the eu and russia is still open. Bbc russian� s Oleg Boldyrev sent this report. Here in the Estonian Border Town Of Narva lies the frontier between the western world and russia. Across the river with its formidable fortress lies ivangorod, a town 170 kilometres away from St Petersburg and this is one but a handful of places where the border between the eu and russia is still open. What is even more unusual is in this place and the surrounding region thousands of people are in fact russian citizens. This is the legacy of the soviet union break up. In the 1960s and 1970s people were brought from the soviet union to work in local industries and after the collapse of the soviet union they failed to get estonian citizenship. This is a source of bitter arguments between the residents and estonian authorities but the fact is that these people have applied and got russian passports and this means they can go and vote in the president ial elections which are taking place right now. The Voting Station is just across the bridge. There were not any big queues on this side of the border and we tried to look for people who crossed and most people were turning away. They are clearly not willing to talk about this and afraid that if they admit that they had voted it would somehow mean trouble for them. But one woman named anna was not afraid to talk. Translation i voted for putin. He is closer to my viewpoint. I understand him. I have no doubts about him. I think every president should care for his country and his people. I see this in putin. I have a sister there, my husbands brother is there, our relatives are buried there, and to cut us apart is painful. We spoke to several more people who confirmed that they crossed the bridge and voted, supporting mr putin. They were choosing their words very carefully. If they say they support mr putin and his war in ukraine it will certainly mean trouble for them here in estonia. Their votes didnt matter much for mr putin as his victory is a foregone conclusion. Narva illustrates a very complex situation that the Baltic States are in, nervously watching their giant neighbours to the east, russia. Oleg boldyrev, bbc news, in narva, estonia. Estonia has been one of the most vocal regional supporters of ukraine. Those Support Efforts are led by estonias Prime Minister kaja kallas, who is here in washington tojoin us President Joe Biden for the annual Gridiron Club dinner. Before that, Prime Minister kallas spoke to my colleague Sumi Somaskanda about russias elections, the war in ukraine, and more. Prime minister, thank you so much forjoining us here in the studio today. I want to start with the fact that russians are voting in an election that many consider to be neither free norfair and it will very likely secure another term for Vladimir Putin and russia. What does that mean for you and europe . I refuse to call it election. Why they are playing this game, calling it an election, this is another question. It is to undermine actually our democracies and elections, saying that you have elections, we have elections. We know this is not an election butjust an appointment once again for putin. So what does it really change . In the short term, probably nothing. After the reappointment there is going to be probably some difficult decisions that we are going to see on the russian side, for example, the mobilisation, probably also trying to raise taxes or getting some income to fund the war machine because of their budget which is in a very poor state and they cant raise capital outside. And at the same time, Vladimir Putin sees himself as emboldened and if you look at the eu and us approach, we have seen both impose more than 16,500 sanctions, 300 billion in assets frozen, but the russian economy has proven to be resilient. No, this is something that russia wants us to believe. This is the narrative that they want us to believe, that the sanctions are hurting you about not hurting us. It has china and india as buyers of oil. No, for example, gas. They have found buyers for only 5 of the gas that they used to sell to the european union. They cant sell the gas outside so they dont have that income or if we take the budget, over 20 of it is in deficit and they cant raise loans outside because of the sanctions. Talk about your countrys support for the ukraine, youve been one of the most vocal supporters. Looking at the numbers, estonia recently sent an 80 million Military Aid Package and you have said over the next four years your country will provide Military Assistance amounting to 0. 25 of your gdp, but on the ground the war seems to have ground to a standstill with russia threatening to push through ukraines lines. Are you worried that it is now russia that is on the offensive and perhaps turning the tide in ukraine . The question is to ask how much aid we provide to ukraine so that they can defend themselves. We have made the calculation that if all the countries that are in the ramstein coalition, the countries supporting ukraine, could also announce this 0. 25 of their Gdp Military Aid for the next four years, we could outweigh russia. If you think about the defence budgets of the ramstein coalitions, theyre 17 times bigger than russias heavily inflated one. One question where has been disagreement on this the issue of boots on the ground. I know youve been asked about this quite a bit. The french president has raised it is one of the options on the table in the german chancellor said it wont happen, then the americans are also saying it wont happen. At what point would you deem it necessary for estonia to send boots on the ground to ukraine . First of all, i think it is something we are always doing, that we are trying to guess what russia is doing next, so maybe this is a good situation, let them guess now what we are doing next, so this ambiguity is actually good, that we discuss these issues, what we are able to do or not. I think we shouldnt rule out any options because if we say very certainly that this is not what we are going to do, then russia takes note. That, 0k, we can push this further. But when do you think it would be necessary to send troops . It is under discussion, what kind of help can we give. It is not that we are sending or discussing about ground forces. This is not the issue. The issue is training ukrainian soldiers on the ground, providing help on the ground so that they can defend themselves really on the ground. So there are different options but we have to be open to discuss those. One of the biggest players in support for ukraine is the us and you know further funding here has been caught up in Domestic Politics as well. Some republicans we have spoken to are sceptical that there is a clear path to victory in ukraine. What is your message to them . There is a clear path to victory and first of all we have to have victory as a goal, otherwise no wars are won unless you have a victory as a goal. What does that look like . 0ur Defence Ministry has done a long paper on what does the victory look like. The Peace Strategy that president zelensky has come up with has all the elements. Accountability, going back to its borders, by russia. All of it that i cant really list here but the point is we have to have a goal to win otherwise it is going to be more difficult for all of us. It is an election here in the us, you have said that the answer to Donald Trumps criticism of nato is to spend more and commit more, also to the war in ukraine. But you saw as well after he hosted the hungarian Prime Ministerviktor 0rban, he said in an interview that donald trump wouldnt spend another penny on ukraine if elected. What do you think of that . It is concerning, of course. What is the plans of the us . I think donald trump wants america to be number one in the world. When the us stops supporting ukraine, then the us lets russia win and then america will not be the first but the second in the world because we are against the powers like russia, iran, china, north korea. So you dont think he necessarily would follow through on that . I dont see into his mind. I hope not because i have talked to representatives on both sides of the aisle and they are very strongly in support of freedom, that they understand america is also about and this is also a Fight Forfreedom that is going on in ukraine. So that is the essence of the United States as well. We have heard from Vladimir Putin, if there is this continued strength of the war in ukraine and if the us and all other countries continue to contribute, he has continued to raise the possibility of a nuclear threat. Is that when you take seriously or are worried about . Of course we have to take everything seriously what he says. He has been threatening with nuclear war for quite some time but it has been only words. He is very good in sowing fear within our societies and really listening to what we are afraid of and giving you the fears you have, you are afraid of nuclear war so i am giving out this kind of signal. And the public goes, whoa, and we cant do that. It is a trap. A trap of self deterrence because if we are afraid then we start to self deter and that is what putin wants. So we also have to think what putin is afraid of and he is actually afraid of going to war with nato. He doesnt want that. We of course dont want that either. It is, to understand the messages that he is giving out so that we would be afraid and refrain from the decisions that we would otherwise make. Very good to have you on bbc news today, thank you. Thank you. After five months of war in gaza, pressure is growing inside israel for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down. Protesters gathered in tel aviv on saturday to demand the return of israeli hostages and the resignation of mr netanyahu and his government. For the third saturday in a row, police used water cannon to disperse demonstrators. It comes just days after Chuck Schumer, the top democrat in the us senate, as well as the highest ranking jewish member in the Us Government said mr netanyahu had lost his way and called for new elections in israel. Mr schumer found sympathisers in satu rday� s protests. My message today, according to what Chuck Schumer said this week in the american parliament, about how Benjamin Netanyahu is leading us to catastrophe and we must have an election as soon as possible otherwise we are all going to be in a bad, bad situation. Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages could resume sunday in qatar as fears remain over the prospect of a large scale invasion of rafah. Egyptian officials said hamas has presented a new proposal for a three stage plan to end the fighting. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the proposal unrealistic, but agreed to send israeli negotiators to doha. Meanwhile, a humanitarian aid shipment carrying 200 tonnes of food from cyprus has been unloaded onto gazas shore. Its the first time in two decades that the sea route has been used. Its unclear, though, how the food will be distributed. The us Charity World central kitchen, is carrying out the mission in co operation with the united arab emirates. The charity says a second aid ship is ready to go from cyprus. Speaking before a two day trip to the middle east, german chancellor 0laf scholz urged israel to allow unlimited humanitarian aid into gaza. We have a difficult situation. It is necessary for aid to reach gaza on the larger scale. That is a topic i also have to talk about. We have concern about the further enhancement of military developments. In particular there is a danger that the large scale offensive in rafah will result in many terrible civilian casualties which must be avoided at all costs. Scholz also criticised israels plans for an offensive in the southern gazan city of rafah, where more than a million displaced people are sheltering. It echoes the position of us President Joe Biden. I spoke about that earlier with Gina Abercrombie winstanley, president of the middle east policy council, and former Us Ambassador to malta. President biden has said the potential for that operation in rafah, will we know we have half of the palestinian population sheltering, he said it would be a red line. Since then we have also heard from Benjamin Netanyahu appearing to green like that. Where does that Leave Washington and President Biden if that operation goes ahead . Clear that the president operation goes ahead . Clear that the president has operation goes ahead . l that the president has growing impatience with the Prime Ministers unwillingness to put him in a difficult position. The president has been extraordinarily generous with his support to israels need to re establish safety for its citizens, and he has given support to the Prime Minister but has made clear his support is for israel, for the israeli people, not necessarily for the leadership. The Prime Minister is putting a difficult position. You have senator Chuck Schumer saying it will not fly for a long time. The secretary of state, even after the Prime Minister greenlight editor, said we have not seen the plan we need to see. That will ensure that civilians are protected if there is an incursion into rafah. It is very clear this may be a Breaking Point with regard to how the United States gives this support to the israeli leadership. Im not at all suggesting it will be some amazing break or a complete cessation of weapons going to israel because of the fact our relationship is long standing and important, but there will be a Breaking Point and how this is done. This is done. What you think that could this is done. What you think that could potentially this is done. What you think that could potentially look l that could potentially look like . Is there potentialfor that could potentially look like . Is there potential for it to go past words, comments, the likes of which we have heard from senator Chuck Schumer and then praised by President Biden . ~. , then praised by President Biden . ~. , biden . We have had times in the ast with biden . We have had times in the past with the biden . We have had times in the past with the Relationship Biden . We have had times in the past with the relationship has past with the relationship has beenin past with the relationship has been in difficult times. President reagan stopped sending weapons to israel at one point. They had been difficulties with president bush senior, so i can get difficult and i would argue that perhaps a hardest grub with delay of things going to israel and the types of things we can send, these are always, and diplomatic protection in the un, these are all ways we could modify the relationship. Thank you. Now to haiti, where the Us State Department says it will arrange a Charter Flight for us citizens to evacuate from the city of cap haitien. It comes with more than 350,000 people internally displaced in haiti by gang related violence and the humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, police in haiti are trying to crack down on the gangs which have taken control of most of the capital, port au prince, and forced the Prime Minister to resign. The United Nations has described the Security Situation as tense and volatile and warns that increasing numbers of children in haiti are going hungry as unrest continues. 0ur correspondent, will grant, is on the ground in haiti and he gave me the latest, a little earlier. It appears there was quite an extensive swat Team Operation in an area of the capital. That is where it is known to be one of the strongholds. 0f � barbecue. Clearly they were trying to either capture him or kill him but they were successful in neither of those attempts. There were a number of casualties on the side of the gangs by all accounts but if anything it is going to beget more violence. We h