Prime minister at her balmoral home in scotland next week, not in london, breaking meanwhile the final hustings to choose that Prime Minister either liz truss or rishi sunak is under way at wembley. Russia has completely stopped gas supplies to europe through a major pipeline. It says Maintenance Work is needed on Nord Stream One for three days. Its a key pipeline which carries gas from russia into europe. It runs from western russia, under the baltic sea into europe via germany. Russias state owned Energy Company gazprom has already significantly reduced its gas exports through this route. Nord stream 1 has been operating at just 20 capacity because of what russia describes as faulty equipment. Bear in mind that last year russia supplied the European Union with 40 of its gas needs. For the uk it was 4 . And in recent months its dropped to zero. But a fall in supply from russia has led to energy price rises everywhere because countries have to compete for a limited amount of gas. Lets speak to melinda haring, a specialist on russia and ukraine at the International Think tank atlantic council. The detective. First of all, what do you think is happening here in terms of russian gas coming into europe . Thank you for having me. Well, i am sorry to say that this is all too predictable and it is something that we are going to see again and again this winter. We have seen this play many times. Russia is using gas as a political weapon. They say they arent, but no one believes them. Europe is very worried about winter and having enough gas. We know that russia is going to try to do everything it can to break apart the western coalition in support of ukraine. Gas is one of the best ways to try to do that damage. Ukraine. Gas is one of the best ways to try to do that damage. Europe has had some time to try to do that damage. Europe has had some time to to try to do that damage. Europe has had some time to prepare. To try to do that damage. Europe has| had some time to prepare. I prepared now is that for this . Now is that for this . Things are looking pretty now is that for this . Things are looking pretty good. Now is that for this . Things are looking pretty good. The now is that for this . Things are looking pretty good. The eu i now is that for this . Things are | looking pretty good. The eu got ahead of s sanded has held up its reserves to 80 . It already met that target. We are also seeing other countries are using less russian gas as well. I think the bottom line is we should expect more of this behaviour. Russians turned off the gas in july behaviour. Russians turned off the gas injuly and they behaviour. Russians turned off the gas in july and they will behaviour. Russians turned off the gas injuly and they will do it again. Gas in july and they will do it aaain. ~. , gas in july and they will do it auain. ~. , gas in july and they will do it aaain. ~. ~ gas in july and they will do it auain. ~. , ~ gas in july and they will do it aaain. , ~ again. What you think europe should be doinu again. What you think europe should be doing now again. What you think europe should be doing now to again. What you think europe should be doing now to improve be doing now to improve preparedness . Be doing now to improve rearedness . ,. ,. , preparedness . Europe should be doing what poland and preparedness . Europe should be doing what poland and went preparedness . Europe should be doing what poland and went to preparedness . Europe should be doing what poland and went to lithuania what poland and went to lithuania and went to estonia are doing, they have been building floating Lng Terminals and making sure that they are independent, cutting consumption and letting for looking for ways to be less reliant on Russian Energy stopping to melinda, do stay here, i will come back shortly. A team from the united nations� Nuclear Watchdog has arrived in the southern ukrainian city of zaporizhzhia. Theyre on their way to inspect the russian occupied Nuclear Power plant nearby. This is the un convoy arriving in the city. Their visit is being watched closely because the Nuclear Plant has become one of the focal points of the war in ukraine. It has already been damaged by shelling raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Its under russian control but run by Ukrainian Technicians, and there are also concerns about their working conditions. The Zaporizhzhia Plant Is 600km from kyiv, in russian occupied territory. The un team are in zaporizhzhia but we dont know when they will begin their inspection at the power startion, which is iookm away. Rafael grossi, head of the uns Atomic Energy agency, is leading the visit. He spoke to reporters earlier. The mission as a technical one. Its a mission that seeks to prevent a nuclear accident. And to preserve this important, the largest, the biggest Nuclear Power plant in europe, the whole of europe, not only in ukraine. So this is what are concentrating on. Heres more from hugo bachega in kyiv. We havent been given details about what has been planned, and perhaps thats a sign of how difficult this mission is going to be. The inspectors are now in the city of zaporizhzhia, a two hour drive from the plant, and a visit could happen as soon as tomorrow. Its still not clear how long this mission is going to last and how the inspectors are going to get to the plant. But grossi said Security Guarantees had been given for the trip to go ahead. The plant is in russian controlled territory where fighting has been intense. Russia and ukraine have repeatedly traded accusations about shelling in the area. During the visit, they plan to interview the Ukrainian Technicians who are still operating the plant, and they hope to create a Permanent Mission station at the plant. Lets go back to melinda haring. This is of course causing great anxiety for those in ukraine and their allies. Their allies. Absolutely. As it should, local their allies. Absolutely. As it should, Local Government. Their allies. Absolutely. As it should, Local Government officials have been getting out iodine pills and preparation. There is almost an accident last week. An accident could happen. It is great that this Nuclear Watchdog is on site, but i would say dont break out the champagne yet, it is not a success. The Mission Needs to have full access to the plant. That is one thing i am watching for. The russians are saying they are only going to have access for one day. Thats not going to be sufficient. In the past, submissions have only had a smidgen of Access Committee need full access to the plant. The head at the international Atomic EnergyAgency Association is right to call for an ongoing mission. I think thats very important because moscow is using this plant as a Bargaining Chip to strike fear in the hearts of ukrainians and europeans to try to get concessions. We need to watch the situation closely. We need to watch the situation closel. ~. ,. ,. , we need to watch the situation closel. ~. ,. ,. , closely. Melinda, before you go, let me ask about closely. Melinda, before you go, let me ask about the closely. Melinda, before you go, let me ask about the fighting closely. Melinda, before you go, let me ask about the fighting between l me ask about the fighting between the two countries. Of course, that has taken a turn, hasnt it . How is it looking right now . It is has taken a turn, hasnt it . How is it looking right now . It looking right now . It is early da s. It looking right now . It is early days kyiv it looking right now . It is early days. Kyiv started it looking right now . It is early days. Kyiv started a days. Kyiv started a counteroffensive in the south on Monday Morning at 7am. Ukraine has said that it has broken through some of russias defensive forces and russia says that ukraine has experienced heavy losses. Now, the ukrainians are not allowing reporters anywhere near this area. And they need to do that for security reasons. I think we need to keep our eyes on it, but if you talk to military analysts, they will say that ukraine has a good chance of retaking some territory, not crimea, it doesnt have enough weapons that it doesnt have enough weapons that it needs for, in order to take a huge amount of territory, but there was pressure on kyiv to do a counteroffensive now because of weather, because russia was going to engage in a referendum and try to annex cosine, and they need to show momentum and that they can retake territory. Annex kherson. Has territory. Annex kherson. Has alwa s, territory. Annex kherson. Has always. Its territory. Annex kherson. Has always, its been territory. Annex kherson. Has always, its been great to talk to. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Pleasure, thank ou. Lets turn to the death of Mikhail GorbachevThe Last Soviet Leader whos died at the age of 91. In the west, hes venerated for bringing the cold war to a peaceful end. For many at home, hes condemned for the chaotic years that followed the collapse of the soviet union. Well be getting into his legacy and taking a look at how the news of his death has been received around the world. First, lets get some reaction from the streets of moscow. Translation it seems that he did not realise i the gravity of his decisions. He did not fix his mistakes. He passed away without fixing them. And us, we are hostages of his stupidity. What can i say . God rest his soul, may god not judge him too severely. It seemed to us back then that he was a person who could change the soviet union for the better, and then when his time was coming to the end, it turned out he was a person who broke up the soviet union. Broke up a vast country which led to a large number of wars and civil unrest in the four Soviet Republics between the people of the soviet union. Thats why i dont have a high opinion of him now and his life journey and his achievements. I have a negative view of gorbachevs time in power. He did a lot of damaging things to our country. I we are the ones facing the consequences. So a mixed reaction there. Lets go back to where all this began. This is the moment Mikhail Gorbachev was sworn into power. It was march 1990. At the top of his agenda social and economic progress. That was chiefly through a policy called perestroika which aimed to make the soviet economy more efficient. He also set the goal for glasnost, which brought free speech to the soviet union s unthinkable during previous administrations. This was the cover of Time Magazine in 1987 which dubbed his policies gorbachevs revolution. Lets hear from Bridget Kendall the bbc� s moscow correspondent at the time. Before long, it became clear that he was doing something very different, and as time went on, i had more closer contact with him, i used to go to the soviet parliament every day and watch him preside, and that was the place where he began to bring in a lot of his political reforms, so you had to go every dayjust to see what new thing he might do. He was very skilful in manipulating the parliamentary process, the political process, playing off radical reformers against the more wary Hard Line Members of his bureau. Weve been getting plenty of reaction from western leaders. Us President Joe Biden called him a rare leader one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. And this is the uk Prime Minister borisjohnson. Gorbachev is one of those people who changed the world and unquestionably changed it for the better. When you look at what he did to make europe whole, free, to give freedom to the countries of the former soviet union, it was quite an extraordinary thing. Of course, gorbachev is one of those people who triggered a change, a series of changes that perhaps he didnt anticipate. Maybe he paid his own political price for it. Weve also heard from the European Union this is its Foreign Policy chief. He sent a wind of freedom into russian society. He tried to change the system from inside, which became impossible. He started needing cooperation with the west to stop the cold war. And happily that had vanished. Plenty of reaction from germany too. Thats important because the berlin wall which divided the country came down in 1989. Gorbachev refused to intervene. So for many germans, it was gorbachev who paved the way for germanys reunification. Heres the german chancellor olaf scholz. Translation he was a courageous reformer and a statesman who dared to do many things. We will not forget that he made it possible to attempt to establish democracy in russia and that democracy and freedom became possible in europe, that germany could be united, and the iron curtain disappeared. The Democracy Movement in central and Eastern Europe also benefited from the fact he was in charge of russia at that time. We know that he has died at a time when not only has democracy in russia failed, there is no other way to describe the Current Situation there. Although hes revered by the west the reaction at home has been mixed. During gorbachevs tenure, there were ethnic conflicts, economic chaos, even an attempted coup by communist hardliners. And Many Russians blame him for the breakdown of the soviet union and subsequent chaos. Vladimir putin is one of them. Hes previously described the break up of the soviet union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. This is the message from the kremlin press secretary. Translation he was certainly an extraordinary person, any person, that is for sure. He sincerely wanted to believe that the cold war wed and and they would be a romantic period between the new soviet union and the world, the collective west, as we call it. That romanticism was notjustified. There was no romantic period or a honey sweet century. The bloodthirstiness of our opponents showed itself. But among other Eastern European countries the view is very different largely due to the use of force in stamping out the Pro Independence movement. This is the Lithuanian Foreign minister. Hes referring to these 1991 Pro Independence protests in the lithuanian capital vilnius. Moscow sent in the military. 1a people were killed. Its a similar message from the former estonian president and then theres belarus this is the assessment of its opposition leader. We remember how gorbachev tried to suppress movements of the Baltic States and Soviet Republics to become free and lives were lost because of this. Of course, because of gorbachev, the soviet union collapsed, the other side of the claim, belly rations this opportunity to restore our independence, but this work still needs to be finished. Lets take a look at how Russian Media has covered this story Francis Scarr from Bbc Monitoring joins me now. It is very interesting, isnt it, the different viewpoints to get depending on where you go in the world in terms of reaction to mr gorbachevs that. World in terms of reaction to mr gorbachevs that. That is true. We have seen gorbachevs that. That is true. We have seen tributes gorbachevs that. That is true. We have seen tributes pouring gorbachevs that. That is true. We have seen tributes pouring in gorbachevs that. That is true. We | have seen tributes pouring in from many countries outside of russia but inside russia, it has been an entirely different story today, which i think is unsurprising given that many have said, as many have noted today, but president putin is doing is to unravel gorbachevs legacy in many ways. If we look at state tv for example, the dominant source of news for most russians, well, they have been saying, yes, we are not going to attack gorbachev, because this is the day of his death and that would be indecent, but there has been thinly veiled criticism. Ive spoken of how he plunged the country into economic and political chaos and how in effect, he started the chain of events, which led to the 1990s, and thatis events, which led to the 1990s, and that is a time which president putin has spoken of as something which russia never wants to return to. Much of president putins ideas of what he represents is really taking russia out of the 19905 and restoring it to what he calls greatness. Restoring it to what he calls greatnes restoring it to what he calls areatness. � , , � greatness. Its interesting, isnt it, the relationship greatness. Its interesting, isnt it, the relationship between greatness. Its interesting, isnt it, the relationship between the greatness. Its interesting, isnt it, the relationship between the two men was strained at times to say the very least. Irate men was strained at times to say the ve least. ~. ,. , very least. We saw today that president putin very least. We saw today that president putin is very least. We saw today that president putin is giving very least. We saw today that president putin is giving gorbachev the respect that i suppose you could argue a former leader of the country de5erve5, argue a former lea