steve rosenberg reports from moscow. there were moments today when moscow resembled a battlefield. russian riot police broke up an anti—government protest, on what was a day of demonstrations across russia. in moscow, they detained more than 500 people. earlier, police had poured into the city centre, warning that the protest was illegal. still, thousands of people packed into pushkin square, to accuse the russian government of corruption. the level of corruption is too high in russia right now, and every single citizen understands it. it's hard to live in corruption atmosphere. i have children, grandchildren, and i can't breathe in this. these people have come out to protest against government corruption, but the message which this is sending to the crowd is that fighting corruption is not a priority of the russian authorities. among those arrested, russian opposition leader alexei navalny. he says he intends to run for president next year. whether he'll be allowed to isn't clear. it was alexei navalny who had called for today's nationwide protests. people took to the streets in

in moscow alone as anti—corru ption protests detained 500 people in moscow alone as anti—corruption protests take place across the country. in germany a bruised foot chancellor angler michael as her party looks set to keep our. —— angela merkel. a special report on yemen's humanitarian catastrophe, two years into the conflict the story of little boy whose life has been to inspect ever and england beat lithuania at wembley in their world cup qualifier, thanks to a second—half goal from jamie vardy. hello and welcome to the programme, thousands of people have been taking pa rt thousands of people have been taking part in anti—crushed chin —— antique oi’ part in anti—crushed chin —— antique or rough chin protests across russia. after a call from the opposition leader. pictures from moscow show people being detained and scuttles breaking out. the police say that nearly 500 people have been arrested in the capital alone including the opposition leader. they are thought to be the biggest in five years. demonstrated here and in more than £100 in cities across the count

was there any kind of collusion and between campaign officials and moscow? as lawmakers have said, we have seen her haps circumstantial evidence, at most, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions for lawmakers. host: west virginia, republican line. all smoke and mirrors. they have said there was nothing to it many times. they keep dragging this on. clapper, we trust james like a rattlesnake. does keeping it up to keep it up. guest: well, certainly, mr. trump, or president trump, and his associates would characterize this as a witch hunt. they have repeatedly disavowed any collusion or connection and between the campaign and russia. and the russian government has said the same thing, said this is a bunch of phooey. are there issues with his committee? guest: mr. nunez was on his executive committee and transition team. about three weeks ago, the white house reached out to mr. nunez to ask him to basically disavow a press report that had to do with trump's connections to moscow. mr. nunes agreed to that request. according to his account, he spoke to o

you can imagine that listed not -- listwell in moscow did not go down well in moscow. i give this speech other places, i feel more confident, i'm in washington, george washington university. i see lots of people here who might know the full totality of u.s.-russian relations better than i do. but i think going back all the wayi give this speech other pla, i feel more confident, i'm in to win john quincy adams was our first ambassador to moscow, we've never had the chief of staff of the kremlin on a sanctions slice. altra the cold war, that never happened. it happened today. we kicked russia out of the g8. new sanctions after the elections. in our country, it depends what poll you look at. the majority of americans think rush is an enemy again. if you are republican, the data also shows those republicans are less worried about the russians then they were just two years .go we know what the causality there is. in general, we are back to this confrontation. all of this happened, most of the seventh when i was in the u.s. government. putin did not invade ukraine when i was

what i would tlilike to give yos a philosophical of what is from moscow. it is not so much a territory y'all of ukraine. it is a traction as to what you get out there for the people to believe and at the same time do as much of the unfortunate as possible. it is a matter of principal. it is a matter of the of democratic principals versus a matter of authoritarianism, dictato dictatorship and how you wield power. there was some associated with it. there was traction associated with it. members of congress, presidents of the united states issued their particular statements. frankly speaking it culminated with a statement by george w. bush that said it was a crime against humanity. so the soviets having denied it for so long and only after a lot of the information started trickling out did they even knowledge that ka s what happens. it is the same thing fast forward 85 years from what is happening on eastern ukraine and crimea. nearly three years to the date the russians started invading crimea with quote unquote little green men. obviously no notion it was b

tens of thousands rallied in the streets of moscow. the biggest protest there since the fall of the soviet union. >> people were hanging off lampposts. people were in the streets. really shocking. >> putin was now living the same nightmare he had endured as a kgb officer in east germany in 1989. this time in his own backyard. and he wasn't ev president at the time. he was prime minister. having handed the presidency over to his associate, dimitri medvedev. >> as the winter got longer and longer and colder and colder, the protests got bigger and bigger. >> as putin saw people turning against him, hillary clinton weighed in. >> the russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. >> when putin hears something like that, i imagine he hears bush talking about saddam hussein. he hears that as, they're coming for me. they're trying to drive me from power. what the hell do you know about my people and whether they deserve to have their voices heard, like i'll tell you if they should

at the large protest in moscow, russia's most visible opposition figure, he was arrested in moscow. that man is alexey in a very wellny, the man who's group put together the drones. he's tallahassee guy who was dyed green recently, campaigning in siberia when someone the law chemical all over him that literally dyed him bright green. this week he was arrested at these protests that he helped organize. it's interesting. a lot of people reported haegtd slap on the wrist. he got charged with a $350 fine and 15 days in prison. one of the things they do opposition figures in putin's russia and they bring all sorts of criminal charges against people in the opposition. he right now is serving a suspended sentence over an embezzlement charge related to timb futures. the trial is shotgun that is very wildly believed to be nonsense charges designed to harass him and give him a criminal conviction that would keep him from kwfrg to be on the ball ballot to run against putin next week year. he's on a suspended sentence for that already. yes, when he got arrested in moscow, they gave him a 15-day

germany's new foreign minister is on his first official visit to moscow. despite ongoing disagreements on subjects like ukraine, it looks as though the two countries are preparing, at least, for a fresh start. russian president vladimir putin invited foreign minister sigma got real -- sigmar gabriel for talks in moscow. we want to go now to our correspondent, following the visit. he joins us tonight in moscow. hello to you. what more do we know about this visit? we are hearing a lot about the need for straightforward and constructive relationships. >> good evening. this was meant to be essentially a photo op. this is the kremlin advising got real -- gabriel beyond his talks with the foreign minister. after keeping him for over one hour, they spoke for nearly two hours, way more than the half-hour scheduled. we heard from putin that he wants the full normalization of relations and he invited angela merkel to moscow. brent: those things sound nice, but they do not wipe away the problem areas. that is the conflict with ukraine and the situation with nato. did

tens of thousands rallied in the streets of moscow. the biggest protest there since the fall of the soviet union. >> people were hanging off lampposts. people were in the streets. it was really shocking. >> reporter: putin was now living the same nightmare he had endured as a kgb officer in east germany in 1989. this time in his own backyard. and he wasn't even president at the time. he was prime minister. having handed the presidency over to his associate, dimitri medvedev. >> as the winter went longer and longer and got colder and colder, the protests got bigger and bigger. >> reporter: as putin saw people turning against him, hillary clinton weighed in. >> the russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. >> when putin hears something like that, i imagine he hears bush talking about saddam hussein. he hears that as, they're coming for me. they're trying to drive me from power. what the hell do you know about my people and whether they deserve to have their voices heard?

he gets recalled to moscow. allegedly on account of him being exposable. him being exposed for his role if in n the russian operation against our presidential election. that reference to the bengs ruse. that's the reference by which the russian government paid for this operation. they did have to pay for it, right? it's about the way they got cash to pay hackers and other operatives to do the grount labor of this russian election attack. what we know about russian efforts to elect donald trump president it did not seem to be a super labor intensive process. it wasn't like an industrial process but you need people to do the work. you need, for example, people building and running the online bots and repeaters that were giving ginned up fake viral status to negative news about hillary clinton and positive news about donald trump. so you have to involve some people and you have to pay some folks so the allegation here from the dossier was that this guy working in a senior position at the russian embassy, he was basically the pay master for this operation and

i first met michael mcfaul in moscow in the early '90s when he and i russian colleagues set up in moscow carnegie center and we were all watching the dramatic events as boris yeltsin killed off communism of the soviet union broke up, the first chechen war was waged, and many other events that were pretty fascinating for a reporter and for any observer from the west. he was already one of the most astute observers of the moscow scene, an, and we journalists as sounded approachable and quotable, as i'm sure you will today. as another american journal since also there earlier in those rough days, david remnick of "the new yorker" says moscow at that time was a pageant, irresistible to anyone with even a trace of democratic idealism and fellow feeling for the russians the essence of historical drama was unmistakable. there was a much human tragedies to be seen but reasons for hope, and we all debated. i'm sure you did with your colleagues, could russia finally throw off autocratic sluggish government? wasn't there a real change in the offing? it seemed that might happen. because a friend of

tens of thousands rallied in the streets of moscow. the biggest protest there since the fall of the soviet union. >> people were hanging off lampposts. people were in the streets. really shocking. >> putin was now living the same nightmare he had endured as a kgb officer in east germany in 1989. this time in his own backyard. and he wasn't even president at the time. he was prime minister. having handed the presidency over to his associate, dimitri medvedev. >> as the winter got longer and longer and colder and colder, the protests got bigger and bigger. >> as putin saw people turning against him, hillary clinton weighed in. >> the russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. >> when putin hears something like that, i imagine he hears bush talking about saddam hussein. he hears that as, they're coming for me. they're trying to drive me from power. what the hell do you know about my people and whether they deserve to have their voices heard, like i'll tell you if they shou

not moscow, beijing, berlin, in miami florida. it existed under the cover name of zenith technical enterprises incorporated. does anybody know miami well? so now i can make stuff up.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the us state department said it was troubled by the detention of hundreds of protesters throughout russia. the acting state department spokesman said that pertaining peaceful protesters, humans rights observers and journalist is an affront to core democratic values. the russian people deserve a government that supports an open marketplace of ideas on the equal treatment under the law and the ability to exercise their rights without fear of retribution. iraqi forces are intensifying their assault against so called islamic state, as they try to drive the militants out of western mosul. thousands of people have left the city in recent weeks. and there are conflicting reports about who was responsible for scores of civilian deaths in a single incident last week. the us says it's investigating but has stopped short of taking responsibility. with the city still divided between is and the iraqi army, our correspondent orla guerin has been to a field hospital in the south of mosul. 11 years o

election, donald trump fever hit moscow. his likeness on sale in the shadow of the kremlin and plenty of facetime in russian media. >> he ordered putin ordered the state-controlled media, particularly television in russia, to be more friendly toward the trump administration. >> reporter: veteran commentatortrennen says trump's popularity in moscow was overdone. >> i think there was a lot of hype in the u.s. media about the relationship, about the bromance. i don't know where people got that from. >> reporter: if there was a bromance, the last 40 days have cooled the ar door. >> i love to negotiate things. i do it really well. and all that stuff. but it's possible i won't be able to get along with putin. >> reporter: then came the tum mut over who in the trump camp met the russian ambassador and why. media vandalism say officials in moscow. >> stop spreading lies and false news. >> reporter: and some hard line comments by u.s. officials on russia's seizure of crimea and its pleding in ukraine. >> i must condemn the aggressive

moscow has yet to lift all the economic restrictions. at their meeting president erdogan urged russia to do so and restore visa free travel between the two countries. >> our expectation is to maintain reciprocal trust and expand dialogue on a political level. we expect russia to completely lift economic restrictions. way to achievey our $100 billion trade target. over thely at odds syrian war, the two countries have been core donating their military efforts against the islamic state group. turkey and russia are the main organizers of the syrian peace talks set to resume next week. >> the united nations has slammed turkey over what it says are serious human rights violations in the country southeast. that is a report by the un's rights body. documents the deaths of 2000 people with a displacement of half a million. investigators condemning a series of of abuses. >> the government of turkey has repeatedly failed to grant us access but has contested the veracity of the serious allegations made in this report. the gravity of the allegations,

in a quote from david ignatius in moscow back in february, "putin's cyber adviser stressed to the moscow audience the importance of russia of having a strong hand in this new domain. if russia is week, he explained it must behave hypocritically and search for compromises. but it will be from the position of power. and so russian strength, russian capability, russian essentially russian warfare capacity in this regard must be shown off, right, to humble us, to bring us down to size, so they can then dictate the size of national relations to us, get us to do what they want. because if they don't, they can almost existentially threaten us with this kind of power. if that is the russian project here, it sort of helps you to see how serious it is that any american might collude with that russian project. the fbi confirmed that they are investigating the trump campaign to see whether or not they coordinated with the russian government in this operation. the fbi would not say how many associates of the president or members of the campaign are subject of this counterintelligence and would not co

everybody who goes to moscow does that. do you do that? >> yeah, i have a second phone. >> you carry a second phone because you know russian ru intelligence is likely to hack into your phone but you can't imagine that russian intelligence would hack into the dnc? >> i didn't say -- i didn't say that. what i said was -- if you didn't use a second phone in russia, i have to tell you you should because you're the only person who does business in russia who doesn't do that. >> like i said, i do have that. >> you're concerned about them hacking you or listening in on you -- >> that's not my concern. listen, i think what you have is the if you read through that intel report -- i actually have a good analysis of that in my letter. >> your legitimacy on this, your credibility on this seems under question if you're completely unwilling to look at anything russia may or may not have done to even entertain the notion that vladimir putin would be capable -- i read some quote you read during your speech in moscow and i wish i had it in front of me, bas

moscow carnegie center. we were watching the dramatic events as boris yeltsin killed off coming as an, the first -- off communism, the first chechen war. important events from any observer from the midwest. he was one of the most astute observers of the moscow seen. we found him approachable and quotable, as i am sure you will today. as an american journalist "moscowhose rough days, at that time was a pageant, irresistible to anyone with a trace of democratic idealism for the russians. the sense of historical drama was unmistakable. there was human tragedy, but reasons for hope too." we all activated, could russia finally throw off autocratic thuggish government? it seemed that might happen. mike mcfual work for reforms. we did not think it would be great, but it would be possible. it was not to be. by the time ambassador mcfaul went to moscow in 2012, his efforts wered doomed to fail. in the second term of vladimir putin, he invaded crimea and sent little green men into eastern ukraine. the kremlin decided

he is with us again from moscow tonight. richard? >> reporter: well, there is another way of looking at this entire situation, and it is coming up in the conversation that you've been having tonight with all the guests in that it's all about the money. great fortunes have been made in this country, particularly by a small group of individuals around president vladimir putin. and they have proven time and time again they will g to great lengths to protect that money. communism fell hard in russia. and since it did, business here has been profitable, glamorous, and at times deadly. bill brouter from chicago knows that well. he made and lost a lot of money in russia and is openly accusing the russian government of crimes ranging from robbery to murder. >> they have the resource of a mafia organization with the resources of one of the most powerful countries in the world. >> reporter: to understand how and why what he calls the mafia state was born, he says you have to go back to the dying days of the soviet union when everything in russ

in a moment, former trump aide carter page who deny and now admitted to meeting with moscow's man in washington will clarify what that was about. the latest on cnn's jim acosta. >> when then candidate donald trump delivered a foreign policy speech? washington last april, the russian ambassador to the u.s. was in the audience. listen as he called for better relations with the kremlin. >> i believe an easing of tensions, improved relations with russia from a position of strength only is possible. absolutely possible. >> months later, they met with the russian ambassador in cleveland during the republican convention. the former campaign adviser told cnn he and another adviser discussed u.s.-russia relations with the ambassador. his son in law jared kushner and michael flynn sat down at a meeting in trump tower in december. even republicans are saying it's time for white house officials to tell all. >> i think everybody who had contact with the russians have gotten into oversharing. >> he pushed back on questions about contact with the russians. >> i had nothing to do with it. i have not

that -- the moscow olympics, that moscow olympic adventure with that weird international intrigue around it in 1980, that was the last time russia gotten a olympics for a very, very long time. for a generation. fast forward to 2007. july, 2007, the international olympic committee met in this city, in lovely guatemala city in guatemala to make a decision about who would get the winter olympic games in 2014. as you can see, guatemala city is lovely, cosmopolitan place. the international olympic committee likes to do their selections of cities who get the olympics, they like to do it with as much drama and pomp and circumstance as possible so there was really global focus on the international olympic committee when they convened that july in guatemala city to make their decision about where the winter olympics was going to be in 2014. and the top three contenders were salzburg in austria, pyeongchang in south korea and russia. the city of sochi in russia, it would have been russia's first olympic games since 1980. it's interesting, most people thought pyeongchang was going to get it. pyeong

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. more than 30 people have been injured, two of them seriously, in what is suspected to have been a gas explosion on the wirral. the blast caused extensive damage. it could be several days before people who live in the area can return to their homes. linsey smith reports from the scene. the scale of the devastation shows just how powerful the explosion was. one of the three businesses that stood here was a dance studio. just an hour before, it had been full of children. the blast was heard six miles away. this sound of the building blowing up was captured by a car's dashboard camera. explosion. oh, my god! 33 people were taken to hospital. there's a multitude of injuries that have happened, but the two patients that have gone through to the major trauma unit at aintree, they've had significant injuries. within one of the damaged homes, christine pickup had been baby—sitting her grandchildren. i don't know how we walked out of there. i think the children, because the bed is slightly hi

live in moscow next. . >>> the state department is condemning the kremlin for the arrest of hundreds of russian protesters including a key opposition figure to vladimir putin, thousands of people hit the streets in moscow sunday and nearly 100 cities and towns, ale alexey navalny detained. you yourself got caught up in this over the weekend, huh? >> reporter: yeah, we certainly did. and you know the authorities here in moscow really tried to do everything they could to try to stop these protests from even getting underway, they started at a railway and you could see a lot of cops arresting some of the protest leaders even as they got off trains and taking them into detention. the protests were certainly a lot bigger than most anticipated and that was also some of the things that really led to some scuffles going on. here is what happened to us. >> this is a massive police presence and time and again we are seeing scenes like this with the police pushing the protesters back and even making arrests. okay, okay, okay. >> reporter: as you can see there a lot of pushing and shoving going

today, moscow is cementing its presence. with a bridge that will bind crimea to the russian mainland. with its military, too, russia's moved its most powerful weapons here, and where ever you go in crimea you'e left in no doubt who's in charge. olga welcomes russian rule. crimea, she says, has returned home. she chides western leaders who disagree. we don't understand them because we are already for three years we're in russia. we changed everything. we changed our rules, our documents, everything and our soul is in russia. i even have the t—shirt, t—shirt with putin, and the words are "in putin we trust", like "in god we trust". moscow admits its take over of crimea was a military operation. it sent russian special forces here. days later, after a referendum, not recognised initially, crimea was declared part of russia. svetlana had opposed the annexation, but three years on, her perspective on russia has changed. they were expecting us, they were happy to have us back, ukraine are not, they really hate us, they think e

let's go live to moscow with the latest developments. fred, you yourself with caught up with these protests over the weekend. good morning. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely dave and the authorities in russia declared these protests illegal before they even started and tried to prevent people from coming out on the streets. the railway where it started was surrounded by police officers for a long period of time and yet more people than expected turned up in moscow, about 8,000 people on the streets chanting and many indeed were taken into custody and we got into one of those scuffles as well here is what happened to us. >> there's a massive presence of protests. even this we are seeing police making arrests, okay, okay, okay. >> you mentioned alexey navalny, one of the key opposition figures in russia who wants to run against vladimir putin in the elect in 2018, unclear whether he will be able to do that. this morning he is still in detention and in court. he says the charge against him are bogus, actually tweeting from the court as we speak

here an pushed in square in the centre of moscow the crowd is chanting quote we russia." . the russian authorities say that this anti—corruption russian authorities say that this anti—corru ption protests russian authorities say that this anti—corruption protests is illegal, but people in command of the street anyway. there is a heavy police protest. 0ne anyway. there is a heavy police protest. one man tried it and fell an anti—putin on the statue. protest. one man tried it and fell an anti-putin on the statue. the level of corruption is too high in russia right now and every thinking citizen understands that. it is hard to live in a corrupt atmosphere, i have children, grandchildren and i cannot breathe in this. so now the white police have moved on to pushkin square, the police have been telling the crowd all afternoon that this is an illegal meeting. —— the riot police. it looks like the police ten currie intend to clear the whole square of protesters. —— intent to clear the whole square. we are told that the man who called people onto the street in monks

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. our other top story: the british home secretary amber rudd has demanded access to encrypted messaging services in terrorism cases. her comments to the bbc come after it was reported that the man who killed four people in westminster last week was on whatsapp two minutes before he carried out the attack. there should be no place for terrorists to hide. we need to make sure that organisations like whatsapp, and there are plenty of others like that, don't provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other. it used to be that people would stea m it used to be that people would steam open envelopes orjust listen in on phones when they wanted to find out what people were doing, legally, through warren tree, but in this situation we need to make sure oui’ this situation we need to make sure our intelligence services have the ability to get into services like encrypted whatsapp. also making news this hour: political deadlock is continuing in northern ireland. the second bi

here is more from fred from moscow. the russian press trump ted trump, if you would like, what are they saying now? >> well, wasn't just the russian press, there were a lot of people here according to public opinion who felt at the time that donald trump would be a good president to -- for u.s. russia relations, at least from the perspective from the russians. it seems many russian politicians have, somewhat, cooled off i wouldn't say they make the president himself responsible for that. it was interesting because last week you had the prime minister of this country come forward and say they don't believe the lifting of sanctions against russia that were levied in the wake of the ukraine crisis with this new administration that the sanctions could disappear any time soon. it doesn't look as though people here believe that there can be a very quick positive diplomatic momentum between the u.s. and russia any more. at the same time you had one of the main pun dents is a good measure on what kremlin is thinking as well. he

if you go to moscow now and you talk to people in moscow now, there's a lot of buyers remorse. there was an order sent to russian television, nufr with the celebrating about trufrmt they're worried about the lack of stability from trump and thelgsz see the criticism of trump having to do with russia is going to undermine is ability to help them. >> the new piece is called trump, putin and the new cold war. i have a lot of things to ask you. you. we'll be back. if you're approaching 65, now's the time to get your ducks in a row. to learn about medicare, and the options you have. you see, medicare doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so if 65 is around the corner, think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. so don't wait. call to request your free decision guide. and gather the information now to help yo

i'm standing outside a moscow court house in a spring blizzard. a short while ago the russian opposition activist alexei navalny was found guilty of organising sunday's mass protests, anti—government protests across russia. he was fined the equivalent of around $350. then he was found guilty of disobeying police and for that was sentenced to 15 days injail. this police van behind me has arrived to whisk him off to jail. some of mr navalny‘s supporters turned up to wave good luck signs, so that he could see them through the windows of the van. then police officers came up to them and took them away. earlier i managed to ask alexi navalny outside the courtroom how significant he thought yesterday's protest had been. it was alexei navalny who had called russians onto the street at the weekend to take part in anti—government protests. and people came across the country in dozens of towns and cities their thousands. the biggest protest was in moscow. i was on pushkin square where there were thousands of people. that protest was broken up by russi

even there in moscow. he did a very good job of dissing american foreign policy in central asia but wouldn't answer any questions about the trump campaign. that to me was a little odd as well. >> i don't know if it was last night or night before, but talk about the russia reaction that matthew brought up. russian people's reaction to what is going on over here about the meetings and so forth. >> i totally agree with matt. it's very difficult. i would say in the kremlin, people are not naÏve. and i think that they understand -- they understood even from the beginning that donald trump was unpredictable, kind of a wild card, with a lot of ego. and this all would play into the way that russia would eventually play with him. so you saw the early comment by president putin, stroking the ego of donald trump. you saw other comments but never really any complete commitment. so yes they didn't want hillary clinton to win, but i'm not too sure they knew what they were going to get with donald trump and right now th

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the iraqi military has denied that hundreds of civilians were killed in air strikes by us—led coalition forces on mosul earlier this month. instead it blamed booby—traps set by so—called islamic state. it comes as iraqi forces are continuing their offensive to drive is fighters out of western mosul. iraqi forces are reporting they have captured the badoush dam. this is also in the west. jeremy bowen is near the front line. is helicopter attacks have been going on steadily throughout the day —— the use helicopter attacks. earlier there were some suggestions that the iraqis had paused their offensive because of the air strike that killed so many civilians. but the evidence here is that is not happening. in fact, evidence here is that is not happening. infact, the evidence here is that is not happening. in fact, the tempo of the operation has increased. as well as these helicopters, i have seen them using some quite primitive, inaccurate weapons. now, that may help when it come

state media report 8,000 people turned out to the moscow rally. that's despite the kremlin declaring it illegal. >> fred was at that moscow protest. he joins us now live with more from the russian capitol. president vladimir putin, apparently, has a very high approval rating, given that how significant is it that such a large number of protesters were brave enough to get out on the streets and voice their concerns and what will happen to those who were arrested. >> rosemary in light of the fact that protesters were deemed illegal. first of all that so many people turned out in moscow, but also that similar rallies took place in a lot of other places in russia, as well, the organizers are saying that it was up to 100 towns and city where similar protests took place. they say st. peter'sburg about 10,000 people came out. it put the number closer to 3,000. it certainly isn't a real challenge to vladimir putin. his approval ratings are at around 80% here in this country. it is significant that the opposition comes out and decides to come out in light

he is with us again from moscow tonight. richard? >> reporter: well, there is another way of looking at this entire situation, and it is coming up in the conversation that you've been having tonight with all the guests in that it's all about the money. great fortunes have been made in this country, particularly by a small group of individuals around president vladimir putin. and they have proven time and time again they will go to great lengths to protect that money. communism fell hard in russia. and since it did, business here has been profitable, glamorous, and at times deadly. bill browder from chicago knows that well. he made and lost a lot of money in russia and is openly accusing the russian government of crimes ranging from robbery to murder. >> they have the resource of a mafia organization with the resources of one of the most powerful countries in the world. >> reporter: to understand how and why what he calls the mafia state was born, he says you have to go back to the dying days of the soviet union when everything in rus

that's moscow's major benefit from this. but we're unlikely to see washington suddenly deciding that they see the world closer to the kremlin's view. >> nick, thank you so much for the reporting. >>> well, britain will most likely have some interest in the intelligence committee hearing. last week the white house press secretary cited an unconfirmed media report that barack obama used british intelligence to spy on will trump. cnn's max foster joins us now from london. so max, the initial reaction of course from britain was anger and frustration. what more is being said about their unsubstantiated claim from the white house that british spy agency gchq was liemd an attempt to wiretap trump tower? >> i think the anger is only growing really. largely the relationship is underpinned by this intelligence sharing. uk is america's biggest intelligence-sharing partner. there's a real frustration here that that is being affected by what donald trump said. so last week you had gchq, the spy agency and downing street both saying these

these were posters put up all over moscow. if you can't read that, it says "the political circus is coming to town. may 6. in the arena." and around me, if you cannot see me i am of their between nevalni and yashan. i am listed as the artistic director of the political circus. that was on that day. nire i am campaigning as neval runs for mayor. i am not campaigning for navalni. that is photoshop. i wish my hands are that big. -- were that big. i could play basketball better. flavor --o give you a you do not need to understand, but we will play a little bit of senselip so you can get a or maybe we can't. , >> [speaking russian] mr. mcfaul: he is saying i'm being recalled as ambassador because i failed to overthrow putin. it was a giant celebration for musicians, they knew i was coming to overthrow the opposition. saying i support liberals. they are coming for their instructions. my entourage, my posse. the fascists are part of my team. you get the idea, right? so, and then to take this one runs arther, this man leading news sho