:00:00. > :00:00.Nigerian city of Kano. The attack was in a predominantly Christian
:00:00. > :00:15.neighbourhood which has previously been targeted by Boko Haram. Those
:00:16. > :00:19.are the headlines. France claims it has indications
:00:20. > :00:24.that the Syrian government has been using chemical weapons in the past
:00:25. > :00:29.few weeks. The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, says that
:00:30. > :00:33.despite handing over most of its chemical weapons stockpile, Syria is
:00:34. > :00:39.continuing to produce them and use them. He is here in London with the
:00:40. > :00:44.Foreign Minister 's of ten other countries to discuss new ways of
:00:45. > :00:48.helping the Syrian opposition but what are they prepared to do and
:00:49. > :01:07.having backed down from military action last year, how credible is
:01:08. > :01:16.any threat they can make? Laurent Fabius, welcome to HARDtalk. Thank
:01:17. > :01:17.you. What evidence do you have that President Assad has been using
:01:18. > :02:12.chemical weapons? Can you say that you believe that he
:02:13. > :03:11.is using chlorine? Within weeks of that, the last time
:03:12. > :03:17.there were credible reports, we came so close to airstrikes on Damascus
:03:18. > :03:24.that there were reports that France was briefing its pilots. But then
:03:25. > :03:35.the US and UK backed away. If that had occurred, wood one be using
:03:36. > :05:21.chemical weapons right now? But do you regret the failure?
:05:22. > :05:26.And have been asking for more help from you for a long time. You have
:05:27. > :05:27.had this meeting with ten other Foreign Minister 's. What have you
:05:28. > :07:02.agreed that you will do? Well, we know that Saudi Arabia,
:07:03. > :07:16.Qatar and Turkey are providing weapons.
:07:17. > :07:23.Indeed. But you know that one opposition member has been asking
:07:24. > :07:26.for more help. Specifically, he is asking for more help with
:07:27. > :07:43.anti`aircraft weapons, asking in the US.
:07:44. > :07:59.And where you satisfied? Were you satisfied with the answer? Could he
:08:00. > :08:11.satisfy you? Will you be providing these anti`aircraft weapons? But
:08:12. > :08:15.what does that mean, so? You say progress but it's very hard to work
:08:16. > :08:24.out what progress there can be when nothing changes. I'm... Forgive me
:08:25. > :08:27.but I'm just not clear. I forgive you but I think you have understood
:08:28. > :08:36.there are aims that must remain secret. Lakhdar Brahimi, the Special
:08:37. > :08:42.Envoy, resigned because of a lack of progress in the peace talks. And Ban
:08:43. > :08:45.Ki`Moon, the UN secretary general, said that it was the international
:08:46. > :08:46.community that was partly to blame the cause they were hopelessly
:08:47. > :09:10.divided. So, do you blame Russia for the way
:09:11. > :09:19.things have spiralled out of control in Syria?
:09:20. > :09:42.Let's turn to Ukraine, because you have also blamed Russia for the
:09:43. > :09:46.situation in Ukraine. You have said one month ago that violence breaking
:09:47. > :10:07.out in the east of the country had originated from Russia.
:10:08. > :10:17.Sure. We can come back to that, but my question of view was actually
:10:18. > :11:32.whether you blame Russia for what has happened in Ukraine.
:11:33. > :11:39.Sure, but ideally, it's a bridge. Instead, it's turning into a
:11:40. > :11:43.battleground and the Russians and many in the east of the country
:11:44. > :11:47.would say that because you are supporting a government in Kiev that
:11:48. > :11:51.is not constitutional and in the words of the Russian Ministry of
:11:52. > :11:53.Foreign Affairs, has anti`Semites, radicals and neo`fascists running
:11:54. > :12:21.things there. But you can say is a popular
:12:22. > :12:26.uprising but what has taken its place? Because what has taken its
:12:27. > :13:07.place, many people in the east of the country, are very fearful of.
:13:08. > :13:16.You have talked about how much Russia is responsible for some of
:13:17. > :13:21.the difficulties in Syria and Ukraine and yet we are in a
:13:22. > :13:28.situation where France has agreed to sell it two warships. It was a deal
:13:29. > :13:45.that was struck in 2011, but one is due for delivery next year.
:13:46. > :14:15.Yes but a warship? One of these warships will be stationed off
:14:16. > :14:57.Crimea in the Black Sea. We are talking about a warship. We
:14:58. > :15:00.are talking about military equipment station... Why did you cancel the
:15:01. > :15:14.sale? Might you cancel the sale? France is in a difficult situation
:15:15. > :15:19.with this. You are about to sell... I mean, these are assault ships and
:15:20. > :15:23.legally, you have the ability to stop the handover of the first one
:15:24. > :15:55.this year and the second one in 2015.
:15:56. > :16:02.Mikhail Khodorkovsky who was in prison for ten years in Russia are
:16:03. > :16:04.at least a few months ago said that what his analysis of what we are
:16:05. > :16:09.seeing is national feelings have been stirred up in Russia that could
:16:10. > :16:14.lead to problems, not least in the former Soviet state like dystonia,
:16:15. > :16:20.Latvia, Lithuania. Is this something that you see that could be happening
:16:21. > :16:24.all along your's eastern coast you have some difficulties, tensions
:16:25. > :17:13.with Russia as a result of something that is fast getting out of control.
:17:14. > :17:17.But when you look at where we are and, I don't know whether you would
:17:18. > :17:27.characterise it as the most dangerous situation when you look at
:17:28. > :17:32.what we have been in how long... You say that we need to be firm and
:17:33. > :17:40.united in our positions. Are we in this situation now because the US,
:17:41. > :17:46.UK, France, we are not and united. Back last year when the it was this
:17:47. > :17:55.portability of a strike on Syria, do you think it emboldened Russia? But
:17:56. > :19:09.did it have other consequences? OK. Let's talk about Africa because
:19:10. > :19:10.we have a situation in Nigeria where France is involved. You have sent
:19:11. > :19:49.some help out to the President. Should Nigeria agree at to a
:19:50. > :20:07.prisoner swap which is one of the things that has been requested?
:20:08. > :20:19.But you have experience, only recently we have had French
:20:20. > :20:23.journalist released from Syria. And you will know as well that France is
:20:24. > :20:31.often reported to pay to be secure the release of... It is absolutely
:20:32. > :20:38.not true? France has never paid or overseen the payment? Because many
:20:39. > :21:19.people suspect you say that but actually that you do do deals.
:21:20. > :21:24.But there has to be some form of negotiations and ultimately,
:21:25. > :22:39.negotiations lead to some form of deal, don't they?
:22:40. > :22:46.So you don't... And are you confident that President Goodluck
:22:47. > :22:50.Jonathan has the ability to deal with it because as you know there
:22:51. > :23:03.are people in Nigeria that aren't so sure.
:23:04. > :23:21.It is not an endorsement. Everybody hopes it to be true but they may not
:23:22. > :23:44.think that it is. Laurent Fabius, thank you for coming
:23:45. > :24:19.on HARDtalk. My pleasure. For most of us, is back to work but
:24:20. > :24:23.if you enjoyed about weekend heat, the good news is that the weather
:24:24. > :24:32.will last into Monday so you may be able to grab lunchtime outside.
:24:33. > :24:38.However, it will turn unsettled by the time we get to Tuesday and
:24:39. > :24:39.Wednesday. More cloud and the chance of catching some