Excruciating moment Kuenssberg forces Russian envoy to watch clip exposing Putin's lies

Laura Keunssberg

Laura Keunssberg forced Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin to watch a clip exposing Putin’s lies, in an excruciating moment on the BBC this morning.

During the heated back and forth, the journalist asked Mr Kelin about the arrest of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian political activist and journalist who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for “high treason” last month.

Mr Kelin was put on the spot by Ms Kuenssberg, who played a message from Mr Kara-Murza’s wife, Efgenia, using her phone during the interview.

While the video is playing, the ambassador is shown sitting in silence, looking increasingly uncomfortable as the clip goes on.

Mrs Kara-Murza can be heard saying: “Ambassador Kelin, I have a question for you as a representative of the Russian State. Why does the Government, which claims to have the overwhelming support of the Russian population, need to use repression and prison terms of up to 15 years against anyone who opposes the official narrative?”

An uncomfortable Mr Kelin responded: “Vladimir Kara-Murza is in possession of two citizenships. One is Russian and one is British.

“He has been treated by the Russian court as a Russian citizen, and his British citizenship is not included. I think that personally, I can see that he has done everything to deserve what he deserves now – because of what he has been speaking about.

“It is not my judgement, it is a judgement by the court.”

He added: “But yes, if you are interested in what is being said in Russia about events what is going on, just turn on the television.

But Ms Keunssberg hit back: “But there is no free press in Russia and in fact, many other journalists have been imprisoned.”

Mr Kelin claimed: “I haven’t seen any of the speakers that have been arrested or treated differently during this political war.”

Laura Keunssberg