00:00I mean, just to sort of look at the situation on the battlefield, and we'll talk a bit more
00:03about peace talks and peace efforts in a moment, Russia occupies, it's thought, about 20% of
00:10Ukrainian territory. It's also reported that Russia has made greater gains in the past year
00:16than in the two previous years combined. I don't know if that tallies with the information you
00:21have, albeit those gains fairly small. But do you see momentum shifting at all on the battlefield?
00:28I don't think so. And I think as long as the West continues to provide Ukraine with
00:38weapons to repel Russians, the longer this will go on. The United Kingdom has just today announced
00:47a whole raft of new sanctions on Russian oil companies. Goodness knows why this wasn't done
00:53or day one. But anyway, it's being done today. And the Russian economy must be in a very parlous
00:59state because there's nothing that the Russians produce that even those of you out in the Gulf
01:06would want to buy. I mean, do we want to buy a Russian car? Do we want to buy a
01:11Russian television?
01:12No, we certainly don't. The only thing that Russia produces that might interest us is vodka.
01:19The rest is pretty shoddy stuff. And therefore, the country relies overwhelmingly on export of oil and
01:29gas. And there it is true that President Trump has been somewhat successful in warning countries
01:39which import oil and gas from Russia that they will be penalized by the United States.
01:44So there are some commentators here in London who are saying that the Russian economy really is
01:50teetering on the brink. And much of their supplies are coming from countries like Iran and North Korea.
01:58wonderful proponents of democracy, of course, those two countries are. So it is a stalemate at the
02:08moment. And I don't think I'm certainly not getting any information yet to suggest that the Russians have
02:13made enormous advances in the last year or so.
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