Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on Russian sensor allegations and Scotland's ferry fiasco

Transcript

Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on Russian sensor allegations and Scotland's ferry fiasco · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: To the UK.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: We go, Devin Gray, Good morning, hither Andrew. So, there's
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: been allegations that Russians have put sensors all around Great
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Britain in an attempt to track UK nuclear submarines. Now,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: what can you tell me about this story?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so this was a story out of the Sunday
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Times in which it was reported that British military discovered
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the existence of these devices and deemed them a potential
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: threat to national security. It is believed that if these
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: story is correct, these devices have been planted by Moscow
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in order to try to gather intelligence on the UK's
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: nuclear defense or nuclear capabilities. They are based on four
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Vanguard submarines which carry these nuclear missiles. Now, if this
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: is true, then of course it would be deeply worrying
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: if somebody knows precisely where they are. The devices have
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: been characterized, incidentally, that effectively they could well be part
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: of what's called a hybrid or gray zone war that
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin might be plotting, in other words, doing damage
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to infrastructure assets as well, like energy pipelines could be
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: being mapped. So in an interview with the Russian ambassador
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to the UK today, he was asked straight out, has
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: this been happening? Have you been tracking British submarines And
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: he said, well, I'm not going to deny it, but
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I wonder they really have an interest in following the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: British submarines because they're very old, outdated nuclear warheads and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: these threats are extremely exaggerated, and then said, Russia poses
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: no threat to the UK. Well, I'm afraid at the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: moment that isn't the UK's assessment of the relationship with Russia.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: All Right, to Scotland we go and they're having a
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: fery fiesco much like New Zealand.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I gather that you two have had this perhaps the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: same people have been advising one another. This is about
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the daily journey on a ferry from the mainland of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Scotland mainland of the UK to the Isle of Aaron. Now,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: believe it or not, these ferries were replacing a thirty
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: year old service, a thirty year old ferry that was
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: really getting out of date and becoming unreliable. So they
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: ordered them and they were supposed to come into service
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. Only one has so far come into service,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: in other words, seven years late. The other still isn't ready.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: The original cost was two hundred million New Zealand dollars,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: it's now eight hundred million New Zealand dollars. And wait
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: for it, they're too big to fit in the port
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: that they were supposed to dock at on the island.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You couldn't make it up if you tried. In the meantime,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: it looks like they're going to divert the services to
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the coastal town or Truon, famous for golf. But guess
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: what it now looks like. The Scottish government, in one
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: of the biggest mismanagements ever I think, is now thinking
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: it might buy the original port that is too small
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: for the boats and upgraded with a rough one hundred
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and seventy million pound investment. Honestly, Andrew, you couldn't.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Make it up, Yes you can't. Exactly the same as here.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: We bought two fairies that were too big. We couldn't
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: afford to do the port work and yeah, you can
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: write it, David, and I thank you so much. Gavin
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Gray out of the UK.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:15
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• 3:18
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