Original subtitles

Hello, and welcome to Global Eye from the BBC World Service.

Over the next half hour, we'll be bringing you our very best

in investigative journalism and reportage.

I'm Katya Adler, the BBC's Europe editor,

and I'm in Greenland to take a look at why Donald Trump is so keen

to take control over this remote Arctic island.

The US President's threat to take Greenland by force has subsided

for now, though the details of a deal still need to be negotiated.

Is the row another sign that the transatlantic alliance

that's defined geopolitics for over a century is under threat

like never before?

Later in the programme,

we'll bring you an investigation into wide-scale abuse

by Russia and other countries of Interpol,

the body that helps police forces around the world share intelligence

and chase international fugitives.

We've been given exclusive access to leaked documents

which suggest Russia is using Interpol

to repress government critics abroad.

We also take a look at Bosnia-Herzegovina,

a country scarred by horrific war,

but where peace has held now for 30 years.

We'll look at what lessons Europe can learn

and examine the impact of past conflict

on a young generation ready to move past old divides.

Greenland is a land of extremes -

extreme cold, extreme distance from global economic centres,

and now extreme geopolitical significance.

It is an island of ice, the biggest island in the world,

though the population is pretty small here, at under 60,000.

The island was first inhabited by Norsemen in the Middle Ages,

and when they died out,

Inuit communities came here from North America.

The Danes colonised this island in the 18th century,

but since 1979, it became a semi-autonomous territory,

with Copenhagen maintaining control over Greenland's security,

defence, and foreign policy.

In World War II, Greenland became a strategic outpost

for US military bases, and it increased in importance

during the Cold War, when America and Russia faced off

against each other here in the Arctic.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, though,

Greenland faded in significance.

Its vast natural resources lay untapped

and trapped under the ice sheet here.

But now Donald Trump.

He's put Greenland back in the crosshairs of global politics.

We need Greenland for national security very badly.

If we don't have it, we have a big hole in national security.

But why? What's so special about the Arctic island?

Well, as the polar ice melts,

potential new shipping routes have opened up

which have raised the prospect of new economic opportunities

in the Arctic...

..and new military vulnerabilities.

The US, Russia, and increasingly China have been exploring

their options in the Arctic in an attempt

to exploit these new opportunities

and try to prevent others from doing so.

So Greenland, with its untapped mineral wealth now potentially

more accessible, and with its historic, economic,

and military ties to the US,

has become a tempting prize for Donald Trump.

They have a huge resource in rare earths.

They tend to have relatively higher proportion of heavy rare earths,

which are the most interesting and valuable ones.

The challenge with these rare earth deposits, however,

is the mineralogy. I mean, it doesn't mean it's impossible,

but clearly there needs to be done some research.

Donald Trump insists there's no economic motive

for his need for Greenland, though.

There's so much rare earth. And this, to get to this rare earth,

you've got to go through hundreds of feet of ice.

That's not the reason we need it.

We need it for strategic national security and international security.

This is consistent with a new doctrine in foreign policy

that's come to define Donald Trump's second term in office.

The US President believes that America should be able

to influence what's going on in its own back yard,

its sphere of influence, if you like.

And that's what led to the Trump administration's military operation

in Venezuela and threatening of Cuba,

of Mexico, and of Greenland,

which politically is part of Europe as part of Denmark,

but geographically is in North America.

This new doctrine is a total rejection

of the cooperative global order that came into being

after World War II and that's symbolised by the United Nations,

for example, or NATO.

And it has really worried America's traditional allies.

It seems that every day

we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry,

that the rules-based order is fading,

that the strong can do what they can,

and the weak must suffer what they must.

So is the Atlantic alliance in trouble?

It's certainly being tested like never before.

Donald Trump's attitude to international relations differs

from that of his predecessors going back over a century.

But although there is a powerful strain of American isolationism

within the Republican Party,

there are many powerful figures in Trump's circle

who wish to maintain a strong alliance with Europe.

After the symbolic deployment of a handful of European troops

to Greenland recently, and threats and counter threats

of steep tariffs on transatlantic trade,

a deal is now being worked on to agree an increased US presence

on the island.

It's a great deal for everybody.

Is it possible that Donald Trump's sabre rattling

was all just a bit of Trumpian deal making?

But the row following on from previous transatlantic disagreements

over Ukraine, tariffs, NATO, and Russian expansionism,

has delivered yet another blow to the alliance.

Donald Trump won't be President forever.

Europe's leaders are hoping the post-World War II order

isn't gone for good, though, in this evolving world

of big power politics, with the US, China, Russia,

India, and more jostling with one another on the global stage,

it's hard to see how Europe-US relations go back

to what they were before.

Now to an exclusive investigation. For around 100 years,

Interpol has helped countries track criminals around the world.

Its strengths lie in sharing information

and triggering alerts that can lead to arrests across borders.

But BBC Eye has received leaks of files from within the organisation

suggesting large-scale abuse of its systems by autocratic regimes

like Russia.

With the war raging in Ukraine,

allegations are being made that Interpol's information

is being used to carry out repression beyond Russia's borders.

SINGING

Eugene Lavrenchuk is a renowned Ukrainian director

who ran a theatre company in Moscow until 2014.

A few years after leaving Russia,

he found himself on Interpol's wanted list.

At the end of 2021, during what seemed like a routine business trip,

Eugene was taken into custody.

Eugene was arrested

under what's known as an Interpol wanted diffusion.

It's a request from one country to another to detain an individual.

Russia accused him of multiple counts of fraud

and said that he was on the run.

Russia alleged that Eugene had encouraged students

to take out loans to help pay for repairs to his theatre.

It said these loans had not been repaid.

Eugene believes the charges were a ruse, cover for his persecution.

Within three weeks of his arrest,

Interpol cancelled the diffusion notice against Eugene,

but Russia then submitted a formal extradition request to Italy,

keeping him behind bars.

Three months later, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine,

Italy's Court of Appeals ordered Eugene's release.

It's hard to tell which cases are genuine

and which target innocent people.

Like Italy, Interpol didn't take a view

on the criminal case against Eugene,

but cancelled Russia's request because of doubts raised

over whether it was politically motivated.

Why did Interpol feel that it couldn't trust Russia?

Interpol aren't the global police.

Instead, they act as a go-between for police forces,

like a giant messaging system.

A country has different ways to target someone through Interpol.

It can issue a red diffusion, like the one for Eugene.

This is sent directly between individual countries

and asks them to locate and provisionally arrest a person.

It can also ask Interpol to publish what is known as a red notice,

alerting all member states to do the same.

Interpol has multiple safeguards to prevent abuse of its system.

One of these is the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files,

known as the CCF.

It's an independent body within Interpol

which reviews complaints from those already subject

to notices or diffusions, to decide if they're legitimate.

But critics warn that even with these measures,

cases still slip through,

and some countries use Interpol to target journalists, activists

and people caught in business disputes.

For years, Interpol has been accused of being opaque,

only releasing the most basic data

about its red notices and diffusions.

But now, for the first time, someone from inside the organisation

has decided to provide evidence of how Interpol works

and which countries are misusing its systems.

We disguised their voice and identity.

I've been working for Interpol for quite a while now.

I won't say where.

They claim to be transparent, but that's just not true.

Everything is on a need-to-know basis,

which sometimes is a bit ridiculous, because it creates problems.

For over a year, the BBC has been working

with journalists at the French outlet Disclose.

There you go.

The source approached us with the documents

after seeing how little transparency there was

inside the organisation.

There are statistics that are provided internally,

and they have an idea.

That's why they put countries under restrictions -

to prevent misuse.

Interpol can impose corrective measures on countries,

adding extra checks to their red notices and diffusions.

This isn't usually made public, but in March 2022,

Interpol confirmed Russia was under such restrictions

because of the war in Ukraine.

I think they want to stay neutral. They say, "We don't do politics,

"we don't put countries in the spotlight."

I think in the case of Russia, they also didn't want to say,

but they felt they just had to.

The source gave us a list of complaints

from those on Interpol's wanted list that had been reviewed by the CCF.

Where the issuing country is known,

Russia has the highest number of complaints

about its red notices and diffusions.

This has been the case for the last 11 years.

And Russia also tops the list

for red notices and diffusions overturned.

Over half are subsequently cancelled for breaking Interpol rules.

The BBC tracked down some of the individuals on the list.

People who have been targeted

by Russian red notices and diffusions

which were later found to have breached Interpol's rules.

Individuals like Igor Pestrikov,

a Russian businessman now living in exile in the south of France.

Igor was once a major shareholder

in Russia's rare earth metal industry.

In the months leading up to the invasion of Ukraine,

Igor says he was asked to stop selling abroad

and supply only the Russian market.

He knew this meant his products could end up

in military hardware.

Igor says his refusal and the fact that he had a Ukrainian wife

led to his companies being nationalised,

and to him being investigated for financial crimes.

He fled Russia in 2022 and applied for asylum in France.

Despite being in France,

Igor worried he could still be a target.

He contacted Interpol and was told

that Moscow had issued a red diffusion against him.

This was despite the organisation announcing

there would be tougher checks on Russia

following the invasion of Ukraine.

He decided to challenge the diffusion through the CCF,

arguing it was politically motivated.

In spring 2024,

after spending almost two years on the wanted list,

the CCF ruled Igor's case was predominantly political.

They said that the information provided by Russia

was generic and formulaic,

and there had been an inadequate explanation of the alleged crime.

Although the diffusion had been lifted,

Igor says being on the wanted list had turned his life upside down.

So, does Interpol realise it has a problem?

Publicly, it says that the checks and balances

introduced over the years have solved many issues.

But the BBC has obtained another batch of documents

which includes confidential memos and emails

between executive bodies within Interpol.

These include reports showing statistics

for how many Russian notices and diffusions

passed initial checks in 2024.

Despite stricter checks on Russia,

Interpol initially approved approximately 90% of its requests.

And yet the reports show that when the CCF were reviewing complaints

about Russia's requests,

they were still overturning roughly half for breaking the rules.

One also notes that Interpol has expressed to Russia serious concerns

about the wilful misuse of Interpol systems,

stating that there were instances of flagrant violations of its rules.

So what is Interpol's response, after years of abuse by Russia

and the failure of its safeguards to stop it?

In a surprising move, our source told us there's evidence

that Interpol has weakened some of its restrictions against Russia.

I was surprised when I learned

that it had been casually announced in a team meeting.

I later found out that it likely happened months ago.

Again, it's just a total lack of transparency.

In response to our investigation, Interpol said...

This week on the World Service,

BBC Persian has continued to track and report on the protests

that broke out in Iran last month.

It's incredibly difficult to report on the country

and to verify the scarce videos

that are able to be seen by the world.

Here's Ghoncheh Habibiazad, a reporter from BBC Persian,

to tell us more about how she and her team have been

bringing Iranian stories to a global audience.

BBC Persian journalists like me face serious threats

from Iranian Authorities that can go beyond Iran's borders.

Our families in Iran have been subjected

to ongoing intimidation and pressure.

We are not permitted to report from inside Iran,

so we rely on materials sent to us directly by Iranians,

as well as monitoring social media.

The continuing internet blackout in Iran

means less new material is being shared.

The 8th and 9th of January saw exceptionally large crowds

flood the streets across the country.

This followed a call for nationwide protests by Reza Pahlavi,

the exiled son of the late Shah.

Iran's streets were set alight during clashes with security forces,

with protesters chanting slogans against the Supreme Leader

and the Islamic Republic.

For verification, we need to check videos to see when they were filmed.

To verify these videos, I carried out reverse image searches

to make sure that they are new,

as sometimes old footage is reposted

claiming to show something happening now.

I also look for things like banners

and the names of the shops written in Persian,

so that I can check resources like Google Maps

to make sure that they were filmed in the location claimed.

We are trying to gather tributes to the dead being posted

on social media, as well as videos of funerals being held

for those killed during the protests.

But this has also become very difficult.

I have also worked with BBC Verify during these protests.

Recently, we analysed a leak of 392 photos

and were able to identify 326 victims.

Now to Bosnia-Herzegovina,

a country once torn apart by war and ethnic strife.

But remarkably, peace has endured there now for three decades.

Grigor Atanesian, from the BBC Russian Service,

has been to Bosnia to hear from a new generation

determined to look beyond the divisions of the past.

This is the road to Banja Luka,

the administrative and political centre of Republika Srpska,

an autonomous ethnic Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Every year, people here come together

to celebrate Serb culture and history...

..and to remember their heroes.

Among them is a familiar and notorious face.

Ratko Mladic is an ethnic Serb general

now serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity

during the Bosnian War in the early 1990s.

It was a brutal conflict that tore this region apart.

Ethnic Serbs fought against Bosniaks and Croats.

More than 100,000 people were killed

and another two million, about half the population, were displaced.

The war ended in a 1995 peace deal negotiated by the United States.

The presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia

have reached a peace agreement to end the war in Bosnia,

to end the worst conflict in Europe since World War II.

This created modern-day Bosnia-Herzegovina,

a country with two autonomous entities -

the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

where mostly Bosniaks and Croats live,

and the ethnic Serb Republika Srpska.

The peace deal still holds to this day,

but it's deeply resented by many ethnic Serbs

and their political leaders,

who talk about breaking away from Bosnia.

Milorad Dodik is the most powerful politician in Republika Srpska

and leader of the ruling party.

But not everyone feels the same.

In Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina,

Bosniak Muslims, Serbs and Croats live side by side.

Mr Dodik is not a popular figure here in the Federation.

Ramo Isak is the Minister of the Interior

of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He opposes Dodik's plan to divide the country.

Across the country, though, many young people live outside

the ethnic divide that dominates Bosnian politics.

I love that I'm Serbian. I'm proud of it.

I love our history.

That doesn't make me someone who will hate any other kind of nation.

Nina Regoje teaches Serbian folk dance

in the town of Turnovo, not far from Sarajevo.

Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats all live together here, too.

Nina is a Serb and her friend Eldin is a Bosniak Muslim.

During the war, their fathers fought on opposite sides.

I have lost two of my uncles in the war.

And that is some kind of personal reminder to me,

what is the price of the conflict.

So many people and so many families were in such pain, in such anguish.

Someone was neighbour,

and now I have to kill him or he will kill me.

And for what? For nothing.

30 years after the war ended, Bosnia remains at peace.

And while politicians cannot agree on the country's future,

many young people are clear

that it shouldn't be defined by divisions of the past.

Republika Srpska is my homeland.

Republic of Srpska is in Bosnia, so that makes Bosnia my homeland.

And that's it.

Thanks for joining me in Greenland.

Global Eye will be back next week. Goodbye.