The Big Putin, Xi and Kim Jong Un Meeting

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, we look ahead to the unprecedented meeting between Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un happening on Wednesday, the first time the three of them have ever met in public.

It’s happening off the back of a summit in China, where Beijing hosted leaders from over 20 non-Western countries. Why are they meeting and what does it mean for the West? James speaks to BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale, and geopolitical analyst Sophie Gaston from King’s College.

James also speaks to BBC Scotland social affairs correspondent Chris Clements about the number of drug deaths in Scotland remaining highest in Europe, despite falling in comparison to last year.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a whatsapp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1 Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by James Cook. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Anna Harris and Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producers were Sophie Millward and Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:04.8	Hello, so alongside standing in for Adam on occasion to host newscasts, my main job, actual job,
0:10.6	is being Scotland editor for BBC News.
0:13.2	And in the second half of this pod, we're going to be talking about something I've been covering for years,
0:18.1	and that is Scotland's record high levels compared to the rest of Europe, of drug deaths, and I've been covering for years, and that is Scotland's record high levels compared to the rest
0:22.5	of Europe, of drug deaths.
0:24.1	And I've been spending the past few weeks trying to get right to the bottom of why Scotland.
0:29.4	But first, we're going to talk about a pretty remarkable set of meetings and public appearances,
0:34.3	which are happening a long way away from here in China between between Vladimir Putin, President Xi and Kim Jong-un.
0:41.6	And that's what we're going to discuss on this episode of Newscast.
0:44.9	Newscast from the BBC.
0:47.3	Fat boy sliver me in the classroom doing our violin lessons.
0:50.2	I was the tappletail in the class.
0:51.5	Got I have an apology, please.
0:52.8	I trust almost nobody. Then daddy has to sometimes do strong language. Next time in Moscow. I feel delulu with no salulu. Take me down to Downey Street. Let's go have a tour. Blimey. Hello, it's James in Glasgow. And it's James in London. And we're joined by Sophia Gaston, who is a research fellow at King's College, London.
1:13.5	Hello, Sophia.
1:14.4	Thanks for having me.
1:15.9	You're welcome.
1:16.7	It's always nice to speak to you.
1:17.8	Now, I'm going to start by describing a picture to you badly, I would suggest.
1:22.9	This picture shows Russia's Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping of China sitting around a very, very large, circular table.
1:36.2	They're quite a long way from each other.
	...

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