After a major national security investigation into Moscow’s espionage efforts, Great Britain unmasked an alleged Russian spy ring. Three Bulgarian nationals suspected of working for Russian security services were charged with possessing numerous forged identification documents. On this week’s bonus episode, Julia Macfarlane asks her co-host and former MI6 Ch ... Show More
Jul 16
Ukraine: Economic Powerhouse (ft Chrystia Freeland), PM Burnham, Iran Stalemate, China's PLA Shakeup
In recent months of the war, Ukraine has managed to hold its front lines and bring war to regular Russians via attacks on infrastructure. That’s why Economic Advisor to the President of Ukraine Chrystia Freeland believes Ukraine has flipped the narrative from being the virtuous v ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 9
World Cup Geopolitics (ft. Simon Kuper), Trump’s Spy List, Burnham’s Devolution, Nord Stream Case
Football can be geopolitics by other means. Financial Times Journalist Simon Kuper has covered every World Cup since 1990. This week, he joins Sir Richard Dearlove and guest co-host Baroness Ayesha Hazarika to unpack how football and geopolitics collide. Kuper explains why he thi ... Show More
1h 8m
Jul 2
NATO Summit Preview (ft. Julianne Smith and Wess Mitchell), Five Eyes on China, Iran Talks Stall
President Donald Trump has continued his pressure campaign on European defense spending. But in the lead-up to the next NATO Summit, there is another core question to ask: How is Europe coordinating its defense production? This might be the key issue that determines how Trump's p ... Show More
1h 10m
Mar 2024
67. A Tale of Two Spies: The former heads of MI5 and MI6 on the Iraq War, double agents, and the IRA
Should spies be allowed to break the law while undercover? What should the relationship between government and intelligence look like? Do we overestimate or underestimate the power and reach of Russia’s FSB and China’s intelligence service?
On today’s special episode of Leading, ... Show More
1h 11m
Feb 2024
‘Russian spy in MI6’: the Afghan connection
An alleged Russian spy was an Afghan refugee who had worked his way into the British Foreign Office. According to court documents, he had met two Prime Ministers, the King and Prince William during the course of his work. The man, known only as ‘C2’ denies all the allegations.Thi ... Show More
21m 25s
Aug 2023
The Death of Yevgeny Prigozhin: A Foreign Office Special Episode
On this special episode of Foreign Office, Michael is joined by Roman Dobrokhotov, a Russian investigative journalist, political scientist and former activist and Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian investigative journalist and author and the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, foc ... Show More
54m 44s
Sep 2024
Caught in the Crossfire: Infighting and Treason in Russia’s Cyber World
On Dec. 5, 2016, two senior Russian Intelligence officers and two civilians were arrested and accused of treason. A few weeks later, when Western journalists were finally able to speak with the men’s lawyers, they learned that the case was based on events that were, oddly enough, ... Show More
26m 18s