logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2024
25m 17s

Alexei Navalny: The death of Putin’s big...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Russia's most significant opposition leader for the past decade, Alexei Navalny, has died in an Arctic Circle jail, the prison service has said. What does that mean for the future of Russia, its opposition movement and its leader, Vladimir Putin?

In this special episode of The Global Story, Gabriel Gatehouse speaks to the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, Olga Ivshina from the BBC's Russian Service, and Francis Scarr, who covers Russian media for BBC Monitoring.

The Global Story brings you trusted insights from BBC experts around the world. We’re keen to hear from you, wherever you are in the world. #TheGlobalStory We want your ideas, stories and experiences to help us understand and tell The Global Story. Email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com You can also message us or leave a voice note on WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.

Today’s podcast was made by Peter Goffin and Miriam Quayyum. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Sergi Forcada Freixas and the senior news editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.

Up next
Nov 21
Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?
<p>The US is essentially boycotting this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa over accusations that the white Afrikaners are ‘being killed and slaughtered’ and that white farmers are having their land ‘illegally confiscated. The South African government say the claims are "widely ... Show More
31m 37s
Nov 20
What is Sudan’s war really about?
<p>** This episode contains some very distressing details, including of killings, sexual violence and the experiences of children in war** </p><p>More than 150,000 people have been killed and about 12 million have been forced from their homes since Sudan's civil war began in 2023 ... Show More
26m 37s
Nov 19
The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal
<p>The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. </p><p>Some of those who saw Pearlman operate in Kyoto, where the first legally bin ... Show More
26m 38s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
Why the world needs to understand Russia
What do the Russian people really think about the war?Former Russian diplomat, Alexander Baukov, and Russia expert, Dr Jade McGlynn, talk through how the war could end. And we get the latest from the frontline in the Donbass with BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale.Today’s e ... Show More
32m 56s
May 2022
Putin's parade
Putin tells his troops they are fighting for their motherland. Former Russian MP Sergei Markov and advisor to Vladimir Putin gives the Kremlin’s point of view on the day his country celebrates victory at the end of the Second World War, against the backdrop of the ongoing war in ... Show More
29m 18s
Dec 2022
Putin and Biden: Will they talk?
The BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, gives us her take on whether President Biden’s offer to talk may offer a moment for diplomacy, despite an apparent rebuff from Vladimir Putin. A former US marine who heads up the Mozart Group, an unarmed private military c ... Show More
29m 46s
Jul 2023
The Ukrainian spymaster who Putin wants dead
Major-General Kyrylo Budanov is the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence - the 37-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise to become the country's youngest head of the organisation. Russia believes that he is lying in a coma in Germany following a missile strike on his headquarter ... Show More
31m 55s
Sep 2022
Who is still friends with Putin?
On the day when most of the world’s leaders and officials are gathering in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, President Putin is notable by his absence. He is one of only six heads of state who was not invited. Also, at a summit in Uzbekistan, Putin faced concerns by t ... Show More
34m 57s
Feb 2024
Who is left to oppose Putin now?
Alexei Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russia’s government, has died in a Russian prison, just months after he was placed in a high security cell in a remote Siberian penal colony. His allies, and his wife Yulia Navalnaya, blame President Vladimir Putin and say it was under ... Show More
15m 35s
Feb 2024
Two Years On: Banned from challenging Putin
Russia's election commission has disqualified anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin from standing as a candidate in next month's presidential vote.He joins Victoria and Vitaly to discuss why he was barred, why he won’t stop campaigning for peace and his vow to follow in the footste ... Show More
21m 3s
Aug 2023
Prigozhin Plane Crash: What Next for Putin?
Does the Wagner chief’s reported death strengthen the Russian president?Lyse, Vitaly and journalist Gabriel Gatehouse unpick the latest developments surrounding Wednesday's plane crash, and the presumed death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group.And Kre ... Show More
26m 46s
Mar 2024
Another Take: Will Vladimir Putin go nuclear?
<p>Every Saturday, we revisit a story that’s in the news again. </p> <p>Russia’s President Vladimir Putin seems set to win his fifth term as president as voters head to the polls this weekend. Days before the voting began, Putin confirmed that Russia was prepared for nuclear war. ... Show More
21m 53s
Feb 2024
Putin’s Opposition Ponders a Future Without Aleksei Navalny
<p>Last week, the Russian authorities announced that Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and an unflinching critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, had died in a remote Arctic prison at the age of 47.</p><p>Yevgenia Albats, his friend, discusses how Mr. N ... Show More
31m 31s