logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2018
23m 9s

Is Russia at War with the West?

Bbc World Service
About this episode

There are currently a number of serious allegations made in the West against Russia. They include the attempted murder of the former spy Sergei Skripal on British soil; interference in the 2016 US election; the hacking of the American electricity grid. To some, it feels like the West is under attack. But do any of these actions amount to war?

Olga Khovostunova, a Russian media analyst, describes the effect of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the psyche of President Putin and his close knit circle of security chiefs. For them, the threat from the West is real.

Norwegian foreign correspondent Oystein Borgen says Russia is engaged in a hybrid war with the West, in which Norway has become a little-known front line.

Lawyer Michael Schmitt, from the US Naval College, sets out how Russian security chiefs, almost certainly surrounded by a team of international law experts, operate in the grey zone of international law.

Political scientist Kimberley Marten explains how private military contractors operating in Ukraine, Libya, the Central African Republic and Syria give the Russian state plausible deniability in conflict zones.

Presenter: Kavita Puri Producer: Lucy Proctor

(Photo: Cyber warfare. Credit: Getty images)

Up next
Yesterday
Is Cyprus moving closer to reunification?
<p>The Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north after a military coup backed by Greece. Since then, the northern third has been run by a Turkish Cypriot government. This self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is ... Show More
24m 2s
Nov 18
Is the new Pope woke?
<p>Cardinal Robert Prevost made history earlier this year, when he became the first American pontiff to lead the Catholic Church. And when he stepped out onto the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV, dressed in traditional papal robes, some conservatives in the church ... Show More
23m 56s
Nov 11
Is the world ready for more climate migration?
From floods in Pakistan to droughts in the Horn of Africa, extreme weather events are already forcing millions of people to move. Most are displaced within their own countries but rising temperatures and sea levels could soon push many across national borders.Yet international la ... Show More
23m 58s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2022
Russia Unleashes War On Ukraine
For the first time since WWII, two sovereign nations are in a conventional war in Europe, in what President Biden calls an “unprovoked and unjustified attack”. Ukrainian President Zelensky condemns the Russian invasion, saying “The sound of a new iron curtain is closing between t ... Show More
43m 33s
Mar 2022
Reporting Russia’s war in Ukraine
The intensive media coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has rallied global public opinion behind Ukraine, while also resulting in accusations of Western bias.  In London, the New Statesman’s editor-in-chief, Jason Cowley, joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington, DC, t ... Show More
35m 52s
Sep 2022
Ukraine: Have we reached a turning point in the war?
Ukraine's military has retaken thousands of square kilometres of territory near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. The Russians are said to have retreated in haste and disarray, but they retaliated by shelling a large power plant, causing blackouts in Kharkiv, the country's secon ... Show More
29m 33s
Apr 2022
A win for NATO, a loss for Russia?
CNN’s Matt Rivers updates Fareed on Russia’s brutal assault on the city of Mariupol. Then, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt explains how Putin’s war in Ukraine is changing Europe’s security calculus and forcing countries like Finland and Sweden to seriously consider joini ... Show More
39m 51s
Jan 2022
US and UK escalate Russia war fever, but NATO splits over Ukraine emerge
Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate The US and UK are ramping up threats to Russia over Ukraine by sending more weapons, vowing more sanctions, and lodging evidence-free claims of a Russian plot to install a pro-Kremlin leader. But comments by Germany's ... Show More
45m 12s
Feb 2022
War in Ukraine: what is Putin’s end game?
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its second day, we bring this special episode of the World Review podcast. Ukraine is facing an onslaught from Russian forces on several fronts, with troops entering the northern districts of the capital, Kyiv. The Ukrainian presi ... Show More
20m 21s
Jan 2022
Crises at Russia’s borders, a new Czech prime minister signals West, and Trump’s hold on the Republican Party
While Russia builds troops at the border with Ukraine, Russian officials have been on a tour of Europe, meeting the US in Geneva and Nato in Brussels. Emily Tamkin in Washington, DC and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss why this round of diplomacy has once again failed to defuse tension ... Show More
22m 52s
Apr 2023
Putin and the People
<p>Even for an autocrat like Russian President Vladimir Putin, waging war depends on the acceptance—if not the support—of his people. Despite the disastrous start to his invasion of Ukraine, and with Moscow facing battlefield losses and mounting casualties, Russian approval of th ... Show More
37m 9s
Sep 2022
Putin’s Escalation of the War in Ukraine
<p>In a speech on Wednesday, President Vladimir V. Putin said that he would require hundreds of thousands more Russians to fight in Ukraine — and alarmed the West by once again raising the specter of nuclear force.</p><p>The mobilization signals that Mr. Putin is turning the war ... Show More
21m 15s
Dec 2022
Ukraine war: What we’ve learned about modern warfare
Drone strikes, like the one that damaged buildings in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Wednesday, have become commonplace in the war with Russia. While the conflict has seen violence, destruction and countless lives lost as wars do, it is a uniquely information-led war. From advances in ... Show More
16m 27s