logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2021
22m 58s

Leonid Volkov: Protests on the streets o...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is the most resilient opponent Vladimir Putin has ever faced. Navalny survived assassination by Novichok, returned to Russia and is now in a prison cell. Stephen Sackur speaks to Navalny’s chief of staff Leonid Volkov. The opposition movement has supporters willing to take to the streets in anti-Putin protests in Russian towns and cities; but do they have a strategy capable of forcing Putin out of power?

(Photo: Leonid Volkov appears via video link on Hardtalk)

Up next
Yesterday
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel: Music has the power to unite
Music has the power to uniteMark Savage speaks to Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel about his life and career. Born in the city of Barquisimeto, he’s famous for conducting orchestras all over the world, as well as film credits that include conducting the opening and end titles ... Show More
22m 59s
Aug 25
Pete Townshend from The Who: Farewell tour doesn’t mean the end
John Wilson speaks to Pete Townshend, songwriter and guitarist of British rock band The Who about the band’s farewell tour of the US.Through his powerful stage presence and pioneering use of technology, Townshend transformed The Who from a hobby wedding band to one of the biggest ... Show More
47m 28s
Aug 19
Eliot Higgins: Algorithms don’t drive the truth
Algorithms don’t drive the truthAmol Rajan speaks to Eliot Higgins, founder of the open-source investigative organisation Bellingcat, as the world grapples with the growing threat posed by misinformation and conspiracy theories being deliberately spread online. Founded in 2014, B ... Show More
22m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2024
Putin’s Opposition Ponders a Future Without Aleksei Navalny
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.Yevgenia Albats, his friend, discusses how Mr. Navalny bec ... Show More
31m 31s
Jan 2021
Aleksei Navalny and the Future of Russia
The Russian activist Aleksei Navalny has spent years agitating against corruption, and against President Vladimir Putin. Last summer he was poisoned with a rare nerve agent linked to the Russian state. Last week, after recovering in Germany, he returned to Moscow. He was arrested ... Show More
28m 18s
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 2021
Putin vs. Navalny and the geopolitics of the Russia Protests [E201]
Russia has been headlining the past week with massive unrest, riots, the arrest of thousands due to the arrest of Navalny. Everyone is picking sides . . . but the story is far more complex that it would seem. It isn't a clear "good vs evil" story. It is more of a, "what came firs ... Show More
48m 24s
Sep 2022
Putin’s Escalation of the War in Ukraine
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.The mobilization signals that Mr. Putin is turning the war from one o ... Show More
21m 15s
Apr 2023
Putin and the People
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 the w ... Show More
37m 9s
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
Mar 2021
Why did Alexei Navalny return to Russia?
After surviving an assassination attempt, the opposition leader returned to Russia - and was immediately arrested and jailed. What does he have to gain by returning home, and can he still lead an effective campaign from prison? Charmaine Cozier asks what does President Putin have ... Show More
22m 58s
Feb 2024
Ep26. Was Alexei Navalny a Martyr for Democracy?
In the days following Navalny’s murder, Western leaders have made all too predictable speeches and issued all too predictable condemnations. But as of yet, very little concrete action has been taken to respond to the murder of Russia’s most prominent opposition politician. The We ... Show More
58m 43s
May 2022
How Putin Co-opted Russia’s Biggest Holiday
For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has taken advantage of Victory Day — when Russians commemorate the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany — to champion his country’s military might and project himself as a leader of enormous power.This year, he drew on the pageantry of May 9 for ... Show More
27m 3s