The Interview

Iran’s rocky relations with the West have cost a host of individuals their freedom. The Islamic republic has imprisoned citizens from the US, Britain and a number of other countries for spying. The charges may be trumped up, but Tehran’s determination to use western prisoners for political purposes is very real. Stephen Sackur speaks to Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was released fro...

Comedy challenges taste and convention, and it can arouse strong reactions, as we saw at this year’s Oscars when a joke earned Chris Rock a slap in the face from Will Smith. Stephen Sackur speaks to Omid Djalili, who has spent more than 25 years finding laughs in sometimes unlikely places. He was born in London to Iranian parents, and has thrived as a cross-cultural comedic chameleon. Is it possib...

Zeinab Badawi is in Nairobi to talk to one of Kenya’s most ground-breaking cultural figures, Dr Njoki Ngumi. She abandoned a promising career in medicine to help set up an arts collective, and believes that creative endeavours can help transform societies. One of the collective’s films exploring homosexuality was banned in Kenya, where gay sex is a crime. So how far is Njoki Ngumi shifting opinion...

What will it take to end the war Vladimir Putin has initiated in Ukraine? In military terms, Russia now seems intent on a grim campaign of attrition in the east and south - a strategy which is already taking a terrible human toll. Could economic isolation inflict enough pain to force the Kremlin to reconsider? Stephen Sackur speaks to the exiled Russian economist Sergei Guriev. Is Moscow outmanoeu...

While the West says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must fail, China holds back. Stephen Sackur speaks to a top diplomat from Taiwan, Taipei’s representative to the EU, Tsai Ming-yen. Could Putin’s strategy be a template for Beijing to follow in territory it still claims as its own, namely Taiwan?

Stephen Sackur interviews former Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin, who was fired from his F1 team after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He and his billionaire oligarch father now face EU and UK sanctions. What kind of impact will sporting isolation have on Russia? (Photo: Nikita Mazepin appears on Hardtalk via videolink)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Horrifying evidence of atrocities has emerged from towns around Kyiv recently vacated by Russian troops. Ukraine calls it Putin’s genocide, Moscow says it’s fake. As the war turns ever darker, is diplomacy at a dead end? (Photo: Dmytro Kuleba appears on Hardtalk via videolink from Warsaw)

Haiti is one of the world’s most broken nations, and internal fractures are tearing the country apart. Last summer, the president was assassinated, and the perpetrators still haven’t been brought to justice. Elections have been shelved, and Haitians live in grinding poverty amid gang violence and international indifference. Stephen Sackur speaks to Claude Joseph, Haiti’s former foreign minister an...

Stephen Sackur speaks to Maria Butina, a pro-Putin member of Russia’s state Duma. Where does Vladimir Putin’s self-styled 'special military operation' in Ukraine go from here? He expected Kyiv to fall quickly; it didn’t. Ukraine’s determination to resist hasn’t crumbled, despite the terrible human cost. Russian losses mount, and its economy is hurting. In the invasion’s second month, what do Russi...

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine united the EU in shock and outrage. But four weeks into the war, with Ukrainian cities besieged and civilians suffering unimaginable horrors, cracks are already evident in the European response. Stephen Sackur speaks to the EU Commissioner for Financial Services, Mairead McGuinness. How far should sanctions go? Solidarity with Ukraine is one thing, but is the E...

Gabriel Gatehouse speaks to Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the Russian parliament who is fighting in Ukraine – against Russia. Ponomarev has long said he wants to bring down Vladimir Putin, but was once on the Russian government payroll. He has had his feet in many camps: among the Russian elites, inside the popular opposition, and now with Ukraine’s defence forces. What will the repercussions...

Sarah Montague speaks to the renowned US political scientist Francis Fukuyama. Thirty years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed and communist governments fell across Eastern Europe. Liberal democracy appeared to have won the Cold War and triumphed in the battle of ideas. Dr Fukuyama posed a question – if humanity had arrived at the most effective form of government, were we at the end of history? In t...

Russia has launched its most deadly attack on western Ukraine so far, striking a military base just 15 kilometres from the Polish border. This is being seen as a warning to Nato that, in supplying weapons to Ukraine through Poland, it risks an escalation of the war. Zeinab Badawi speaks to the senior British Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee...

Europe's dependence on Russian energy sits uneasily with Putin’s war in Ukraine. Moscow is financing its invasion through revenues from such exports. One EU leader has said Russian oil and gas is being bought with the blood of the Ukrainian people. Zeinab Badawi speaks to Norway’s Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre. Norway is one of the world’s biggest oil and gas exporters. What can it do to help e...

Europe's dependence on Russian energy sits uneasily with Putin’s war in Ukraine. Moscow is financing its invasion through revenues from such exports. One EU leader has said Russian oil and gas is being bought with the blood of the Ukrainian people. Zeinab Badawi speaks to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Norway is one of the world’s biggest oil and gas exporters. What can it do to help ea...

With the world focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s easy to overlook one other key element of Vladimir Putin’s Greater Russia strategy: Moscow’s ever tighter grip on Ukraine’s northern neighbour Belarus, now used as a launchpad for the Ukraine assault. Belarus’s authoritarian President Lukashenko seems to be in Putin’s pocket, whether he likes it or not. Stephen Sackur speaks to the exile...

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine represents the biggest seismic shock to European security since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The US, NATO allies and the EU are now arming the Ukrainian government. Stephen Sackur speaks to Michael Carpenter, US Ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Are we in a new age of conflict, and will Russia's invasion of Ukraine lead...

Stephen Sackur speaks to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Russia’s invasion hasn’t delivered Moscow a quick decisive victory, but it is taking a terrible toll on Ukraine. How realistic is Kyiv’s insistence that this is a war they’ll ultimately win?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov. He was born in Russia, writes in Russian and now fears for his life at the hands of Russian troops. What does his personal story tell us about Moscow’s attempt to undermine Ukraine’s independence and identity?

Stephen Sackur speaks to David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee and former British foreign secretary. Hour by hour Vladimir Putin intensifies the scale and violence of the Russian military assault on Ukraine. Civilian buildings hit by rocket fire, towns and cities encircled, and the capital Kyiv now facing a vast build-up of Russian firepower. Is the West doing enough in r...

Stephen Sackur speaks to the renowned Hungarian conductor and composer Iván Fischer. Much of the world is transitioning from locking down to living with Covid-19. And that means cultural life is returning to cities like London. Performers can return to the stage, audiences can gather again. After the pandemic, how easy is it to find the magic in music-making? (Photo: Iván Fischer)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Leonid Volkov, a prominent figure in Russia’s anti-Putin opposition. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine represents a gamble by the Kremlin - projecting regional supremacy will come at a high price. Just how strong is the president’s grip on Russia?

Colombians will elect a new President this year, and amid a crowded field, one candidate has reason to view the coming campaign with mixed emotion. Ingrid Betancourt was running for president 20 years ago when she was captured by Farc guerrillas and held captive in the jungle for more than six years. Colombia’s guerrilla war is over, and now she’s running again, promising a war on corruption. She...

Early last year American democracy came under attack from within. Supporters of defeated President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and provoked deadly violence. Stephen Sackur speaks to the Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin, a key player in the subsequent impeachment of Trump and the Congressional investigation into the 6 January assault. All this, as Congressman Raskin has faced up to persona...

Russia and Ukraine have powerful ties of geography, history and energy. And when it comes to the geopolitics of the current crisis energy is a key factor. Ukraine has long profited from being the middle-man for Russian gas exports into Europe. Moscow is in the business of changing that reality. Stephen Sackur speaks to Yuri Vitrenko, CEO of Naftogaz, Ukraine's biggest energy company. As Kiev and M...