Hello, my name's David Rundsenman and this is Talking Politics.

Today we're talking about Russia with Bridget Kendall, who was the BBC's correspondent in Moscow.

And she's one of the few people who's actually sat down with Vladimir Putin and looked him in the eye.

What did she see looking back?

Talking Politics is brought to you in partnership with the London Review of Books,

Europe's leading magazine of books and ideas. We've already had some LRB writers on this

podcast and we'll have some more soon. There's a reading list of pieces to accompany

the podcast at lrb.co.com.uk forward slash talking, along with a special subscription offer for

talking politics listeners. 12 issues of fearless, expansive, elegant writing for just 12 pounds.

We went to talk to Bridget Kendall at the end of last week.

So this was just after Theresa May had announced

that she was expelling the 23 Russian diplomats

before we got Putin's response.

And a little later, I'm going to catch up with Helen

so that we can bring the story a bit more up to date

and talk a little bit about Corbyn's response as well. I went with Aaron Rapport to talk to Bridget Kendall in her

office, which is in the Masters Lodge in Peterhouse, the oldest college in Cambridge. It's a beautiful

office. It's kind of on the street. So you might hear some traffic noise to start with, though

that does fade away. And then about

halfway through a sinister group of seagulls arrived, Helen tells me that that was a sign that the

weather was about to get worse. And that's how it works in Brockwell Park. I can't remember if it

happened in Cambridge or not. If you can stick it out, pass the traffic, past the seagulls,

...