Is Russia at War with the West?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2018
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me kavita Puri. |
| 0:06.1 | Each week one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:19.0 | A 62 year old Norwegian pensioner is in Moscow. It's December and he's visiting from Kirkcenessness a town near the Russian border. |
| 0:25.0 | The retiree is uploading a picture onto his Facebook page. |
| 0:30.0 | It's of a snow-covered red square. |
| 0:32.0 | He writes, Christmas time in Moscow as the caption. |
| 0:37.5 | Froderberg told friends he was popping over for some festive shopping, but he never made it back to Norway. |
| 0:46.0 | He's now sitting in a high security Russian jail, charged with being a spy. |
| 0:53.0 | Though many Norwegians think he's being used by the Russians as a pawn in a bigger game. |
| 1:00.0 | This case is not well known outside Norway, is just one of many examples of the |
| 1:07.8 | souring relations between Russia and the West. Higher profile charges against Moscow |
| 1:14.0 | of the attempted murder of the former spy |
| 1:16.5 | Sergei Scripple on British soil, |
| 1:19.0 | interference in the 2016 US election, |
| 1:22.0 | the hacking of the American electricity grid, the list goes on. |
| 1:28.0 | To some it feels like the West is under attack, but do any of these actions amount to war. |
| 1:39.0 | This week we're asking, is Russia at war with the West. |
| 1:45.0 | Part 1, Hybrid War. war. |
| 1:57.0 | I basically fell in love with Russia and its people when I started working there in the late 90s, but since 2013 it all changed. |
| 2:07.0 | This is Oiston Bogan, a foreign correspondent for Norwegian Independent Television TV2. |
| 2:12.8 | In 2013 he was digging into some of the negative aspects of the Sochi Olympics. |
| 2:20.3 | And it began feeling as if the Russian state was out to get me. |
... |
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