Is the West at War with Russia?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2018
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There’s talk of a new Cold War between Russia and the West. What responsibility does the West carry for the dismal state of relations?
Russian leaders say Nato has expanded far beyond the borders that were agreed when the Soviet Union collapsed and a new European order was thrashed out. They see troops and hardware stationed close to their towns and cities as highly provocative. America and the EU are seen as meddling in the internal affairs of Russia and the states surrounding it by funding pro-democracy movements and helping to topple regimes. And a new arms race is underway. Russian military leaders perceive an active threat from the West – are they right?
The previous edition was: Is Russia At War With The West?
Presenter: Kavita Puri Producer: Lucy Proctor
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me, Kavita Puri. |
| 0:08.0 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:14.0 | It's summer 1989, |
| 0:20.0 | Anastasia is at secondary school in a small town in the south of Russia. |
| 0:25.0 | It's the day the American exchange students are arriving. |
| 0:30.0 | She watches them from a distance as they approach in their jeans and colourful skirts. |
| 0:37.0 | They look so cool. |
| 0:40.0 | Free. |
| 0:42.0 | She wants to hang out with them, date them. |
| 0:45.0 | Talk about vanilla ice lyrics. |
| 0:47.0 | Are these really our enemies, she thinks? |
| 0:52.0 | Nearly 20 years on, the Cold War has long ended, though many wonder if we're sinking into a new one. |
| 1:00.0 | Last week we explored if Russia was at war with the West. This week we ask, is the West at |
| 1:06.8 | war with Russia? Part 1, Broken Trust. trust. Security Archive will love reading documents. |
| 1:32.8 | That's just my idea of great time. |
| 1:37.8 | Dr. Svetlana Severanska is an academic at George Washington University in the United States. |
| 1:44.0 | She spends her time pouring over records held in the National Archives of both America and |
| 1:49.5 | Russia looking at the years around the end of the Soviet Union. |
| 1:54.0 | Once the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, |
| 2:00.0 | discussions on German reunification |
| 2:02.0 | soon turned to what the future of Europe would look like. |
| 2:06.0 | His friends have come to West Wales and West foreigners can go to East from the South East. |
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