Saturday Matinee: The History Bureau
History Daily
History Daily
4.4 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 January 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s Saturday Matinee, presenter Helena Merriman returns to one of the most contested- and consequential- stories in modern Russia.
- Link to The History Bureau: https://www.bbc.com/audio/brand/m002q5dk
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. |
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| 0:27.6 | this podcast. Indeed.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, do it the right way |
| 0:34.4 | with Indeed. |
| 0:44.0 | Yeah. do it the right way with Indeed. Violence and fear have been tools of unscrupulous politicians since the very beginning. |
| 0:49.7 | If your objective is power at all costs, then it's not hard to be willing to intimidate, frighten, |
| 0:55.9 | injure, or even kill if it gets you what you want. The unfortunate fact about these tactics is that |
| 1:01.6 | they work, at least in the short term. If you need to truly distract the public, give them something |
| 1:06.8 | to fear. If you want to be hailed as a hero, defeat an enemy of your own creation. |
| 1:11.9 | If you want people to band together, give them a scapegoat to hate. |
| 1:16.7 | In September 1999, only weeks after Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister, |
| 1:22.1 | four bombs exploded in apartment buildings across Russia, killing hundreds and plunging the |
| 1:27.2 | country into panic. |
| 1:28.7 | But who did it? There are several theories. But one fact is clear. Vladimir Putin used the |
| 1:34.8 | bombings as justification to go to war with Chechnya. On today's Saturday matinee, we're |
| 1:40.5 | bringing you the first episode of a new series from the BBC, the History Bureau, in which host |
| 1:45.8 | Helena Merriman returns to this mystery, one of the most contested and consequential stories in |
| 1:51.0 | modern Russia. I hope you enjoy. While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow |
| 1:55.9 | the History Bureau. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you. |
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