The story of a Russian deserter

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie introduces dispatches on Russia, Germany, Hong Kong, India and Sweden.

A Russian soldier who once responsible for guarding Russia's nuclear weapons reveals why he fled the army. In a secret meeting, at an undisclosed location, he tells Will Vernon what he makes of President Vladimir Putin's threats towards the West.

Earlier this month German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s argumentative three-way governing coalition collapsed, triggering snap elections in February. Damien McGuinness ponders what Berlin's Christmas lights can tell us about the political mood in the country.

In Hong Kong, Danny Vincent reports from inside the courtroom where the pro-democracy media mogul, Jimmy Lai, is on trial. Mr Lai is already serving a prison sentence following a separate trial for his involvement in pro-democracy protests in 2019. Since then, China has imposed a sweeping national security law which many fear is being used to dismantle and chill all political opposition.

In Rajasthan, in India, there are efforts underway to rewild vast tracts of degraded land back to its natural state. In one area of Jawai, work has been undertaken to create a wildlife corridor for migrating wildlife. Michelle Jana Chan goes on the trail of a local leopard and her young cubs.

Every home in Sweden recently received updated advice on what to do in the event of war. This isn’t new to Swedes – but the guidance has been updated because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and ongoing concern that war could escalate across Europe. Miranda Colchester has been gauging public reaction in the Swedish capital.

Series producer: Serena Tarling Production coordinators: Katie Morrison & Sophie Hill Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, today in Germany, we look for clues amid the Christmas lights to gauge the public mood ahead of next year's snap election.
0:14.3	Media freedoms in the dock in Hong Kong. We're inside the courtroom for the trial of rebel newspaper owner Jimmy Lai.
0:23.0	In Rajasthan, we're on the trail of a leopard and her young cubs in a vast rewilding project.
0:29.6	And in Sweden, we find a typically Scandinavian response to the government's call to prepare for war.
0:37.4	But first, Russia's nuclear threat has recently come back into focus. to the government's call to prepare for war.
0:41.9	But first, Russia's nuclear threat has recently come back into focus after Vladimir Putin moved to change the country's nuclear doctrine,
0:46.5	setting out new conditions under which he would consider using its arsenal.
0:51.4	Then, following the decision by the UK, US and France, to give Ukraine the green light
0:57.0	to use their long-range missiles, Moscow responded by using a hypersonic missile for the first time
1:03.7	in an attack against the city of Denepro. But just how much should we read into President Putin's threats to the West? Will Vernon recently met a Russian deserter whose role was to guard the country's nuclear arsenal before he made his escape.
1:20.6	I haven't told my family where I'm going, all my friends, and most of my BBC colleagues don't know either. It's a country
1:29.4	outside Russia, but I can't tell you where. That's because the person I'm going to meet is in hiding.
1:36.3	The man, whom we're calling Anton, says Russian intelligence agents would kill him if they found out
1:42.3	where he is. So we're not revealing his identity or where he's currently living.
1:47.0	I meet Anton outside the main train station in the capital city.
1:52.0	His eyes dart around nervously as he greets me.
1:56.0	But he tells me he wants to talk, and as we trudge through the streets,
2:00.0	he begins to reveal details
2:02.3	of his military service at a top-secret nuclear weapons base in Russia.
2:07.5	He says the facility was tightly controlled, and everyone who served there was subject
2:12.2	to regular checks and lie detector tests.
2:15.3	If you wanted your parents to visit, he says, you had to submit a request
	...

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