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The Story

What Putin wants

The Story

The Times

Daily News Podcast, Exclusive Interviews, Daily News, Current Affairs, Global News, News, Investigative Reporting, Long-form Audio, In-depth Journalism, Audio Storytelling, News Analysis, Politics, Uk News

3.91.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What is going through his mind? Where will this end? And would he press that button?

There's a view of Putin which says these are impossible questions to answer, which paints him as a mysterious, mercurial figure. But today, we take the other view: that for quite some time, the Russian president has told us exactly who he is. If only we'd been listening.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guest: Matthew Campbell, Foreign Features Editor, The Sunday Times.

Host: David Aaronovitch.

Clips: ABC News, Channel 4 News, BBC News, CBS, Euronews, AP, CBC, ITV News.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What's going through his mind?

0:04.6

Russian forces attacked the Zaprasia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

0:09.3

Bombarded a large nuclear power station causing a fire.

0:12.9

Please help us.

0:15.9

Where will this end?

0:20.7

The military plan is going as planned and all the targets are being hit successfully.

0:28.7

And would he press that button?

0:32.7

Whoever would try to stop us should know that Russia's response will be immediate

0:38.5

and leave you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history.

0:48.0

The Saviro Putin, which says these are impossible questions to answer,

0:52.1

which paints him as a mysterious mercurial figure, the XKGB man,

0:56.8

always impossible to predict.

0:59.6

But today we take the other view.

1:02.0

But for quite some time Putin has told us exactly who he is.

1:05.8

If only we've been listening.

1:07.6

We've misread him countless times.

1:10.2

I think we've not wanted to see what's been there all along in a sense.

1:15.7

You're listening to stories of our times and the times and the Sunday times.

1:18.6

I'm David Aronovich.

1:19.8

Today, what Putin wants?

1:28.5

I'm Matthew Campbell.

1:29.8

I'm the foreign features editor at the Sunday Times.

...

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