voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk with me, stephen sackur. 2024 is a big year for elections worldwide. in some countries, that means political uncertainty, a whiff of change in the air, but not in russia. russians will vote for a new president in just a few days' time with zero expectation of a shift in the established order. ruthless repression of dissent has been vladimir putin's hallmark. and over the course of the last decade and more, i've spoken to the few prominent russians ready to make a stand against putinism.

the list includes alexei navalny, who died in prison last month. but navalny was by no means the first putin opponent to die an untimely death. let's start with the late boris nemtsov. nemtsov had been an ally of putin's predecessor, boris yeltsin. when putin emerged from relative obscurity to grab the presidency, nemtsov became a noisy opponent and in 2015, he was shot dead close to the kremlin. who ordered the assassination? well, the truth has never come out, but putin's opponents have little doubt. in 2011, i went to moscow to meet boris nemtsov, who was then putin's biggest, highest profile critic. putin became a successor and became the president because berezovsky was his friend. and berezovsky supported him very much and berezovsky financed his campaign.

you know that putin rule is, if you are a friend, you can do whatever you want. if you are an enemy, you will be injail, right? even if they had just one case of corruption, my corruption, believe me, we will never talk in the hardtalk on bbc. you will came to the prison maybe, maybe not, i don't know. and try to give me some present or whatever. that's why if you are in the opposition in this country you have to be 100% honest because if putin found just one very small point, this is the end of your life. if vladimir putin wants to, he can run for president in 2012. conceivably, he could run for president again in 2018. he could be russia's leader until 202a. he seems determined to stick around. do you have the determination to stick around? well, it will be disaster.

and i'm afraid that russia will not survive. russia survived now because of very expensive oil, even like you mentioned before, oil will drop down. it will be the end of the country. we will lose caucasus. we will lose siberian regions. we will get real destroying like yugoslavia situation. because this gentleman built very expensive state, very corrupted and with huge mismanagement. they do not know how to run the country. they just think about their own pockets, pockets of their lovers and friends. boris nemtsov�*s murder became a potent symbol of the dangers of opposing the kremlin, but some activists remained undaunted. best known of them all was alexei navalny, the anti—corruption campaigner and opposition leader who, like nemtsov, was targeted for assassination. now, miraculously, he survived

poisoning with novichok nerve agent in 2020. but having recuperated in germany, navalny returned to russia knowing he was a marked man. he was swiftly convicted of financial crimes and imprisoned in the harshest of conditions. the prison authorities announced his death on february the 16th. i spoke to navalny at his anti—corruption foundation office in moscow back in 2017 as he made plans to run against putin in the coming presidential election. i'm going to run and well, i'm not a naive person. i understand that kremlin is very unhappy with me running, and i understand that they will do everything to prevent me from running. and recently, several kremlin�*s officials said that he is not allowed to participate. but still, i am going to appeal to the people and ask for them support. i mean, in this office where we speak, you've already got your logos organised,

navalny 2018. but i put it to you that if you lose this court case in kirov based on accusations of embezzlement and fraud, you will be barred from running. and whatever you tell me about your determination... actually, doesn't nothing in the current in the current council. well, as i said, they imprisoned me for five years and they released me on the next day. so what kind of law? the same with my participation in mayoral election. it was it was almost impossible to participate. but when people came on the street and said, we're not going to recognise this election without him participating. so you think you can use people power? absolutely. actually, it's only tool i can do. it's all i have. but mr navalny, i'm tempted to say to you, get real. you know what happened to khodorkovsky, you know what happened to kasparov, who is now in exile. you know what happened.

get real? i am real. i can assure you that i'm real. and i have my brother spent his time injail, he took away from his family. and as you mentioned, he is in solitary confinement and they are really torturing him every time when i'm issuing new investigations. so i'm a guy from the real life here in russia and i understand everything. and i do believe that people's support can prevail the strategy, what kind of strategy putin has against me. boris nemtsov, whom you knew very well, was walking down the street just a couple of hundred metres from the kremlin when he was murdered. that is the reality of moscow today. you're not immune from that. in this particular room we have meeting with him and with the volunteers. we were preparing the big rally. and after this meeting with the volunteers, we went in the street and i was arrested for the 15 days and he was

killed a week later. so i understand what's going on in russia, and i understand a lot of risks and i understand danger. but this is my country. i'm going to fight for my country and i know that i'm right. another long time putin opponent, vladimir kara—murza, is currently locked up in one of russia's penal colonies. like navalny, this politician, activist and anti—putin campaigner survived attempted assassination by poisoning in his case twice. my colleague sarah montague spoke to him in 2017 from washington, where he was then recovering from his second poisoning. she asked him why he thought he had been targeted. first of all, if you look at the track record over the last several years, they seem to be an extremely high mortality rate for some reason among people who have either been critics and political opponents of mr putin's regime or people engaged in independent journalism. and as you well know, these people have died in different ways, some of them strange, mysterious ways,

not only inside russia, but also outside, primarily in your own country where you are now. so, you know, this doesn't really fit into a normal statistical model, this high mortality rate. and in terms of my own case, again, i don't have any specific information. i didn't receive any threats. there were no warnings. this just happened out of the blue both times, both in 2015 and now. it's important to understand the nature of the regime that we have in power in our country today. and in so many ways, vladimir putin's regime is similar to what we had back in the soviet times. we have we have media censorship. we have the lack of free and fair elections in our country. we have political prisoners, dozens of people sitting in jail only for their political beliefs and political activities. and i can go on. but for all these similarities, there is one very important difference, and that is that while there were persecuting dissidents and engaging in anti—western propaganda, members of the soviet politburo didn't hold their money in western banks.

they didn't send their children to study in western schools. they didn't buy yachts and luxury real estate and luxury cars in western countries. leaders and operatives of the current regime do all that. they want to rule inside russia like it's a third world dictatorship, but they want to use all the privileges and freedoms and opportunities of the western world when it comes for themselves and for theirfamilies and also for storing their ill gotten gains. and what about your role? because there you are recovering in washington, but you plan to go back, don't you? do you not expect another attempt on your life? well, first of all, i will definitely go back. i will definitely resume my work. i think those of us who believe in a different future for russia and different vision for russia, who want to see russia become a normal, modern, democratic european country, we have a responsibility. we cannotjust run away and give up. we have to continue our work and we will do it. and i will do it.

and i and i will absolutely go back. i don't know when that will happen, because doctors have advised me to hold off going back for a while, for at least untilfull physical recovery, because they said if there's a third time now, this will be your last one. this is what they told me directly. but i will absolutely go back and we will continue doing what we're doing because there are many people in russia who reject this regime and what it stands for. you don't hear their voices. i mean, a minute ago you mentioned the so called popularity of putin, his fake popularity created by controlled media, the lack of free and fair elections and total political control, basically. and, you know, partly fear, partly propaganda. the fact is, i mean, i travel widely around russia, beyond moscow, beyond saint petersburg, and in various regions east to west. and everywhere i go, there are people who are fed up with this regime, whether it's corruption, whether it's political control, who want to see a different future for russia. and frankly, i think these people represent the best hope for the future of our country, and it is for their sake that we have to continue working. vladimir kara—murza returned to russia two months

after putin's full scale invasion of ukraine. he was arrested just days later and has been in prison ever since. last april, he was sentenced to 25 years for treason based on his criticism of putin's invasion. his wife, yevgeny kara—murza, stayed in the us with their three children and she now campaigns on his behalf. i spoke to her last year from her adopted home in the united states and she described the unbreakable will of her husband. as i said, in 2015 and 2017, my husband was poisoned. and both times the doctors gave him a 5% chance of survival. he was very lucky to survive. and he relearned how to walk and talk and, you know, carry out the simplest of tasks. and then he continued his work because he believes it to be more important, bigger than himself, if you want. and i've always known who i married to. i've lived with him

for almost 20 years. and i deeply admire and respect my husband for his steadfastness in his fight for his principled stand, and for his refusal to back down and refusal to be intimidated no matter what. i deeply respect and admire him for that, and i'm going to fight for him for as long as i stand. that is a powerful sentiment. i just wonder whether you've had any opportunity to talk to him in recent months and whether there's any part of him sitting in that detention centre right now under the conditions you've described, that sort of regrets his determination to go back. he definitely does not regret his determination to be in russia and to fight the regime because to him, silence means complicity. and that he would never do it. it's something that my

husband is incapable of. he is, of course, concerned about, you know, funny, he is the one in prison, he is the one facing up to 2a years for treason, as the government calls him, calls his public protest against what's happening. but he's concerned about me and the kids, and that is also very much my husband. i am a grown up girl. i can handle a lot. and i've proven it over the years that i can. and i willjust continue fighting with my husband. as vladimir putin tightened his grip on power in the early 2000, he made it clear to russia's post—communist economic elite that their freedom to make money depended on their staying out of politics. mikhail khodorkovsky, one of the country's richest men, had been an early

putin backer. but when he started to rail against kremlin corruption, he became an enemy. in 2005, he was arrested and found guilty of financial crimes. he spent a decade in prison and was then exiled. i spoke to him just weeks after russia's all out invasion of ukraine, and i asked him whether he regretted that early support for putin.

do you think he changed or did you get him wrong at the beginning? the soviet empire collapsed 30 years ago. in countries like ukraine, they have begun to build a civil society, democratic institutions, the rule of law. it's very far from perfect, but the process has begun. why three decades on, has that process not even really begun in russia? and people like you have poured money into 0pen russia foundation and other

civil society initiatives have failed. why?

do you feel ashamed of your own country today? because you live outside it, you live in a very different world. and ijust wonder whether you really feel russian anymore or whether you just feel shame about your country.

vladimir putin insists that his rule

commands overwhelming popular support and his poll ratings are consistently high when elections come around. he does win handsomely. but this in a country where rival political candidates are carefully vetted, though seen as a real threat, are blocked. those who are not can be useful tokens in the kremlin's carefully choreographed elections in 2018, that role fell to xenia sobchak, who stood against vladimir putin for the russian presidency, an election that alexei navalny was barred from running in. now she had little political experience, but she did have close family ties to vladimir putin. it's interesting that dmitry peskov, the chief spokesman for for mr putin, actually welcomed as soon as you declared that you were going to be a candidate, he welcomed it and said you seemed eminently qualified of course, this is what they're doing

every day. they're trying to hug me to death. they're trying to say to people that, you know, she's scrambling candidate and things like this. this is their dirty game. they play this dirty game. and if you know what they did yesterday, i will tell you what they did yesterday. boris titov, who was part of presidential administration, goes to this election as a candidate, saying that he goes against putin, but it's laughable. he goes against me, he's my spoiler. so this is a dirty game. from one side, they say, we want her to be part of us. i don't want to be part of them. they're trying to hug me so tight in their arms. from other parts, they send a spoiler to my campaign, a person who worked in the administration of president and now he's against him. this is laughable. all right. let's test this proposition that you truly, truly are an opponent committed to bringing putin down.

navalny talking about you said, ah, the difference is putin hasn't helped my family. clearly pointing to the fact that putin was the protege of your own father. you knew him throughout your life. he was a friend of the family. sorry to disappoint you or to disappoint navalny, but it's better to say that putin was a protege of my father. my father was the mayor... yourfather was his mentor. yes. navalny says no—one helped my father whatsoever. it's my father who helped putin to work with him. so and putin was one of the people he worked with. but i was ten years old at this time. answer me this direct question. why have you always avoided saying that putin himself is deeply corrupt, as navalny puts it, the father of russian corruption. you have never attacked putin personally. indeed, when boris nemtsov was assassinated and many critics of putin said that putin was behind it, you said absolutely not, that is not what vladimir putin would do.

why do you defend him in this way? i'm not defending him. i'm just telling the truth. even if it's political, not unsuitable. i really think that putin didn't say to anyone to kill nemtsov. how do you know? i know that it's beyond what he would decide. and so he was not an enemy. how do you know that? i'm just totally sure about the principles on which they stand. he would never say it like this. in the end, ms sobchak won just 1.7% of the vote in that 2018 election. putin romped home with 77%, and ms sobchak has since been reminded of the need for constant loyalty. last october, she briefly fled russia as three employees of her media company were arrested on suspicion of extortion. and when she returned home, she had to issue a fulsome apology. of all the interviewees in this programme, one is imprisoned, two are in exile,

and two are dead. to stand up to vladimir putin means risking everything. the last words should go to the late alexei navalny, who returned home, having survived poisoning, fully aware the kremlin would do anything to silence him. there is a word for that — it's courage. at what point would you decide that this is not worth it, that you're you've had enough? i really hope that it will be never such a moment when i'll decide this, because it means that everything is useless. what i've done before this, all the sacrifice made from my family, my brother made by boris nemtsov, who was killed, he was shot in the back. close to the kremlin. a lot of other people, we have political prisoners, hundreds of them all over the russia. and if i will stop, it means all these sacrifice are useless and they are not. and i do believe

in what i'm doing. and i do believe that my alternative is better for russia. and i absolutely agree, i am absolutely sure that we will succeed and i believe in victory. and we have a tough time right now and this empirical delusion and yes, but trends, political trends, they are changing. people became poor people, people asking questions. and i have the support from family and from people, and i'm not going to let them down. alexei navalny, we have to end there, but thank you for being on hardtalk. thank you very much. hello there. march so far has been quieter

but colder, and the wind direction has played its part. we've seen an easterly wind so far, and in the last few days, it's brought a lot of cloud in off the north sea and temperatures struggled along those exposed coasts — only around six degrees. but the story is set to change as we go through the next few days. with the wind direction swinging round to a south—westerly, temperatures may well peak into the mid—teens, but there's still a chance of seeing a return to some showers or longer spells of rain. monday, however, will be a quieter story. this weakening weather front still producing cloud thick enough for some drizzle first thing monday morning — a lot of cloud and some fog around as well early on. some showery outbreaks of rain moving out to the far north

of northern ireland, into the far north—west of scotland. and still, the wind direction coming from an easterly. here, always that little bit cooler, 8—9 degrees. but out to the west, with the best of any brightness, we could see temperatures peaking at 12 celsius. now, as we move into tuesday, this weather front could bring some showery outbreaks of rain into wales and southern england for a time. it's a really messy story on tuesday. there'll be outbreaks of rain drifting their way steadily east, there'll be further drizzle as well a little bit further north. but the far north of scotland could cling onto some sunshine. here, not quite as warm, around 6—8 degrees, but further south, we'll see temperatures peaking at 13 celsius. low pressure will sit to the north by the middle part of the week, and this trailing cold front will introduce the risk of more rain. but the south—westerly winds starting to pick up, the milder air moving in, so despite a lot of cloud around potentially on wednesday, there should be some breaks in the cloud. temperatures will start to rise — highs of 16 degrees. brighter, with a few scattered showers, into the far north and west. so as we move into thursday and friday, weatherfronts will continue to bring the threat of showers or longer spells of rain and some of the showers could be heavy and thundery, but the wind direction will continue to push this milder air

across the country, so temperatures on the rise, particularly in comparison to march so far. so, yes, there is a risk of some showers or some heavier rain from time to time, but it will be mild with it, with highs of 16 celsius.

live from london, this is bbc news. oppenheimer wins big at the oscars, taking seven awards, including best picture, best director and best actor from cillian murphy. iam i am live at the vanity fair party in beverly hills. the winners are here with many stars to celebrate their success. news agencies have withdrawn an official photo of the princess of wales from circulation over concerns it may have been digitally manipulated. the centre—right democratic alliance win a narrow victory in portugal's general election, which also saw a surge in support for the far right. the former head of the uk government's borders watchdog, who was sacked last month, tells the bbc the home office needs to be reformed.

hello. i'm marc ashdown.