welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the war in ukraine is stuck in a form of bloody winter stalemate. but the expectation is major military offensives are coming as both russia and ukraine seek a game—changing shift in the dynamic of the conflict. putin has a clear numbers advantage when it comes to fighting an all—out war, but will that be enough given russia's evident vulnerabilities? my guest is vetreran russian foreign policy analyst and kremlin adviser sergey karaganov. is putin's invasion turning into a longterm disaster for russia? sergey karaganov in moscow, welcome to hardtalk. good afternoon. good afternoon and welcome and let me ask you a simple question, after almost a year of war in ukraine is russia ready to acknowledge that it is going badly wrong? it is a war. and we will be winning the war, there is no question about that, the question is of course, the casualties, the destruction of ukraine, ukrainians are used as cannon fodder in order war of ukraine, ukrainians are used as cannon fodder in our war wi

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in 2021, more than 10,000 canadians died at the hands of health care professionals. thanks to the country's legalisation of euthanasia. a handful of other countries have also legalised doctor assisted dying, but often with more restrictive rules. so, canada has become something of a global testing ground for the complex ethical, medical and social issues raised by euthanasia. my guest, dr stephanie green, is a specialist in medically assisted dying, and has overseen more than 300 deaths herself. is canada at ease with its role as assisted dying pioneer? dr stephanie green in victoria, canada. welcome to hardtalk. thanks for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the show, dr green. now, you are an experienced medical doctor, but your particular focus for the last few years has been offering medical assistance in dying. so, in terms of your day to dayjob, what does that actually mean you do? mostly, it means i talk to a lot of patients. practically speaking, what it means is i meet

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the earthquakes that rocked southern turkey in early february not only caused a humanitarian disaster, they exposed cracks in president erdogan�*s carefully crafted image as turkey's indispensable leader. amid the ruined cities, and the anguish of millions of displaced people, basic government competence is being tested. my guest is long standing erdogan critic, the exiled turkish writer ece temelkuran. a presidential election is looming. does the opposition have what it takes to end the erdogan era? ece temelkuran, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen. your country is grappling with a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable scale. the death toll has now well passed 40,000, millions are displaced, and the government is saying that this is a time for national unity and solidarity. for you as a very prominent critic of president erdogan, can you at least share that sentiment? well, there is a national unity. unfortunately, the government is out of this unity. they have to connect with pe

now it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.st anniversary of russia's all—out invasion of ukraine is fast approaching. there's a feeling in both kyiv and moscow that it would herald a new phase in the war. president zelensky is visiting european allies with his focus firmly on the challenges to come. a new russian offensive is seemingly imminent. the west is arming ukraine, but still not at the speed and scale kyiv would wish. my guest is ukrainian mp kira rudik. can ukraine win a long war? kira rudik in kyiv, welcome to hardtalk. hello. thank you so much for having me, stephen. a pleasure to have you on the show. i would like you to reflect on president zelensky�*s message here in europe. do you think the focus from the ukrainian government is more on the gratitude for what european partners have already delivered or more on the urgency to give more now? i think it is 50—50. what we learned over this last year is that you have to create alliances, you have to keep it and you keep the alliances with the gratitude, but also, we

it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. a select few people amongst us have personal stories which stir compassion, admiration and solidarity, and one of them is my guest today — waris dirie, the somali—born model, writer and activist. she was raised in poverty, the daughter of a nomadic herdsman. she became the muse of fashion houses in new york and paris, but she chose campaigning over the catwalk, speaking out against female genital mutilation, which she experienced and is now determined to eliminate. it is an issue about patriarchy and power, so is this a fight she can win? waris dirie, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. yours has been a life of extraordinary change and extraordinary contrasts. i just wonder, now you look back on your childhood, does it seem a very great distance away or does it still feel close and intimate? i would say far away. somehow, it seems so far, my life. if i look back or think back, ifeel like i've been here quite a while in this planet, really. it's maybe because i've done so much, so fast, th

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.tor orban can make a strong claim to be europe's most successful leader. after four consecutive election victories, he's admired by cultural conservatives and nationalists from moscow to washington. he wins elections, yes — but is he a democrat or has he subverted democracy and undermined the cause of freedom — notjust in hungary, but across the eu? well, my guest, zsuzsanna szelenyi, was his ally in the early days of the fidesz party. now she is an arch—critic. but has orban found a politicalformula — illiberal democracy — for which his opponents have no answer? zsuzsanna szelenyi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for inviting me. it's a pleasure to have you on the show. when you look at your home country, hungary, today, in terms of its politics, its political culture, what do you see? well, hungary is in trouble. this is what i see first. it is diverting for a track where we entered 30 years ago, the western way of life. the generation of politicians which are characterised by fidesz,

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. here's the good news. the proportion of the world's population living in extreme poverty has declined sharply over the past 30 years. here's the bad news. still close to one in 20 of all the world's people relies on humanitarian assistance for survival. with many nations cutting their aid budgets, international ngos remain a linchpin of the global aid system. but are they fit for purpose? well, my guest is danny sriskandarajah, chief executive of oxfam great britain. he promised to reimagine what aid would look like. has he succeeded? danny sriskandarajah, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen. let's start with those two different ways of looking at what's happening to the world's poorest people. one in 20, almost, still suffering extreme poverty, even as global poverty rates decline do you think that the aid system is failing those people? well, let's just start with what's happening around the world at the moment. we think, for the first time since records began 30 years ago, there's actually been a ri

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.adimir putin's mind, ukraine is a fake state manipulated by the west. his effort to drag it back into the russian world began long before his all—out invasion a year ago. back in 2014, he showed his contempt for kyiv sovereignty in crimea and the donbas. ironically, putin's denial of ukraine's identity has strengthened what he set out to destroy. my guest is 0lesya khromeychuk. writer, historian and sister of a fallen ukrainian soldier. even now, do ukraine's allies understand what the stakes really are in this war? 0lesya khromeychuk, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much for inviting me, stephen. it's a great pleasure to have you in this studio in london. and you live in london. you're the director of the ukrainian institute here in london. you're an historian of ukraine and eastern europe. and yet, i am sure that a lot of your mind is in ukraine. what kind of a distance do you keep from the daily reality of your homeland being at war? perhaps only physical distance, i suppose. the

welcome to hardtalk. great to be back, stephen. it's good to be with you. it's good to have you on the show. it is indeed quite something, leading one of the world's highest profile human rights advocacy groups for some three decades. did you leave thatjob with a sense of defeat? no, not at all. infact, i mean, maybe i should start with your introduction, because, you know, your introduction was the common wisdom. you know, that democracy is in decline, that autocracy is ascendant. in fact, i think it's a bit more complicated than that. i mean, we are seeing the rise of autocratic voices, you know, the trumps of the world, in western democracies. but if you look at the leading autocratic countries and you put yourself in the shoes of one of their dictators, it's a pretty hostile environment out there. and just in the last year, you know, we've seen the dangers of autocratic rules, because autocrats, you know, they surround themselves with sycophants, they suppress debate, they make all the decisions by themselves. and that's how you get bad decisions. so we

the latest headlines coming up, after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. across the world, freedom and democracy are in retreat. almost a third of the world's people live under authoritarian rule. that number is rising and that has grave implications for basic human rights. it's not that liberal democracies can't be abusive of rights, but generally their safeguards against oppression are stronger. my guest today is kenneth roth, just retired after 30 years leading the campaign group human rights watch. he's been banned in a host of countries. is it time to acknowledge his brand of human rights campaigning isn't working? kenneth roth in cambridge, massachusetts. welcome to hardtalk. great to be back, stephen. it's good to be with you. it's good to have you on the show. it is indeed quite something, leading one of the world's highest profile human rights advocacy groups for some three decades. did you leave thatjob with a sense of defeat? no, not at all. infact, i mean, maybe i should start with your introduction, because, you know, your introduction was the

the latest headlines coming up, after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. across the world, workers are finding their living standards squeezed by rising inflation. for some, it's not so much a squeeze as decapitation. technological change is driving job cuts in a host of industries. do workers have the means to fight back? well, the uk rail industry is something of a test case. for months, rail workers have been striking over pay and plans to change working conditions. my guest is mick lynch, leader of the biggest rail union, the rmt. the stakes in this fight are high. can the workers win? mick lynch, welcome to hardtalk. you are the leader of a union that's been in a long—running dispute now. of a union that's been it goes back to last summer, there had been rolling sporadic strikes. as it goes on, does it feel harder to find your way to a compromise? well, there's no easy way out for either side. the government has boxed themselves into a corner to a large extent, and i think that's predicated on the idea of setting precedents for public sector. we've se

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.the world, workers are finding their living standards squeezed by rising inflation. for some, it's not so much a squeeze as decapitation. technological change is driving job cuts in a host of industries. kenneth roth in cambridge, massachusetts. welcome to hardtalk. great to be back, stephen. it's good to be with you. it's good to have you on the show. it is indeed quite something, leading one of the world's highest profile human rights advocacy groups for some three decades. did you leave thatjob with a sense of defeat? no, not at all. infact, i mean, maybe i should start with your introduction, because, you know, your introduction was the common wisdom. you know, that democracy is in decline, that autocracy is ascendant. in fact, i think it's a bit more complicated than that. i mean, we are seeing the rise of autocratic voices, you know, the trumps of the world, in western democracies. but if you look at the leading autocratic countries and you put yourself in the shoes of one of the

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. as russia's war on ukraine grinds into a second year, how complete is vladimir putin's control of the home front? critics of the war risk prison, independent media outlets have been closed down, and the kremlin propaganda machine has been supercharged. but thanks to the internet, the costs of this war cannot be entirely hidden from russian eyes. my guest is tikhon dzyadko, editor—in—chief of dozhd or tv or tv rain, founded as an independent tv channel in moscow, now broadcasting from riga. are russians ready to question what their government tells them? tikhon dzyadko in riga, latvia, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much for having me here. it's a great pleasure to have you on this show. now, it strikes me this past year has been one of extraordinary challenge and disruption for you at tv rain. the reason, i guess, is simple — vladimir putin would like to see you cease to exist. how close to ceasing to exist has it come for you? well, we can say that, last march, tv rain, or dozhd,

mick lynch, welcome to hardtalk. are the leader of a union that's been in a long—running dispute now. it goes back to last summer. there have been rolling, sporadic strikes. as it goes on, does it feel harder to find your way to a compromise? well, there's no easy way out for either side. the government has boxed themselves into a corner, to a large extent. and i think that's predicated on the idea of setting precedents for public sector. we've seen the nurses, ambulance drivers, many civil servants in dispute along similar lines. people aren't being paid enough in this society at the moment and many public sector workers have had long—term pay cuts measured against any measure of inflation, so there's some catch—up to be done, and that makes it harder because the government wants to bear down on inflation and they want to teach workers a lesson that they'll have to put up with what they're providing. so, it is tough, but we're in a better position than we were, say, two years ago, where trade unions seemed a bit cow

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. across the world, freedom and democracy are in retreat.t liberal democracies can't be abusive of rights, but generally their safeguards against oppression are stronger.

it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.ompassion, admiration and solidarity, and one of them is my guest today — waris dirie, the somali—born model, writer and activist. she was raised in poverty, the daughter of a nomadic herdsman. she became the muse of fashion houses in new york and paris,

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.e front? critics of the war risk prison, independent media outlets have been closed down, and the kremlin propaganda machine has been supercharged. but thanks to the internet, the costs of this war cannot be entirely hidden from russian eyes. my guest is tikhon dzyadko, editor—in—chief of dozhd or tv

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in moscow that it would herald a new phase in the war. president zelensky is visiting european allies with his focus firmly on the challenges to come.

stay tuned for the headlines, and more after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.sion a year ago. back in 2014, he showed his contempt for kyiv sovereignty in crimea and the donbas. ironically, putin's denial of ukraine's identity has

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.they exposed cracks in president erdogan's carefully crafted image as turkey's indispensable leader. amid the ruined cities, and the anguish of millions of displaced people, basic government competence is being tested. my guest is long standing erdogan critic, the exiled turkish writer ece temelkuran.

the latest headlines coming up, after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. almost a third of the world's people live under authoritarian rule. that number is rising and that has grave implications for basic human rights. it's not that liberal democracies can't be abusive of rights, but generally their safeguards against oppression are stronger.