Media Talk: Russia – Cold War II?

A year after Anna Politkovskaya’s murder and the beginning of the Litvinenko affair and with just five months to go before presidential elections, Russia’s relations with Britain and other western countries are increasingly strained.

In the last year alone, aside from the Litvinenko affair and the resulting diplomatic expulsions, tensions have grown over Czech and Polish plans to host the US missile defence shield and over disagreements on the future of Kosovo. For the first time in nearly two decades Russia is beginning to flex its international muscles.

Now the Kremlin has announced an increase in military spending and put long-range bombers back in the air adding to a growing sense that a new Cold War may be in the offing.

Our panel discusses Russia’s relations with the west and the reasons behind their deterioration.

Mary Dejevsky – columnist and editorial writer for The Independent.

Andrew Jack – former Moscow Bureau chief of the Financial Times, author of Inside Putin’s Russia: Can There Be Reform Without Democracy?

Darya Pushkova – London bureau Chief of Russia Today TV Channel.

Prof Robert Service – Professor of Russia History, St Anthony’s College, Oxford University. Author of A History of Modern Russia: From Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin.

Moderated by Nick Paton Walsh Foreign affairs correspondent for Channel 4 News. Formerly Moscow correspondent for the Guardian (2002 – 2007).