Former BBC correspondent Angus Roxburgh talks about his new book on the Putin years and Russia’s relationship with the West. Drawing on exclusive interviews conducted for a new BBC documentary series, he describes Putin’s descent into authoritarianism, and also argues that the West threw away chances to bring Russia in from the cold, by failing to understand its fears and aspirations following the collapse of communism.
This event marks the publication of Angus Roxburgh’s latest book The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the struggle for Russia.
About the speaker
Angus Roxburgh is one of Britain’s most distinguished foreign correspondents. An author and renowned journalist, he was the Sunday Times Moscow Correspondent in the mid-
1980s and the BBC’s Moscow correspondent during the Yeltsin years. He is the author of The Second Russian Revolution and Pravda: Inside the Soviet Press Machine. In 1989 Roxburgh was expelled from what was then the Soviet Union while working as Moscow correspondent for the Sunday Times, as tension over the collapse of communism in eastern Europe was reaching its peak. Longtime Russo-phile Roxburgh was expelled by the KGB for supposed “unacceptable activities”. He was effectively deemed a “spy”, in a tit for tat expulsion. Within months he was back in Russia – with the KGB reportedly furious at his swift return – later covering Moscow’s “August Coup” for the Guardian in 1991. Roxburgh went on to become the BBC’s man in Moscow in the 1990s. In 2006 he was hired as a spin doctor to the Kremlin as part of a team including Tim Allan, the former Labour press officer who founded PR agency Portland, employed to smooth Russia’s image ahead of a G8 summit in St Petersburg.
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk or call 020 7955 6043.
Date: Tuesday 10 January 2012
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: LSE, Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, 99 Aldwych, WC2B 4JF (map)
Speaker: Angus Roxburgh
Chair: Professor Margot Light
