Paul Moss

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This is the Global News Podcast.

What is it like to be a journalist operating in today's Russia, a country where dissent is, to say the least, discouraged?

And even the mildest criticism of the government can earn you a long prison sentence.

That is the challenge faced by Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Russia editor, who's been reporting from the country for 25 years.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, he's been one of the few Western correspondents still allowed to live and work in Moscow and is now the subject of a television documentary.

Our man in Moscow followed him for a year as he carried out his assignments and also reflected on how Russia has changed.

There are many moments in my life when I think this is very strange.

One of the most bizarre things that happened to me happened in the 1990s when Russia first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest.

I was being given a tour of Russian state television and wandered into a studio where they were rehearsing for that evening's Song for Europe.

And I got talking to the director and told him I like Eurovision.

He said, oh, well, come back this evening.

You can co-present the programme.

Things like that happened in the 1990s.

There was this buzz in the studio and it felt like after the fall of communism.

Russia was now part of this European family and we were going to do great things together and the world was going to be a better place and a safer place and a happier place.

I mean, you know, when you're young, you're completely full of hope and optimism.

And it just didn't work out.

Since Vladimir Putin came to power, Russia has become a very different country.