12 October 2026
“If he dies tomorrow…with global conflict the way it is and an authoritarian axis deepening, I don’t really see the next regime in Russia suddenly deciding ‘we’re going to liberalise.’” Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was wrongly imprisoned by Russia for 16 months under false espionage charges, says a reformed Russia isn’t an impossibility, but isn’t likely in the near future. Evan Gershkovich was speaking to Hugo Rifkind on Times Radio. Listen live every Monday-Thursday, 6-10am.
