The reporter who took on Putin: How BBC’s Steve Rosenberg had already earned reward for holding Vladimir to account for his crimes – and has even been ATTACKED by Russian thugs

Vladimir Putin looked furious yesterday as a BBC reporter boldly pressed him on his brutal invasion of Ukraine at the end of his three-day BRICS summit.

Moscow Correspondent Steve Rosenberg put it to the Russian president that his war was in complete contravention of the founding tenets of BRICS – justice, regional stability and security, and a fair world.

But his comments awoke an ire in Putin, who shot back blaming NATO for expanding east, in his view, and again accusing the US of financing a coup in Ukraine in 2014, before ultimately dismissing Rosenberg’s follow up as ‘utter rubbish’.

It was not the first time Rosenberg has taken on Putin, however. The BBC’s man in Moscow was roundly praised across British media in 2018 for confronting Putin over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

But since a run-in with Russian forces in 2014, the journalist has not shied away from speaking on the dangers of the job, admitting last year ‘we’re clearly made to feel the enemy’ while defiantly vowing to continue to ‘tell the story’ as he sees it.

Rosenberg studied Russian at university before moving to Moscow as a teacher and CBS journalist before moving over to the BBC in 1997.

Climbing through the ranks, he covered major events across the country and became Moscow correspondent in 2003.

His first reported run-in with Russian forces came in 2014, after a period working across Germany and Europe, when his crew were attached in Astrakhan while interviewing the sister of a Russian soldier killed in the war in Donbas.

The team’s cameraman was beaten up and his camera smashed during the attack, the BBC reported at the time.

He was later taken to a medical centre and X-rayed, Rosenberg reported. 

When the team returned from the police station, they found their recordings had been deleted.

The team had recently left a cafe when ‘at least three aggressive individuals’ stopped, confronted and attacked them, according to Rosenberg.

The men grabbed the camera, smashed it on the road and fled with it after assaulting the cameraman.

The team were later questioned for four hours at a police station, during which time they believe their recordings were ‘tampered with’. 

Ukraine banned Rosenberg and several other journalists in 2015, citing a ‘threat to national interests’, but retracted the ban a day later amid backlash from media.

Three years later, Rosenberg found himself in front of Putin, pressing him to answer questions on the death of Sergei Skripal.

The former Russian intelligence officer and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury, UK in 2018 and spent weeks in critical condition.

They survived, but the attack later claimed the life of a British woman Dawn Sturgess and left a man, Charlie Rowley, and police officer Nick Bailey seriously ill. 

Authorities said they both were poisoned with the military grade nerve agent Novichok, carried in a small perfume or aftershave bottle which Sturgess and Rowley found in a park.

Britain blamed Russian intelligence, but Moscow denied any role.

Rosenberg asked Putin directly whether he was behind the poisoning in March 2018 – an issue the Russian president had evaded previously.

‘Is Russia behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal?’ he asked.

Putin simply replied: ‘Look, we’re busy here with agriculture. As you can see, the aim is to create good conditions for people’s lives, and you ask me about some tragedies. 

‘Get to the bottom of things here first, and then we’ll talk about this.’

Rosenberg was hailed for his ‘bravery’ for daring to confront Putin from within Russia. 

Last year he gave his theory as to why he has been allowed to stay.

Speaking to The Times, he speculated that the Kremlin could see allowing him, and the BBC, to stay as a power play – indicating their indifference.

He referenced foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s line that ‘Russia is what it is, and we’re not ashamed to show it.’ 

Still, he knows that Russia ‘can pull the plug at any time’.

‘You’re always having to risk-assess the situation, and it all comes down to gut feeling now. I think there is still benefit from me being here and reporting on the situation. But, of course, I’m constantly assessing that,’ he said. 

In a Q&A last year, he said it was important to him to continue in spite of pressure.

‘There’s no point being a journalist here, if you can’t tell the story as you see it… the sword of Damocles hangs over us constantly,’ he told BBC World’s Lyse Doucet at the Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture 2023.

‘We’re clearly made to feel the enemy [but] we don’t get calls from the foreign ministry, so we don’t feel pressure that way,’ he added, addressing John Ryley.

Still, he said, he ‘fell in love’ with Russia ‘many years ago’ and hasn’t ‘given up’, despite the war and state of internal politics.

‘I try to step back and take a historic view that this horror, this nightmare will be over at some point.’ 

The latest clash with Putin came as the Russian leader revelled in his role as host to dozens of world leaders and top officials in Kazan.

He had railed against the West’s ‘perverse methods’ for maintaining global control, accusing Western powers of stifling the growth of emerging economies, manipulating stock markets and ‘aggravating old disagreements’.

His sentiments were widely well received by the attendees, and as Putin headed into his final press conference of the summit yesterday, he appeared in good spirits having enjoyed the attention of a largely captive audience.

But he was brought crashing back to reality by the BBC‘s Steve Rosenberg, who was granted the opportunity to ask the final question of the session.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov hinted at what was likely to come when he introduced the broadcaster’s man in Moscow, declaring: ‘For the final question of the day I’d like to give the floor to the BBC… A rare guest these days! Steve Rosenberg.’

Rosenberg duly stood, stepped up to the microphone, and calmly put it to Putin that his war in Ukraine was in complete contravention of the tenets underpinning BRICS – that of justice, regional stability and security, and a fair world.

‘How does this all match your actions of the past two and a half years? The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine – where is the justice, stability and security?’ he asked.

Rosenberg also pointed out it was not just Ukraine, but Russian citizens, cities and territories that were also feeling the brunt of the war from drone attacks, heavy losses along the frontline and incursions across the border by Ukrainian forces.

Putin was seen furiously scribbling in a notepad as Rosenberg delivered his line of questioning with a stormy look creased across his face before biting back hard.

‘Is it fair that for years our (Western) partners for years ignored our constant appeals not to expand NATO to the East? To lie to our face and violate all their obligations… to get into Ukraine and build military bases?’ he scowled.

He went on to accuse the US of orchestrating and financing a coup in Ukraine in 2014 – a theme central to the Kremlin’s narrative that opposes the White House’s account that the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent invasion of Ukraine was down exclusively to Russian aggression.

As the conference drew to a close, Rosenberg asked a second question, referring to claims by Britain’s MI5 that Russian agents were ‘creating chaos’ on the streets of Britain.

That appeared to be the final straw for Putin, who audibly laughed, thanked Rosenberg for the question and immediately dismissed it as ‘utter rubbish’.

The conflict in Ukraine came up repeatedly throughout the three-day summit in Kazan that was attended by leaders or representatives of 36 countries, highlighting the failure of US-led efforts to isolate Russia with sanctions and political manoeuvring.

The summit also saw the first visit to Russia from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in more than two years and drew an angry reaction from Kyiv.

Guterres called for ‘a just peace’ in Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions. He also urged an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan.

At a news conference Thursday night, Putin was asked about former US President Donald Trump’s promise to end the fighting in Ukraine.

‘What Mr Trump said recently, what I heard, (is) he spoke about the desire to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine,’ Putin said.

‘It seems to me that he said it sincerely. We certainly welcome statements of this kind, no matter who makes them.’

Putin also was asked about whether any North Korean troops were in Russia, which he neither confirmed nor denied.

The US said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, though Ukraine and South Korea have suggested as many as 10,000 may be there.

‘Images are a serious thing, if there are images, then they reflect something,’ he said when asked about satellite photos of troops in a cryptic, if somewhat incredulous response.

Putin did note however that lawmakers in Moscow earlier in the day ratified a pact with North Korea on mutual military assistance as part of a ‘strategic partnership’ with Pyongyang.

‘We have never doubted that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously. What and how we will do within the framework of this article (of the agreement) is our business,’ he said.

Besides the conflict in Ukraine, the summit covered the deepening of financial cooperation, including the development of alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems, efforts to settle regional conflicts and expansion of the BRICS group of nations.

The alliance that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa when it was founded in 2009 has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, with Saudi Arabia yet to formally announce its inclusion.

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.

The Kremlin touted the summit as ‘the largest foreign policy event ever held’ by Russia.

Speaking at what was dubbed the ‘BRICS Plus’ session, which included countries that are considering joining the bloc, Putin accused the West of trying to stem the growing power of the Global South with ‘illegal unilateral sanctions, blatant protectionism, manipulation of currency and stock markets, and relentless foreign influence ostensibly promoting democracy, human rights, and the climate change agenda.’

‘Such perverse methods and approaches – to put it bluntly – lead to the emergence of new conflicts and the aggravation of old disagreements,’ Putin said.

‘One example of this is Ukraine, which is being used to create critical threats to Russia’s security, while ignoring our vital interests, our just concerns, and the infringement of the rights of Russian-speaking people.’

Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network SWIFT and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners.

In a joint declaration Wednesday, participants voiced concern about ‘the disruptive effect of unlawful unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions’ and reiterated their commitment to enhancing financial cooperation within BRICS.

They noted the benefits of ‘faster, low-cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments built upon the principle of minimizing trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.’

China’s President Xi Jinping has also emphasised the bloc’s role in ensuring global security.

Xi noted that China and Brazil have put forward a peace plan for Ukraine and sought to rally broader international support for it. Ukraine has rejected the proposal.

‘We should promote the de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible and pave the way for a political settlement,’ Xi said.

Putin and Xi had announced a ‘no-limits’ partnership weeks before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.

They already met twice earlier this year, in Beijing in May and at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kazakhstan in July.

Russia’s cooperation with India has also flourished, as New Delhi has seen Moscow as a time-tested partner since the Cold War despite Russia’s close ties with India’s rival, China.

While Western allies want New Delhi to be more active in persuading Moscow to end the fighting in Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasising a peaceful settlement.