Leonid Volkov: Is the anti-Putin movement out of options?

2025 on The Interview A special episode from The Interview, featuring three of the most compelling conversations from 2025. US President Donald Trump spoke to the BBC’s Chief North America correspondent Gary O’Donoghue in July, in a wide-ranging and frank telephone conversation from the Oval Office. President Trump reflects on the assassination attempt that took place a year previously, and also expresses his frustration at the slow pace of attempts to bring peace to Ukraine.British royal Prince Harry was born into one of the world’s most famous families, and grew up in the public eye. In May, he lost a final court appeal to reverse the downgrading of security protection for him and his family since stepping down from royal duties. He gave his reaction to BBC correspondent Nada Tawfik in an emotional and deeply personal conversation.The Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai is known worldwide as the spirited girl who took on the Taliban and nearly lost her life, then went on to win the Nobel Prize and advocate for girls everywhere to go to school. But, as she explains to BBC presenter Madina Maishanu, although her public life defined her to the world, she did not know who she was. Thank you to the all the teams across the BBC who have helped us make The Interview throughout 2025. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Farhana Haider Producers: Ben Cooper, Clare Williamson, Farhana Haider, Lucy Sheppard Editors: Justine Lang and Nick Holland Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

‘Being born in America, feeling American, but having people treat me like I'm not.’Chi Chi Izundu speaks to Korean American actor Arden Cho, star of the hit Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, about her life and career. Cho is the voice of Rumi, a leading character who must come to terms with her own identity as part-human, part-demon.It’s a duality that resonated powerfully with her, as the daughter of Korean immigrants who struggled for acceptance, and faced racism while growing up in America.Now, Korean culture is increasingly popular worldwide, and she has become a leading role model for Asian American children, the kind she says she lacked when she was young.And despite KPop Demon Hunters being crowned as Netflix’s most-watched film ever, Cho warns that Asian-led film projects are still seen as a risk. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Chi Chi Izundu Producers: Lucy Sheppard, Clare Williamson and Rebecca Thorn Editor: Nick HollandGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Arden Cho. Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Audrey Tang speaks to BBC Technology editor, Zoe Kleinman about technology, democracy and community. Named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in AI”, Audrey Tang was instrumental in shaping Taiwan’s acclaimed COVID-19 response and in safeguarding the 2024 elections from foreign cyber interference.A child prodigy, born with a life threatening heart condition, reading, philosophy and the internet were part of her world from an early age. She became involved in Taiwan’s sunflower student movement in 2014, laying internet cables so that those occupying government buildings could get their messages out to the people. The exercise was so successful that she was asked to join the government leveraging technology to improve governmental transparency and citizen engagement.Audrey Tang Taiwan’s first digital minister and is the world’s first openly non-binary cabinet minister. She’s on a mission to spread digital diplomacy globally, and in turn protect democracy in her own country of Taiwan. A leading thinker on AI she advises governments and tech companies around the world and is the author of four books.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Zoe Kleinman Producers: Farhana Haider & Clare Williamson Editor: Justine Lang & Nick HollandGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Audrey Tang. Credit: Sean Marc Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

‘I do not see France as a country that must be closed. But I believe we must control immigration.’Nick Robinson speaks to National Rally leader Jordan Bardella about his vision for France. The 30-year-old is currently leading the polls to become the country’s next President in 2027.He’s on a media tour to woo businesses, and to persuade the world his party is now mainstream, despite its history with far right politics. It used to be the National Front - founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a convicted racist and Holocaust denier. Le Pen’s daughter Marine re-branded the party and led it for many years, but is currently barred from public office after a conviction for embezzling EU funds, a verdict she plans to appeal. In her absence, her protégé Jordan Bardella finds himself in charge. He maintains the party has changed since its formative years. In this interview you’ll hear why Mr Bardella rejects challenges on racism. He also says if he becomes president he’ll call for a referendum on immigration "to take back control of our borders." Thank you to the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson team for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Nick Robinson Producers: Lucy Sheppard, Clare Williamson, Daniel Kraemer and Leela Padmanabhan Editor: Nick HollandGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Jordan Bardella Credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images)

BBC presenter Kylie Pentelow speaks to Dame Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s former Prime Minister about the importance of empathetic leadership in the time of populism and strongman politics. In 2017 Ardern became the youngest Prime Minister in the world at the time, and only the second ever to have a baby whilst in office. She was praised for her humane approach and leadership through crises such as the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack that saw 51 killed. She swiftly brought in gun laws and reached out to the Muslim community targeted in the attack.In her 5 years in politics she was a champion of climate change and LGBGTQ and indigenous rights, but she was also criticised for some of the harsh lockdown measures that her government enacted during the pandemic.Since leaving politics, Jacinda Ardern has been engaging in global work focused on empathy in leadership, combatting climate change and the prevention of online extremism.She’s written books, including one about being a working mother, and she now stars in a documentary about her life entitled simply, Prime Minister. She’s currently a distinguished fellow and part of the World Leaders Circle at Oxford University.Thank you to the Woman’s Hour team for its help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Kylie Pentelow Producers: Dianne McGregor, Farhana Haider & Clare Williamson Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Jacinda Ardern Credit: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Lucy Hockings speaks to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado about the fight for democracy in the South American country. She’s been in hiding since last year’s presidential election in Venezuela, when incumbent Nicolás Maduro declared victory in a contest that was widely dismissed on the international stage as rigged, sparking widespread protests.Around 2,000 people were arrested in the crackdown which followed, among them many members of her opposition coalition. Machado, who had managed to unite the bitterly divided opposition ahead of the election, went into hiding for fear of arrest. She has however continued to give interviews and uploaded videos to social media urging her followers not to give up.The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the 2025 Peace prize for “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in Venezuela. She defied a travel ban to reach Oslo, with Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes describing her journey as "a situation of extreme danger". The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Lucy Hockings Producer: Dylan Arzoni, Claire Noble and Ben Cooper Editors: Justine Lang and Nick HollandGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: María Corina Machado. Photo by Ole Berg-Rusten/EPA/Shutterstock)

‘We are pushing very hard to end this and preserve the future of Sudan’Waihiga Mwaura speaks to Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s Foreign Minister, during the G20 summit that took place at the end of November in South Africa.Dr. Abdelatty took up the post last year, following a long diplomatic career across Europe, North America and Asia. He’s tasked with representing Egypt and the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been in power since 2014 following a military coup the previous year.Egypt is currently facing a number of issues including an economic crisis at home and political instability along its borders.Libya, to the west, is still dealing with the fallout from the collapse of the Gaddafi regime nearly 15 years later. And On Egypt’s eastern border, much of Gaza lies in ruins. Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that over 1.5 million Sudanese people have sought safety in Egypt as a brutal civil war rages across the border to the south.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Waihiga Mwaura Producer: Ben Cooper Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Badr Abdelatty Credit: AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)

Katie Razzall, the BBC’s culture and media editor, speaks to American singer-songwriter Patti Smith during her UK tour marking the 50th anniversary of her ground-breaking debut album Horses.Best-known for her hit Because the Night, she shares the story behind the song, co-written with Bruce Springsteen, and reflects about being at the vanguard of a new wave of artists in the 1970s.Patti also opens up about her new memoir, Bread of Angels, a deeply personal journey through her music, her relationships, and the chance discovery of a devastating secret that changed everything. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Katie Razzall Producers: Melanie Abbott, Roxanne Panthaki and Ben Cooper Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Patti Smith. Credit: Stefania D'Alessandro/WireImage)

Zoe Kleinman, the BBC’s Technology editor, speaks to Canva CEO Melanie Perkins about the current tech and AI revolution that is transforming the internet and the world. Perkins, who is still only in her late-30s, is well-known for her entrepreneurial drive, having quit university at just 19 years old to launch her first venture.Unlike many of today’s Silicon Valley-based big tech companies, Canva started out in the Australian city of Perth with a mission to ‘empower the world to design’.It offers a variety of templates and tools to help users without technical skills or a design background to create a range of professional-looking graphics and presentations, from wedding invitations to business pitch decks. Since launching in 2013, it has grown to become a multi-billion dollar business used by around 250 million people every month.The success of Canva has catapulted Perkins into a number of lists ranking the world’s most powerful women, compiled by the likes of Forbes and Fortune. But it is a far cry from the very early days, when she was rejected by over 100 investors as she sought to get it off the ground.The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Zoe Kleinman Producers: Ben Cooper and Philippa Wain Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Canva CEO Melanie Perkins holds a microphone. Credit: Alisha Jucevic/Getty Images)

“This is giving parents another weapon in their arsenal for their lives and for the happiness and mental wellbeing of their children.”Katy Watson speaks to Australia’s Communication Minister Anika Wells about the world’s first social media ban for children under 16. Under the new law, social media companies will face fines of up to about US $32 million if they fail to take steps to ensure that under-16s in Australia cannot set up accounts. It has wide public support and comes about after research shows that seven out of ten Australian young people are suffering harm online. However, the law has its opponents too, from those who fear children could be cut off, or driven to darker, unregulated sites to the huge international technology companies and even the US President, but Anika Wells is undaunted. Her government wants to promote the mental health of its young people, and she maintains that even if the law is flawed, ‘Australians will look back and ask, why did that take so long? Not why did they do that?’ The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Katy Watson Producers: Simon Atkinson, Clare Williamson & Farhana Haider Editor: Justine LangGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media(Image: Anika Wells. Credit: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)