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Solovyov's tirade targets UK and BBC
On his prime-time Russian television show, presenter Vladimir Solovyov launched a verbal assault against the United Kingdom, expressing frustration that Moscow had not yet "destroyed London or Birmingham" or "wiped all this British scum from the face of the earth." His remarks, delivered with evident irritation, singled out BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg, whom he described as a "conscious enemy of our country" and likened to a "defecating squirrel."
A correspondent's perspective
Rosenberg, who has lived and worked in Russia for over three decades, reflected on the hostility in a first-person account accompanying the BBC Panorama documentary Our Man in Moscow. The film chronicles a year inside the BBC's Moscow bureau as the Kremlin escalates its war in Ukraine and tightens domestic repression.
"The squirrel barb doesn't bother me," Rosenberg wrote. "Squirrels are cute. And they have a thick skin-something a foreign correspondent needs here. But 'enemy of Russia'? That hurts."
From cultural affinity to confrontation
Rosenberg's relationship with Russia began in his youth, shaped by a passion for Russian language, literature, and music. As a university student in Leeds, he led a choir performing Russian folk songs and even composed a humorous piece about a snowman melting under layers of clothing. That warmth, he noted, seemed to evaporate after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"With its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the world's largest country had embarked on the darkest of paths," he wrote. The conflict, now Europe's deadliest since World War II, followed years of escalating tensions, including Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its alleged role in fueling separatist violence in eastern Ukraine.
Reporting under pressure
In the invasion's aftermath, Russia enacted laws criminalizing dissent and criticism of the state, leading to the blocking of BBC platforms. Reporting from Moscow, Rosenberg described, now feels like "walking a tightrope over a legal minefield." The challenge: delivering accurate, honest coverage without crossing red lines.
In 2023, the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges-widely condemned as politically motivated-highlighted the risks for foreign journalists. Gershkovich spent 16 months in detention before his release in a prisoner swap last week.
The BBC's Moscow team has shrunk, and journalists from "unfriendly" countries, including the UK, now face stricter visa rules, with permits requiring renewal every three months. Many former sources have grown reluctant to speak, fearing association with Western media could draw scrutiny.
Kremlin access amid hostility
Despite the hostility, the BBC and other Western outlets have retained access to Kremlin events, occasionally securing opportunities to question President Vladimir Putin. At a press conference last December, Rosenberg asked Putin whether Russia planned further "special military operations."
"There won't be any operations if you treat us with respect. If you respect our interests..."
Vladimir Putin
Putin's response, Rosenberg noted, underscored his grievances: resentment over NATO expansion, perceived Western disrespect, and accusations of imperialist ambitions from critics.
Shifting targets in anti-Western rhetoric
With Donald Trump's return to the White House, Moscow has adopted a more conciliatory tone toward Washington. At an August summit in Alaska, Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin, a gesture seen as a thaw in relations despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. While setbacks like the U.S. seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker and the capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro-once a Kremlin ally-have occurred, Moscow has largely refrained from criticizing America in recent months.
Instead, state media's anti-Western rhetoric has pivoted toward the European Union and the UK. Rosenberg contrasted this with his experiences in 1997, when he appeared on a popular Russian comedy show, The White Parrot Club, where celebrities exchanged British jokes and praised the UK's wartime alliance with the Soviet Union.
A divided nation
Rosenberg's encounters reflect Russia's duality. Days after Solovyov's tirade, Muscovites approached him for handshakes and selfies, echoing the country's national symbol-the double-headed eagle-one head hostile, the other welcoming.
"How this war ends will affect not only Ukraine's future and that of Russia, but the future of Europe, too," he wrote. Amid the tensions, moments of warmth persist, even as the conflict reshapes geopolitical fault lines.
