Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio Berkshire,2 mins

World Cup 2018: Behind the curtain in secretive Russia

Sarah Walker

Available for over a year

What should we expect from a World Cup in Russia? The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson shared tales from his time in the country with Sarah Walker, including what life is like as a British journalist in Moscow. John Simpson, BBC's World Affairs Editor: "You'd be followed everywhere, and you know they'd be listening to your conversations if you had a flat there. I often shared the BBC flat and it was quite famous. "If you complained about something a day or so later someone would come to the flat. "It was a society when everyone was listened to, and it just came a bit of a surprise to people like me going there. But sometimes it can be nasty...that has faded. "Broadly speaking the old times have gone completely."

Programme Website
More episodes