Journalist Steve Rosenberg is now the last of the BBC's correspondents left in Russia, doing his best to report on Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine amid a sea of Kremlin propaganda.

Moscow

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's sole correspondent remaining in Russia, continues to report on the war in Ukraine despite strict Kremlin controls on media and public messaging. He describes his work as walking a tightrope, with the government suppressing criticism and independent Russian media largely silenced. Rosenberg covers sensitive topics, including the repression of critics and trials of those accused of spreading 'fake news' about the Russian army.

Fluent in Russian and with decades of experience in the country, Rosenberg offers insight into how state media shapes public opinion, with many Russians accepting the official narrative. Despite the risks and constant stress, he remains committed to reporting from Russia, motivated by his longstanding connection to the country and its people.

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's 'Man in Moscow'

It's been another one of those weekends in Ukraine. Massive Russian drone attacks on Kiev, while in northern Ukraine the two nations swapped prisoners. Whatever happens in this three-year-old war, Moscow-based BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg will cover it. He's talking with Elizabeth Palmer in our Sunday Journal. In Russia, they are grieving too. That's the voice of the BBC's Steve Rosenberg, still travelling the length and breadth of Russia reporting on the fallout of the war in Ukraine. Independent Russian media have been silenced. The Kremlin controls the narrative and the messaging. Are there red lines that you know you can't cross? I don't know, actually. There probably are. It feels like walking a tightrope over a minefield and you don't know at what point you're going to fall off the tightrope. A tightrope because the Kremlin suppresses all criticism of the war in Ukraine. When some Russian critics were jailed, Rosenberg drew attention to the repression by covering their trials. Olga Smirnova is accused of spreading fake news about the Russian army. We caught up with him this month in Moscow. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. But at the outset, Russia's government banned the words war and invasion. But can't you get into big trouble for saying that? I try to report as accurately and as calmly what's happening as I see it. And you know, so far that's been OK. It's pretty clear what happened. Russia tries to justify its actions. But it was a Russian invasion of a sovereign neighbouring country. If you were crossing the line, would you get a signal from the Kremlin? I've absolutely no idea. No one, like, no one has picked up the phone yet and said, Mr. Rosenberg, we didn't like your report. You're pushing it. Rosenberg came to Russia 34 years ago. His first job was as a receptionist for CBS News. This is exactly how Vladimir Putin likes to be seen, as an action man. But he rose through the ranks to become a veteran correspondent. A lot of concern that Red Square today could be targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks. He's a fluent Russian speaker with a deep understanding of the country, its people and the way they see this war. From morning till night, if you switch on Russian state television, you're told that what Russia is doing in Ukraine is good. Russia is the liberator. If there is a war, it is a war started by the West, by NATO, by America. It's a very powerful message and many people here believe it or are willing to go along with it. You say some Russians buy it. That implies some don't. How do they cope? If you're talking about public opinion here and what people think of the war, I get the feeling that maybe 15% of the population really support it and maybe 15% really don't. And then you've got this mass in the middle who may be a little bit confused or maybe just go along with it. And it's easier to go along with it. It's easier to believe that your country is on the right side of history than to believe that it's not. Rosenberg is a gifted pianist. For me, music is a great solace. I mean, everybody needs a way to de-stress. Everybody. Twenty years ago, as a young reporter, he even found himself jamming with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. I was playing, he was singing. I learned more about that man, the man who ended the Cold War, in ten minutes of accompanying him on the piano than I did in a whole 45-minute interview with him. As a foreign reporter in Russia, Rosenberg is often under surveillance. And once, he actually confronted his tale on camera. And as a pillar of the Moscow media, he's challenged President Putin, too. The stress must be constant. It's stressful. Yes, it is. But as I say, I want to be here. I want to see what's happening and what's going to happen in this country, because I fell in love with it so many years ago. How will this end? I wish I knew, right? Russia is like a Tolstoy novel. It's like war and peace, and you keep turning the pages to try to find out what's going to happen, how it's going to end, and it never ends. I would like to think that the current nightmare will end and that there will be peace and that somehow life is going to get better.

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Ukraine Invasion

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Council of the City of Sydney

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