Reporting on Russia with Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker

How do journalists report on Russia’s war when its consequences extend far beyond the battlefield? Shaun Walker and Pjotr Sauer discuss their reporting on Russia, the war in Ukraine, and the covert operations increasingly playing out across Europe.

Reporting from Russia is a dangerous business. Two experienced Russia correspondents will discuss how they managed to do so for years: Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker both stayed in Moscow on behalf of The Guardian for as long as they could. 

In his latest book, The Illegals (published in Dutch as De infiltranten), Walker describes how the Soviet Union built an international network of undercover agents in the last century. Russian intelligence officers trained to pass as Americans or Britons and lived abroad for years under entirely new identities. 

It sounds like the plot of a mad Hollywood film, but since the war in Ukraine, Putin has been escalating increasingly dangerous acts of sabotage against the West. Recently, another operation was narrowly thwarted at Leipzig Airport. How do you uncover such covert operations as a journalist? Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker will discuss Russia today and Putin’s tactics of sabotage.

About the speakers

Shaun Walker, has reported extensively on Russia and the post-Soviet world, exploring how history and memory are used to shape contemporary politics. He is the author of the non-fiction books Odessa Dreams: The Dark Heart of Ukraine’s Online Marriage Industry (2014) and The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past (2018). The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and Their Century-Long Mission to Infiltrate the West (2025) is about the agents who lived apparently normal lives in the west as part of Soviet espionage programmes.

Pjotr Sauer is a prominent Russian affairs correspondent for The Guardian, known for his extensive on-the-ground reporting on Russia and the war in Ukraine. Raised in Moscow, his journalism career has been shaped by deep regional expertise, ultimately making him a sought-after voice on Russian current events.

Programme editor: Rosalie Dielesen

Moderator: Yoeri Albrecht

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