Living the Story

Living the story: Francis Scarr

With the war in Ukraine, it has been an extremely busy summer for our Russian team. Journalist Francis Scarr tells us what it has been like to work on our coverage both in Moscow and in London.

26 What brought you to BBC Monitoring? What's on your screen now?

I graduated from university in 2017 with a single immediate career aim: to find a position where I could use my Russian, a language in which I had grown to love learning over the previous four years.

After an internship at a foreign policy think tank in Prague where I assisted Russia experts and a subsequent stint back home in West Sussex stacking shelves in a supermarket, I successfully applied for the BBC’s work experience programme. I found myself in the Russia team at Monitoring’s old home at Caversham Park just days after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and knew instantly that this was an opportunity I had to pursue. Initially I joined Monitoring as a freelancer but by the end of 2018, I had joined the Moscowbased half of our Russia team, where I stayed until the invasion of Ukraine forced me and my colleagues to leave.

What's on your screen now?

Since Russia began launching missiles at Ukraine on 24 February, I have been writing daily reports on the political talk shows that occupy the lion’s share of Russian TV schedules. I’ve just finished watching the morning edition of 60 Minutes, which is aired on Rossiya 1 TV, the country’s number one channel. It’s hosted by Olga Skabeyeva, who has been sanctioned by the EU, alongside her husband Yevgeny Popov, who since 2021 has also represented the Kremlin-backed United Russia party in the State Duma.

On another tab is Time Will Tell, the equivalent of 60 Minutes on Channel One, the country’s second-most popular TV station.

When the conversation on the shows strays away from Ukraine (which is my particular focus), I take the opportunity to scroll through the feeds of some Telegram channels. With the restrictions placed by the Russian authorities on most Western social media, Telegram has gained in popularity, meaning we now keep an even closer eye on it than we did previously.

What is the most interesting story you have covered?

If I’d been asked this question six months ago, I could have given a whole range of answers ranging from the rise of boutique investigative outlets who have punched above their weight to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and his subsequent return to immediate arrest in Moscow.

But everything else now pales in comparison to this year’s invasion of Ukraine.

While it is ultimately painful to watch Russian TV cheerleading mass death and destruction, I have also found it fascinating to follow the twisting and turning of narratives churned out by Russian state media since President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of his “special military operation”.

A woman walks past a poster depicting a Russian soldier and Russia’s Z symbol in Sevastopol, Crimea

AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

What was initially covered with triumphalist rhetoric and pitched as a limited set of objectives meant merely to clip Ukraine’s wings was later described as an existential struggle against the West. Six months on, there are signs that Russian TV is becoming aware of the risk of war fatigue setting in and has begun to return to the more general criticism of the West characteristic of recent years.

What are the biggest challenges in your role?

To start with, I would never by choice watch four hours of news and current affairs programming in a single day. I have built up a resilience to the vitriol and outright hatred voiced daily on Russian state TV talk shows, but I nonetheless encounter difficult moments when I hear familiar talking points repeated by Russian friends with whom I enjoyed close relationships while living in Moscow. Since returning to the UK, I’ve also interpreted several interviews with Ukrainians for Radio 4 and the World Service. The stark clash between what I hear on Russian TV and the harrowing accounts given by those suffering the consequences of Russia’s actions often leaves me feeling very uncomfortable.

What have you learnt while working at BBCM?

Especially since 24 February, I have learnt that words have the power to kill.

The widespread support among Russians for the war (or at least their acquiescence to it) did not arise overnight. It is the logical outcome of large parts of Russian society consuming profoundly hostile rhetoric over a period of several years. Some may argue that the anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian messaging fell on fertile ground in the form of existing prejudices, but without the Kremlin’s control of the media, and especially TV, I am convinced that this year’s invasion could not have happened.

Francis Scarr is a journalist in our Russian team

T-shirts bearing the letter Z, the insignia of Russian troops in Ukraine, at a gift shop in Moscow

KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES MONITORING.BBC.CO.UK