Putin’s pawns in the high-stakes game of hostage diplomacy
Amanpour - A podcast by CNN
We begin this hour with Putin’s political pawns, and the dangerous hostage diplomacy at play in the Kremlin. It’s now a year since the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich became the first American journalist detained on espionage charges since the Cold War. Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of jailed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, discusses the fight to free Russia's political prisoners. In a significant sign of growing dissent inside the Biden camp over the Gaza crisis, US State Department staffer Annelle Sheline resigned in protest this week. She tells Christiane why her job to advocate for human rights had become impossible. Then, Zahiro-Shahar Mor, whose elderly uncle is still captive in Gaza, accuses the Israeli government of misleading the public, and failing the remaining hostages. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite system has become vital to Ukrainian troops, especially its drone pilots. But now it’s being used against them by Russian soldiers, who were never meant to have access to it. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh investigates how Russia appears to be bypassing US sanctions. From the Amanpour Archive this week, Christiane's 2015 interview with Gloria Steinem, whose tireless advocacy and undercover journalism made her a global feminist icon. And finally, after seeing his family's home destroyed in Gaza, and fleeing one bombing after another, Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha eventually found refuge in Egypt with his wife and children. Christiane asks Mosab to read a poem inspired by the life and home he left behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices