Vote to end EU golden passports for Russians - a podcast by BBC World Service

from 2022-03-09T16:15

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The European Parliament will vote on whether Russians should qualify for golden passports. These enable wealthy individuals to buy citizenship or residence in another country, and Slovakian Member of the European Parliament Vladimir Bilcik explains why he hopes to see a total ban on them for Russian citizens. Also in the programme, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine now in its fourteenth day, Maksym Nikanov, who runs a business providing professional training and employment for Ukrainian students abroad, and is currently sheltering 30km west of Kyiv, tells us what life has been like for the past fortnight. With the race on to track down and impound some of the world's biggest and most dazzling yachts owned by Russian oligarchs, in retaliation for the Kremlin's Ukraine invasion, the BBC's Ed Butler explores the legal and logistical challenges around such moves. Plus, as the second anniversary of the World Health Organisation declaring the coronavirus pandemic approaches, we hear about two recent studies that conclude a wet animal market in Wuhan was the source of the disease, rather than a possible leak from a lab. Dr Michael Worobey from the University of Arizona co-authored both studies, and we get reaction to the news from Peter Knights, founder and president of the San Francisco animal charity Wild Aid, which has campaigned for years against wild animal markets.

Today's edition is presented by Mike Johnson, and produced by Will Bain, Ivana Davidovic and Gabriele Shaw.

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