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Interview: NPR's David Greene on "Midnight in Siberia"

David Gilkey
/
NPR

In a year full of major international news stories, it’s fair to say Russia has been among the biggest.

From the Sochi Olympic Games, to its annex of Crimea, to new confrontations with the West over Ukraine, Russia – and its longtime president, Vladimir Putin – has dominated the headlines in 2014.

But NPR's David Greene found inspiration in Russia’s smaller stories, in the villages and people along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Greene, who currently hosts Morning Edition, was NPR's Moscow Bureau Chief for three years, and chronicled his second 6,000-mile trip on the Trans-Siberian in a new book, Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia.

Greene spoke with WBOI’s Sean Bueter about what it was like becoming a foreign correspondent, how Russia changed him, and what life is like for ordinary Russians living thousands of miles from Moscow.