What does Vladimir Putin want? What makes him so dangerous? How can he be fought? What role could countries like China play in solving the crisis of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Are we on the brink of nuclear war? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Mark Galeotti in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. 

A renowned author, speaker and professor at University College London, Mark Galeotti is an expert on Russian politics and Vladimir Putin, having authored several books on these topics. With a degree in History from Robinson College in Cambridge, Galeotti directs the consultancy firm Mayak Intelligence, and has been a professor at Rutgers University in Newark, at New York University, at Charles University in Prague and at MGIMO in Moscow and has worked for the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office. 

In this episode, Galeotti discusses Vladimir Putin's political career, how he is more like a judoka than a chess master, and the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on today’s Russia and on its leader. Galeotti also analyses the role propaganda, disinformation, and control of the media play in Putin’s grip on power, the nature of the Russian regime and Putin's relationship with its "oligarchs". Finally, Galeotti also considers the actions of the Russian armed forces in the war in Ukraine, the reasons for the difficulties they have faced, the possible impact of Western sanctions against Russia, plausible scenarios for an end to the war, and Russia's growing external isolation, in a conversation worth listening to. 

More on this topic

• The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia, Mark Galeotti, 2018 

• Russian Political War, Mark Galeotti, 2019 

• We Need To Talk About Putin, Mark Galeotti, 2019 

• The Weaponisation of Everything, Mark Galeotti, 2002 

• In Moscow’s Shadows, Mark Galeotti’s podcast 

• Mark Galeotti on the Russian invasion of Ukraine  

• Videocast [IN] Pertinente “Where does the greatest threat to the West lie? In Moscow or Beijing?” François Heisbourg 

Other references in Portuguese

• Essay of the Foundation, “Rússia e Europa: uma parte do todo”, by José Milhazes

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa, “Que Rússia é esta e como chegámos até aqui?”, with Carlos Gaspar and Sandra Fernandes

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente, “É possível compreender a Rússia”, with Raquel Vaz-Pinto and Pedro Vieira