The Russia Guy

Kevin returns to run his mouth about recent events in the Russia-Ukraine world, and other stuff. Topics discussed here: Twitter ad revenue sharing Russia's new Moon mission, Luna-25 Slow counteroffensive darkens mood in Ukraine Sergey Vakulenko on the Black Sea naval war Blocking VPNs and Google services Navalny's essay from prison on Russia in the 1990s Viral videos: Alexander Dudka, the collaborationist mayor of Lazurne in the occupied Kherson region, and an argument at a playground between mothers in Krasnodar

Today’s guest is Dr. Jade McGlynn, a specialist in Russian memory and foreign policy at the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies and the author of two books: “The Kremlin’s Memory Makers” and “Russia’s War.” Discussed in this interview: the Kremlin’s claims that Russia is fighting an existential battle in Ukraine, how memory shapes that conversation, balancing dispassionate scholarly work and ethical advocacy, and more!

Today’s show features an interview with Jonny Tickle, a man with an incredible name and a controversial resume, given that he worked as a writer for Russia Today — RT — right up until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. He left the country shortly thereafter, but he’s since returned (like quite a few others), and he’s even resumed his YouTube travel vlog where he visits cities across Russia and talks about the local scene and attractions. Jonny agreed to come on The Russia Guy to talk about being back in Russia, what’s in store for him next, and what life is like in a country at war where you can’t even call it a war. Skip to the bits you want: (1:26) Being safe in Russia today. (3:46) Why go back to Russia? (11:36) The vibe on the streets of Moscow. (19:33) Today’s journalism about Russia.

Today’s guest is Dr. Emily Holland, an assistant professor in the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, where she teaches and researches subjects like the Cold War, Russia, energy politics, diplomacy, geopolitics, and more. Follow her on Twitter here. In the interview you’re about to hear, Dr. Holland describes her background and the nature of her job at the Naval War College before explaining the challenges and tradeoffs inherent in the West’s efforts to isolate Russia’s oil and gas industries. Timestamps for this episode: (5:56) How did you get into studying Russia? (7:53) Mixing a geopolitical and cultural interest in Russia. (10:05) What is the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College? (14:24) The identity crisis among Russia studies scholars in the U.S. (19:25) Resistance to “strategic empathy.” (21:24) The next generation of American experts on Russia. (22:49) Expanding diversity among America’s Russia scholars. (25:02) What are the tradeoffs of boycotting Russian fuel? (33:21) Cracks in the newly reinvigorated Transatlantic unity. Music: Joey Pecoraro, “Russian Dance,” and Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”

Today’s guest is Dr. Marlene Laruelle, the director of Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University. On this episode of The Russia Guy, Dr. Laruelle discussed her 2021 book, “Is Russia Fascist? Unraveling Propaganda East and West,” and its relevance to today’s crisis in Ukraine. We focused specifically on the book’s insights into Russian geopolitics and post-colonialism. Read more about the book here! Timestamps for this episode: (3:02) Is the book about Putin or Russia?  (4:10) What’s the role of Russian illiberalism in the current Ukraine crisis? (6:40) Why is Russia pressing its case in Ukraine at precisely this moment? (8:46) Would Russia get along better with a more illiberal Europe? (11:34) Vladimir Putin vs. Charles de Gaulle (14:59) Russia’s post-imperial struggle (22:37) Normalcy for Russia vs. normalcy for the West Music and audio for "The Russia Guy": Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance" Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки” Oi Čorna by Yale Women's Slavic Chorus (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US) Table Dance by The Underscore Orkestra (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US) Support this show on Patreon!

This is to notify listeners of a special installment of The Russia Guy that utilizes “Music + Talk,” Anchor’s Spotify integration, for a music-focused episode featuring music journalist Aleksandr Gorbachev, who selected five recent Russian songs that signify for him the state of affairs and everyday life in Russia now. The episode is available exclusively on Spotify here and on Telegram here.

This episode’s guest is Nikolaus von Twickel, a journalist-turned-analyst who specializes on the war in eastern Ukraine. He is now an editor at the Center for Liberal Modernity in Berlin, and he previously served as a media liaison officer for the OSCE Monitoring Mission in Donetsk. In 2020, he co-authored a book with Thomas de Waal called “Beyond Frozen Conflict: Scenarios for the Separatist Disputes of Eastern Europe,” which looks at the Donbas, Transdniestria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorny Karabakh. Follow Nikolaus on Twitter! Timestamps for this episode: (2:22) Welcome back and introduction (6:13) Nikolaus explains why he thinks Russia has mobilized its troops outside Ukraine (8:45) Is it nonsense for Russia to claim that Kyiv is considering an assault on the Donbas? (15:49) Is Minsk II the only way forward diplomatically in the Donbas or is it now a dead agreement? (19:36) Is Zelensky still viewed in the West as pragmatic? (22:17) Can Russia claim to defend the interests of people in the Donbas if the breakaway “republics” are police states? (28:48) Outro and closing plug for donations! Music and audio for "The Russia Guy": Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance" Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки” Support the show at Patreon!

Elena Chernenko, a special correspondent at the newspaper Kommersant who focuses on cybersecurity, non-proliferation, and arms control, joins the show to talk about arriving at foreign-affairs journalism, navigating Russia's contemporary media environment, and staying sane in an increasingly crazy world.Follow her on Twitter here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

On today's episode, Kevin speaks to the scholars behind the new book “Navalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future?” The three authors: Jan Matti Dollbaum, a postdoctoral researcher at Bremen University, Morvan Lallouet, a PhD candidate at the University of Kent, and Ben Noble, a lecturer in Russian Politics at University College London.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's show welcomes back Anton Barbashin, a political analyst focusing on Russia and the editorial director at Riddle, for a conversation about the different schools of thought and general drift and direction of foreign-policy expertise inside Russia.Follow Anton on Twitter here and read Ivan Timofeyev's Valdai Club article here (in Russian), which is cited during the interview.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is Dr. Sam Greene, the director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London and the co-author of the 2019 book “Putin V. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia."Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Счастье вдруг (из х/ф Иван Васильевич меняет профессию)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Matthew Luxmoore, a Moscow-based correspondent for RFE/RL, discusses his March 2021 article about an amateur researcher in Tomsk named Denis Karagodin who’s spent the better part of a decade compiling archival documents about the execution of his great-grandfather in 1938 by officers in the NKVD. Earlier this year, the local authorities reportedly started building a criminal case against Karagodin on defamation charges filed by the relatives of some of his grandfather’s supposed executioners. Read the article at RFE/RL here and follow Matt on Twitter here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Счастье вдруг (из х/ф Иван Васильевич меняет профессию)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is Sergei Khazov-Cassia, a correspondent in Moscow for RFE/RL's Russian Service. In this interview, Kevin asks Sergei about his recent investigative report on industrial-scale oil theft in Russia.Read an English-language translation of the story, “The Great Russian Oil Heist,” right here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is Mary Ilyushina, a Moscow-based journalist and producer at CNN who previously worked at RBC. She’s recently worked on stories like the Navalny trial and the protests in Russia, as well as in Belarus, and she was kind enough to come on this podcast to talk about her career, her upbringing, and just generally her life.Follow Mary on Twitter here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's episode is a co-hosted news-in-review show with Canadian journalist Neil Hauer about political unrest in Yerevan (where Neil is based), Amnesty International's leaked internal decision to revoke Alexey Navalny's prisoner-of-conscience status, and Team Navalny's efforts to open a campaign office in Dagestan.Follow Neil on Twitter here and support his journalism at Patreon here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

This episode's guest is Anton Barbashin, the editorial director at Riddle, an online publication that focuses on Russian affairs and features some of the sharpest expert insights in the field, particularly from young specialists and scholars. From 2015 to 2018, Anton was a managing editor of Intersection, a Warsaw-based Russian affairs journal, and he's worked as an analyst at the Center for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding. His writings have also appeared at Foreign Affairs, The American Interest, openDemocracy Russia, Forbes Russia, and more.Follow Anton Barbashin on Twitter here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Reuters special correspondent Polina Ivanova discusses her November 2020 article “The Woman Who Fell From the Sky,” about Star City (the secretive home of Russia's space program) and about the death of Natalya Lebedeva,  a doctor who found herself caught up in the confusion and panic of the pandemic’s early days. Incidentally, Longform.org selected the text as one of the best science long-reads of 2020.Follow Polina on Twitter here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is Samantha Berkhead, a news editor at The Moscow Times, where she’s reported on all manner of things over the past two years, including Internet memes, Tolstoy’s descendants living in the sticks, witchcraft, queer culture, kinky parties (more about this in the interview), feminism, and a lot, lot more.Follow her on Twitter here and at The Moscow Times here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Счастье вдруг (из х/ф Иван Васильевич меняет профессию)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is Dr. Leslie Root, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Demography at UC Berkeley. Dr. Root recently completed "Fertility in Transition in 21st-Century Russia," a dissertation on childbearing and fertility changes over the course of the Putin era in Russia. Follow Leslie on Twitter here, and visit her website here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Счастье вдруг (из х/ф Иван Васильевич меняет профессию)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is Alex Kliment, the creative director at GZERO Media, Eurasia Group's global-politics-oriented independent media spinoff, where he directs “Puppet Regime,” a political satire puppet series. Additionally, Alex is the senior editor of Eurasia Group’s global politics newsletter, “Signal.” Alex also composes film scores, and he’s put that musical talent to work for GZERO, as well.Follow Alex on Twitter here and watch "Puppet Regime" on YouTube here.Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Счастье вдруг (из х/ф Иван Васильевич меняет профессию)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)