The Russia Guy
By Kevin Rothrock
The Russia GuyMay 25, 2022
E136: Returning After a Long Absence for No Good Reason
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
E135: Jade McGlynn on memory’s role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
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!
E134: Jonny Tickle on leaving RT and returning to Russia
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.
E133: Emily Holland on Boycotting Russian Oil and Gas
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”
E132: Marlene Laruelle asks Is Russia Fascist?
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)
E131 Announcement: Five Songs with Aleksandr Gorbachev
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.
E131: Five Songs with Aleksandr Gorbachev
This special installment of The Russia Guy 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.
In order, here are the songs: “Все как у людей” (or “Everything in Its Right Place”) by Noize MC, “Zodiac” by Mujuice, “Нормально” (or “Alright”) by Привет, “Святой источник” (or “Holy Source”) by Жарок, and “Ray of Sunshine” by Дима Пантюшин и Саша Липский.
E130: Nikolaus von Twickel on the Donbas War
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.
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”
E129: Elena Chernenko
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":
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E128 Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future?
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":
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E127: Anton Barbashin on Russia’s Foreign Policy Experts
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":
E126 - Sam Greene
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)
E125: Matthew Luxmoore on Denis Karagodin’s crusade in Tomsk
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)
E124: The Great Russian Oil Heist
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":
E123: Mary Ilyushina
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":
E122: The Russia Guys
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":
E121: Anton Barbashin
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":
E120: Polina Ivanova on Tragedy at Star City
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":
E119: Samantha Berkhead on Reporting in Moscow
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)
E118: Leslie Root on Russian Demography
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)
E117: Alex Kliment on Political Risk and Puppets
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)
E116: Jack Stubbs on Russian Outreach to the U.S. Right Wing
Today's guest is Jack Stubbs, the European cybersecurity correspondent at the news agency Reuters and previously a correspondent in Russia and Ukraine. About a week ago, on October 1, 2020, Jack authored an exclusive story at Reuters, titled “Russian Operation Masqueraded as Right-Wing News Site to Target U.S. Voters,” about people connected to the infamous Internet Research Agency — that troll factory founded by Evgeny Prigozhin — running a fake news outlet designed to target right-wing voters with inflammatory political messaging ahead of this year’s U.S. presidential election. According to sources familiar with an FBI probe, this is the right-wing version of a nearly identical project that targeted American leftists called Peace Data.
Follow Jack Stubbs on Twitter here and read his work at Reuters here.
Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":
- Alexandr Kuzminyh, CC BY license, "TOP 12 CARTOONS ON THE GUITAR (SOVIET CARTOONS)"
- Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”
- Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod / Link / License
- The Bandit by Kevin MacLeod / Link / License
E115: Ben Aris
Today's guest is Ben Aris, the editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews, a media outlet he pioneered that reports on business news and data from emerging markets. Ben spent many years as a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe, and he’s been covering Russia since 1993, with stints in the Baltics and Central Asia. He co-founded bne and is a former Moscow bureau chief for The Daily Telegraph and was a contributing editor at The Banker and Euromoney for a decade.
Follow Ben Aris on Twitter here.
Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":
- Alexandr Kuzminyh, CC BY license, "TOP 12 CARTOONS ON THE GUITAR (SOVIET CARTOONS)"
- Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E114: Bryan MacDonald
Bryan MacDonald, the head of the online Russia desk at the English-language edition of Russia Today, or RT, joins “The Russia Guy” to discuss his career in journalism and his views on Alexey Navalny, Western reporting, and Russian politics.
Follow him on Twitter here.
Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E113: Anna Arutunyan
Today’s guest is Anna Arutunyan, a Russian-American analyst and writer and the author of “The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia’s Power Cult” (2014) and “The Media in Russia” (2009) and the co-author of “Freedom, Repression, and Private Property in Russia” (2013). Her work has been published all over the place, and one of her most recent articles was released on August 5 in the magazine Foreign Affairs, titled “There Is No Russian Plot Against America.”
Follow Anna on Twitter here!
Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":
- Ну погоди, episode 14
- Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”
- Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod / Link / License
- The Bandit by Kevin MacLeod / Link / License
E112: Tara Reade
Today's guest is Tara Reade, the former staff assistant in Joe Biden’s Senate office, who earlier this year accused Biden of sexually assaulting her back in 1993 when she was in her late 20s. Ms. Reade has faced significant criticism not just for her allegations against Joe Biden, but also for her past statements about Russia and Vladimir Putin, which some commentators seem to believe constitute “possible Russia connections” in line with the collusion theory that Donald Trump conspired with Moscow to defeat Hillary Clinton. Ms. Reade has been asked about her views on Russia before, but not in much detail. That changes here.
For more reading about Tara Reade's allegations against Joe Biden, see the following sources:
- Megyn Kelly: The MK Interview: Tara Reade
- Current Affairs: "Tara Reade Tells Her Story" (Katie Halper's interview)
- Democracy Now! “It Shattered My Life”: Former Joe Biden Staffer Tara Reade Says He Sexually Assaulted Her in 1993
- Business Insider: A former neighbor of Joe Biden's accuser Tara Reade has come forward to corroborate her sexual-assault account, saying Reade discussed the allegations in detail in the mid-1990s
- New York Times: "Tara Reade's Tumultuous Journey to the 2020 Campaign"
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E111: Rob Lee on the Russian Mercs in Minsk
Today's guest is Rob Lee, a doctoral student in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, a former Alfa Fellow, and an ex-Marine. Rob joins "The Russia Guy" to talk about the 33 Russian nationals arrested in Belarus on July 29, 2020. Officials in Minsk say the men are mercenaries from the “Wagner” private military company (PMC) who planned to incite riots ahead of the presidential election. Russian diplomats have identified the suspects as private security guards who were merely passing through Belarus.
Follow Rob's excellent monitoring work on Twitter here.
Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E110: Nina Jankowicz on How to Lose the Information War
Today's show welcomes back Wilson Center Disinformation Fellow Nina Jankowicz, who first appeared on this podcast way back in December 2017. She's back now to discuss her new book, How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict, which "takes the reader on a journey through five Western governments' responses to Russian information warfare tactics" (Estonia, Georgia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine) and "shows what is at stake: the future of civil discourse and democracy, and the value of truth itself."
Order the book here from the publisher or at Amazon, and follow Nina on Twitter here.
Music and audio:
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E109: Andras Toth-Czifra on Arresting Khabarovsk’s Governor
Today’s show looks at the case against Khabarovsk Governor Sergey Furgal, whom federal agents arrested on Thursday, July 9, and promptly flew him to Moscow where he was arraigned on charges that he organized violence (including several contract killings) against business rivals in 2004 and 2005.
Today's guest is András Tóth-Czifra, a political analyst based in New York and the author of the No Yardstick blog, where he’s written for almost 10 years about Russian politics, often focusing on the country’s more remote regions.
Music and audio:
- Ну погоди, episode 14
- Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”
- Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod / Link / License
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E108: Alec Luhn on Environmental Reporting in Russia
A freelance journalist in Moscow with bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, Foreign Policy, The Nation, Politico, and more, guest Alec Luhn discusses reporting Russia’s Arctic and journalism about environmentalism more broadly. How do you sell Western readers on these themes? What does it take to get to remote areas where the climate crisis is most destructive? Listen and find out.
Follow Alec Luhn on Twitter here.
Music and audio:
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E107: Yuval Weber on Russia's Political Economy
Today's guest is Yuval Weber, the Kennan Institute Associate Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies. He was also the inaugural Daniel Morgan Graduate School-Kennan Institute fellow and previously taught at Harvard University as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Government.
Dr. Weber is working on a book now that asks why pro-market economic reform efforts in Russia follow similar trajectories even among very different types of government like monarchy, communism, and “sovereign democracy.”
Check out his DMGS bio here and follow him on Twitter here.
Music and audio:
- Ну погоди, episode 14
- Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”
- The Bandit by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4483-the-bandit
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4522-thinking-music
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
E106: Michael Schwirtz on Journalism and the NYT's Pulitzer Prize
On today’s show, “The Russia Guy” welcomes Michael Schwirtz, a journalist from The New York Times staff who just won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. The award was granted for “a set of enthralling stories, reported at great risk, exposing the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime.”
The newspaper's winning work includes six articles and two documentary videos published in 2019. Now an investigative reporter with The New York Times, Michael has been with the newspaper for 14 years, having started in the Moscow bureau and then working at the Metro Desk, first covering the New York City Policy Department, then as part of Metro's investigative team, reporting about brutality and corruption in the New York State prison system and at Rikers Island in New York City.
The four winning works that Michael authored or co-authored are the following:
- “Russia Ordered a Killing That Made No Sense. Then the Assassin Started Talking.”
- ”Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say”* “How Russia Meddles Abroad for Profit: Cash, Trolls and a Cult Leader”* “How a Poisoning in Bulgaria Exposed Russian Assassins in Europe”
You can read them all here:https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staff-new-york-times
Follow Michael Schwirtz on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/mschwirtz
Support this very podcast here:
www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock
Music and audio:
Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7s
Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E105: Miriam Elder
E104: Brian O’Toole on Russian Medical Supplies for NYC
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E103: Jill Dougherty
E102: The Russian Defense Policy Blog
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E101: Anton Troianovski on the USSR's Bernie Sanders Files
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E100: Julia Ioffe on Journalism and Writing
E99: Oliver Carroll on Reporting From the ‘Heart of Darkness’
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E98: Elizaveta Fokht on Russian Troll Journalism
E97: Lincoln Pigman on Russian Cybersecurity
E96: Ariel Cohen on Political Risk in Russia
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E95: Olesya Vartanyan on South Caucasus Breakaway Regions
E94: Gasan Gusejnov on the ‘Miserable and Foul Russian Language’
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
E93: Tikhon Dzyadko on Russian Journalism
E92: Government Phone Lines in Russia
E91: Alina Polyakova on Exporting Digital Authoritarianism
E90: Mike Eckel on the Beslan School Siege
E89: Alexandra Urman on the ‘Here We Stand’ Student Initiative
E88: Christopher Miller on Journalism and Reporting From Ukraine
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)