Dr. Marlene Laruelle, Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at George Washington University, discusses the ideology of Putin's regime, why Putin maintains domestic support despite the on-going costs of Russia's war in Ukraine, and Russia's relationship to far-right political elements in Europe and the United States. More…

Carl "Grinch" Larson, a former US soldier who served in Iraq, and then spent 6 months in 2022 fighting in the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, discusses fighting as a foreign national in Ukraine; differences between fighting in Ukraine and fighting for the US army in Iraq; challenges and lack of equipment for Ukrainian troops; and t…

Maksym Yali, Head of a Center for New World Order and Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, discusses the mood in Kyiv and possible gaind for Ukraine's counteroffensive before winter. Maksym Yali on X (twitter): @maksymyali Jessica Genauer on X (twitter): @jessicagenauer More about the host: Jessica Genau…

Miriam Hess, Associate Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, discusses Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's place in the domestic Russian political landscape and relationship to Putin, Chechens fighting on both sides in the war in Ukraine, and the possible future of the Republic of Chechnya if Putin were to no longer be in power. More about…

Mark McNamee, Europe Director at Frontier View, discusses the economic opportunities and challenges in Ukraine, the mood in Kyiv, the on-going counteroffensive, and political and economic pressures in Russia. Mark McNamee in Frontier View Insights on Implications of Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal, August 2023 Mark McNamee in Frontier View …

Catrina Doxsee, associate director and associate fellow for the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), discusses the Wagner mutiny, Wagner's relationship to the Russian state, the relationship between Yevgeny Prigozhin and Putin, and the future of Wagner activities in Africa and elsewhere. More a…

James Acuna, founder of Frontier Vectors security and business consultancy and former CIA officer, discusses the use of intelligence drones in Ukraine, the way in which open source intelligence has impacted the war, and the information domain. More on James Acuna: Founder of Frontier Vectors security and business consultancy based in Tallinn, Eston…

Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria, PhD candidate at the T.C. Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland, discusses the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia, atroctiy crimes, allegations of genocide and the implications of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for President Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova. Yvonne Breitw…

Edward Price, former British Trade Official, Principal for Geopolitical Forecasting at Ergo Intelligence and non-resident Senior Fellow at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, discusses Ukraine's financial strategy, on-going risks and global economic implications of the war in Ukraine. More about Edward Price Edward Price on The Man Fin…

Alexander Titov, Lecturer in Modern European History at Queen's University Belfast, discusses imperialism in the Northeast Asian region, Russian imperialism, common mechanisms of appropriation of former imperial territories, and possible echoes of patterns of imperial territorial conquest in Russia's current full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Alexande…

Maksym Yali, Head of a Center for New World Order and Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, comments on when we are likely to see the Ukrainian counteroffensive commence, what's at stake and where it might take place. Maksym Yali on twitter: @maksymyali Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer More abo…

Daria Isachenko, Associate at the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), discusses Turkey's relations with Russia in light of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine: Turkey-Russia relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, war in Ukraine, Presidential elections in Turkey thi…

Oleksa Drachewych, Assistant Professor in History at Western University, discusses the echoes of history in Russia's invasion of Ukraine: implications of the Bolshevik revolution and its aftermath, the use of narrative and symbols from World War II, and the brutal echoes of history in the way in which Russia has been carrying out the current invasi…

Jenny Mathers, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Aberystwyth University discusses the intersection of gender, heroism, security and war - in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine: types of heroism, different trajectories of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Russian military, and how the war might play out this year. Jenny Mathers on Ukr…

Luca Anceschi, Professor of Central and East European Studies at Glasgow University, discusses the way in which Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the Central Asian region: recalibration of relations with Moscow, how the region will navigate relations with both China and Moscow, and how the invasion is being viewed from the region. Luca Ance…

Pavel Slunkin, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, discusses Belarus' position vis-a-vis Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including what Pavel learnt from being present at the Minsk negotiations summit in February 2015, how Lukashenka's relationship with Putin has changed from Russia's territorial incursions into Ukraine in 2…

Ben Herscovitch, Research Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance, on China's position vis-a-vis Russia and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, how this position might evolve in 2023, and how lessons China is learning from Russia's invasion of Ukraine are likely to shape its approach towards Taiwan in coming years. Ben Herscovitch's subs…

Catrina Doxsee, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), outlines the relationship between Wagner and the Russian state, why PMCs are not likely to be legalized in Russia, founding and evolution of Wagner, changes in Prigozhin's behavior, and global s…

Kanykei Tursunbaeva, journalist, translator and Research Associate at the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Mark Neville, award-winning photo journalist working in Ukraine since 2015, discuss operating under conditions of war, taking photos in conflict zones, being a 'war artist' and the project Stop Tanks with Books. More about the Europ…

Niklas Masuhr, Senior Researcher and Military Analyst at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH Zurich University, discusses activities of the Wagner group; comparison of Russian and Chinese PMC activity; the role of the Wagner group in Ukraine and implications for the Russian domestic context. Charlotte Hirsbrunner and Niklas Masuhr on: Russia…

Bastian Brinkmann, journalist and Deputy Head of the Economics Department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) discusses drivers in the Germany domestic political context behind Germany's pattern of deliberation and hesitation in making each new decision regarding supplying weapons to Ukraine, German constituency in favor of supplying all necessary weap…

Lucan Way, Profesor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, discusses his recent book (with Steven Levitsky) Revolution and Dictatorship: The violent origins of durable authoritarianism - implications of violent social revolution for the character of the Soviet Union, legacies for Putin's regime, the distinct trajectories of Russia and U…

Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow at the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia program as well as Director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre discusses his latest book Russia's War on Everybody: And What it Means for You, how the Russian regime wages aggressive campaigns, cyber interference, disinformation, and the war in Ukraine. "It’s that gre…

Maksym Yali, Head of the Center for New World Order and Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, forecasts how Russia's war in Ukraine will evolve in 2023 including conflict escalation, Ukrainian military successes and expected timeline of events given up-coming Presidential elections in Russia, Ukraine and …

Maksym Yali, Head of the Center for New World Order and Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, updates on the mood in Kyiv following attacks during the festive season and Putin's recent unilateral ceasefire declaration. Maksym Yali on twitter: @maksymyali Support Maksym's work Jessica Genauer on twitter: @…

Greta Uehling, Lecturer in International and Comparative Studies at the University of Michigan, discusses her forthcoming book Everyday War: The Conflict Over Donbas, Ukraine: how the war in Ukraine has been impacting citizens' lives since 2014, responses to the war, and why interpersonal relationships matter for the experience and trajectory of wa…

James Rodgers is a journalist and author and a Reader in International Journalism at City, University of Moscow, discusses his book Assignment Moscow, working as a foreign correspondent in Moscow in the 1990s and in the 2000s under Putin's regime, the way in which the media environment has changed since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Assi…

Prof. Paul Goode, McMillan Chair in Russian Studies and Associate Professor at Carleton University discusses top-down nationalism under Putin's regime, impacts of everyday nationalism in Russia, whether nationalism is a key driver of the Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and trajectory of the war. "We should continue keeping a close eye on B…

Maksym Yali, Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, discusses life in Kyiv following infrastructure attacks across Ukraine that have caused electricity and water shortages as well as Ukrainian resolve, and comments on what we can expect on the battlefront over the winter - and when we might see a further U…

Alexander Lanoszka, Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Waterloo, discusses Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century including the purpose of alliances, NATO's response to the war in Ukraine, and how the Ukraine war is likely to shape military alliances in coming decades. Alexander Lanoszka on Military Alliance…

Una Bergmane, Research Fellow at the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki, discusses Baltic states' independence from the Soviet Union; democratization versus empire; viewing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine through the echoes of Soviet history; the possiblity of a military clash between Russia and the Baltic countries; and th…

Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technology University, on maritime security concerns in South East Asia; tensions in the South China Sea; China's build-up of maritime forces; Singapore's security concerns; India's maritime power - as well as lessons learnt from the use of maritime force in t…

Mack Tubridy, Russia researcher, reflects on the response to Russia's invasion within Russia, impact of mobilization & tensions in Georgia following influx of Russian emigres. "The priority of the ruling elite in Russia is to maintain regime stability... Russia launching an invasion [against Ukraine] invites threats to regime stability" "A lot of p…

Botakoz Kassymbekova, Lecturer in Modern History at Universitat Basel, discusses the Soviet Union as a colonial empire: forced resettlement, settler colonialism, humans as territory, the leagacies of colonialism today, and implications for the war in Ukraine. "The difference between settler colonial empires and extractive overseas empires lies in t…

Paul Lushenko, US Army Lieutenant Colonel, PhD student in International Relations and Deputy Director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, discusses drone warfare, the use of drones in counterterrorism operations, issues of legitimacy, and the use of drones by both Ukraine and Russia in the war in Ukraine. More about the Tech Policy …

Stephan Fruehling, Professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, discusses nuclear threats and the war in Ukraine: Would Putin use a nuclear weapon? How can Russia be deterred? And how might the threat of nuclear weapons use - shift the calculus for China - as well as for small and middle powers? "Nucl…

Ian Garner, historian and translator of Russian wartime propaganda, discusses his forthcoming book Stalingrad Lives! that presents narrative wartime reporting on the Battle of Stalingrad, and considers national identity, wartime narratives, and how this legacy reverberates today in Putin's rhetoric around Russia's current war in Ukraine. "The overa…

Maksym Yali, Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University on Kyiv, comments on why he believes Russia was likely behind the bombing of the bridge over the Kerch Strait that connects Crimea to Russia, and discusses the atmosphere and resolve in Kyiv following missile attacks on civilan targets and infrastructure. "Putin d…

Denis Kazakiewicz, data analyst and journalist, discusses Belarus and the war in Ukraine: Aleksandr Lukashenko's relationship with Putin, impacts of the war on the Belarusian population, significance of a recently-formed Belarusian-Russian joint military group, and how the war affects Lukashenko's grip on power. "With the joint military group, Luka…

Azamat Junisbai, Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, reflects on growing up an ethnic Kazakh in a Russian-dominated environment in Kazakhstan, Kazakh identity, the economic fallout of the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the legacy of Russian dominance, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the process of decolonizing one's own mind. "As an ethnic …

Lisa Gaufman, Assistant Professor of Russian Discourse and Politics at the University of Groningen, discusses Putin's incoherent ideology and the impact of the mobilization on Putin's perceived legitimacy in Russia and future trajectory. 'There is no coherent ideology... Putin is trying to dress up his land grab into some kind of ideological paddin…

Temur Umarov, Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discusses Kazakhstan, its relations with Russia, and the war in Ukraine - why has Tokayev refused to support Russia's full-scale invasion? How has Russia's mobilization impacted Kazakhstan? How has the war impacted other Central Asian states? 'What Kazakhstan is doing right now…

Janis Kluge, Senior Researcher at the SWP German Institute for International and Security Affairs, evaluates the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy, EU countries' decoupling from Russian energy imports, and the significance of recent 'leaks' in the Nord Stream pipelines. "The effect of sanctions is [often] slower than expected... but that does…

Ivan Klyszcz, research fellow at the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute and Doctoral Candidate at the University of Tartu, disucsses Putin's mobilization and the North Caucasus - Dagestan, Chechnya, protests and the possible impacts of mobilization. 'the mobilization puts tremendous pressure on the entire Putin system that has been ruling Russia for…

Marnie Howlett, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Oxford, discusses findings from her team's latest public opinion survey research in Ukraine - conductin surveys during a full-scale war, sentiment in Ukraine on territory, sovereignty, Ukrainians categorical opposition to conceding territory or accepting Russian-backed control and implicatio…

Oleksandr Seredyuk, graduate student at Ca'Foscari University of Venice and researcher with the Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement think tank, discusses growing up in Ukraine, Russian colonialism, the war in Ukraine, and Russian disunity as Ukraine gains on the battelfield. Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement: glueinstitute.org Follow the GL…

Maxim Alyukov, Postdoctoral Fellow at the King's College London Russia Institute, and Andrei Semenov, Senior Researcher at the Center for Comparative Historical and Political Studies, discuss their recent report on Russian propaganda setbacks and the war in Ukraine, including a large-scale analysis of the differences between how Russian state media…

Oleksander Kraiev, Director of the North America Program at the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council, comments on the counteroffensive with a view from Ukraine: restoring Ukraine's 1991 territorial borders, why taking back Crimea is increasingly realistic, Russia's logistical challenges, how Russian media channels are discussing the counteroffens…

Oxana Shevel, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, discusses Ukrainian national identity, diversity, pluralism, changes since 2014 and since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and optimism for Ukraine's future. Russia's annexation of Crimea and incursions into Urkaine in 2014 caused "the part of the country that was the m…

Nona Shahnazarian, Senior Research Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences in Yerevan, Armenia, comments on the impact of the war on Yerevan, including an influx of Russian citizens to Yerevan post-24-Feb, and discusses the trauma of loss, how the effects of conflict reverberate beyond the conflict itself. "trauma is not only a one-time event bu…