Best Meduza Podcasts (2025)

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‘The bureau’s niche project’. Meduza reveals how the FSB gave rise to wartime Russia’s most notorious far-right group

2h ago

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Russkaya Obshchina’s second all-Russian congress. March 2025. The far-right nationalist group Russkaya Obshchina (“Russian Community”) had been around for four years already when it rose to prominence in 2024. Around the same time, activists and human rights groups began documenting an increase in anti-migrant sentiment across Russia, linked in par…

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Kremlin spokesperson says Moscow has helped Iran by taking a ‘clear position’

1h ago

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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has responded to criticism that Russia has not done enough to support Iran. “There are many who would like to pour fuel on the fire and damage the partnership between Moscow and Tehran,” Peskov said at a briefing, as quoted by The Telegram channel You Listened to Mayak. “Russia has indeed supported Iran through th…

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Ukrainian drone hits apartment building near Moscow, injuring two

3h ago

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A Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in Krasnogorsk, a city just outside Moscow, according to Governor Andrey Vorobyov. He said a fire broke out on the 17th floor, covering about 20 square meters (250 square feet). Emergency crews extinguished the blaze, and all residents evacuated the building on their own. Vorobyov said two people were …

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Russian drone strike on Sumy region village kills three, including child

5h ago

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Russian forces launched an overnight drone strike on a village in the Verkhnia Syrovatka hromada in Ukraine’s Sumy region, according to Governor Oleh Hryhorov. The attack killed three people — a man, a woman, and a five-year-old boy. Hryhorov said the victims were from different families but had all lived on the same street. Another six people, inc…

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Pulitzer-winner Benjamin Nathans on the Soviet dissident movement’s ‘many lives’ 53:59

2h ago53:59

53:59

Historian Benjamin Nathans joins The Naked Pravda to discuss his new book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton University Press, August 2024). In the post-Stalin USSR, when the regime seemed eternal and there was little tradition of resistance to totalitarianism, citizens who came up agai…

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‘Siarhei is free’. Belarusian opposition leader says husband plans to ‘continue the fight’ after sudden release from prison

2h ago

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Former political prisoner Siarhei Tsikhanouski embraces his wife, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in Vilnius The Belarusian opposition celebrated a win over the weekend as 14 political prisoners were unexpectedly freed, including Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of exiled former presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskay…

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Russia’s receding river. How the Volga’s falling water level is reshaping life along its shores

2h ago

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In the spring of 2025, the Volga River — Russia’s largest shipping artery — became alarmingly shallow. The low water level is likely to have far-reaching effects across the Volga basin, worsening pollution in the river and its tributaries, killing off fish populations, reducing drinking water quality, and even impacting tourism. At the request of t…

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Former NATO Military Committee chair says ‘small Russian attack’ on Estonia wouldn’t trigger immediate armed response by alliance

3h ago

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s collective defense principle wouldn’t necessarily trigger an immediate armed response in the event of a “small attack” by Russia against a member like Estonia, Admiral Rob Bauer, former Chair of the NATO Military Committee, told the newspaper Die Welt in a June 23 interview. Bauer explained that a small Russ…

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Trump slams former Russian president’s ‘N word’ nuclear threats following U.S. airstrikes on Iran

4h ago

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Update: Dmitry Medvedev has responded to Donald Trump, tweeting an image of text that reads in part: “Russia has no intention of supplying nuclear weapons to Iran” and “we definitely shouldn’t be arguing over who has more nukes.” On Monday, June 23, U.S. President Donald Trump responded to Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev’s …

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Russian missile strike hits school in Ukraine’s Odesa region, killing at least two

5h ago

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Russian forces launched a ballistic missile strike on the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine’s Odesa region, destroying an educational facility, according to Governor Oleh Kiper. Two people were killed and at least 12 others were injured, three of them critically, Kiper said. Rescue crews continued to clear the rubble, where more people may s…

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Putin meets with Iranian foreign minister, calls strikes on Iran ‘completely unprovoked aggression’

3h ago

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Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the Kremlin press service reported on Monday. During the meeting, Putin denounced the recent strikes on Iran, calling them an act of “completely unprovoked” aggression. “There is absolutely no basis or justification for this completely unprovoked aggression against I…

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At least nine dead in large-scale Russian strike on Kyiv

13h ago

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Update: According to the latest figures from local authorities, nine civilians were killed in the attack, including an 11-year-old girl. Another 34 people were injured, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported. Russian forces carried out a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, overnight on Monday, killing at least six c…

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Russia condemns U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites

2h ago

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday condemning the United States for conducting strikes on nuclear sites in Iran, calling the attacks a violation of international law. “Russia strongly condemns the U.S. strikes carried out at dawn on June 22 against a number of nuclear facilities in Iran, following Israeli attacks on the Islamic …

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Belarus releases Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 other political prisoners after Lukashenko meets with Trump envoy

1d ago

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The Belarusian authorities have released 14 political prisoners, including Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the husband of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, according to the newspaper Nasha Niva. John Coale, an aide to U.S. presidential envoy Keith Kellogg, announced the release on X. “President Trump’s strong leadership led to the release of 14 pri…

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An economic reality check. Officials clash at St. Petersburg forum over the perfect weather metaphors for Russia’s recession risks and the ruble’s strength

2d ago

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Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov (center) The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is known for the noise it generates in the news media, but SPIEF also hosts some substantive discussions. This year, one of the forum’s most consequential exchanges was between high-ranking officials and state bankers about Russia’s risk…

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‘We really are in a perfect storm’. Russia’s finance minister admits federal budget is facing ‘serious turbulence’

3d ago

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Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. St. Petersburg, Russia. June 20, 2025. At an event on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made a telling remark. In his words, the country’s federal budget, which has posted a deficit in t…

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‘Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that’s ours,’ Vladimir Putin declares

3d ago

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“I’ve said it before, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours. There’s an old rule that wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that’s ours,” Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The president made these remarks at an economic forum in St. Petersburg in response to a question about how far the Russian army might advanc…

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Nepo babies and Kremlin Labubu dolls. The stranger sights at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

3d ago

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Nepo babies and Kremlin Labubu dolls The stranger sights at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is taking place from June 18 to 20. Once considered one of Europe’s most prestigious economic gatherings — a place where world leaders rubbed shoulders and multibillion-dollar deals were…

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Russian single mother sentenced to 18 years for allegedly trying to flee to Ukraine and join the Freedom of Russia Legion

3d ago

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A Yekaterinburg military court has sentenced 48-year-old Vera Sidorkina, a resident of Yoshkar-Ola, to 18 years in prison on charges of treason and attempting to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, Mediazona reports. The trial revealed that Sidorkina was detained on April 24, 2024. However, the FSB did not announce her arrest until October 30, when …

1
Russian air defenses shoot down two drones near Moscow, mayor says

3d ago

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Russian air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow on Friday morning, the city’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said. He said emergency crews were dispatched to the site where debris from one of the drones fell, though he did not specify the location. Between 8:00 p.m. local time on June 19 and 7:00 a.m. on June 20, Russian forces inter…

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Russian drones strike Odesa and Kharkiv overnight, killing at least one

3d ago

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Russian forces launched drone attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Odesa and Kharkiv in the early hours of Friday. In Odesa, at least one person was killed and 14 others were injured, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said three firefighters were among the injured. A four-story apartment building in the …

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Zelensky appoints new commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces

3d ago

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Hennadii Shapovalov as commander of the country’s Ground Forces, according to a decree published on June 19 on the president’s website. Until February 2025, Shapovalov led Ukraine’s Operational Command South. He then served as Ukraine’s representative to NATO’s Security Assistance and Training fo…

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‘A false semblance of choice’. Putin’s latest passportization deadline dials up the pressure on civilians in Ukraine’s occupied territories

4d ago

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Russian passports ready to be issued to residents of Melitopol, an occupied city in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. June 11, 2022. Ukrainians living under occupation have long faced pressure to assume Russian citizenship. But in March, Vladimir Putin turned things up a notch. In a decree aimed at boosting the Kremlin’s campaign to force Russian pass…

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‘What even is propaganda?’. How Russia’s murky anti-LGBTQ laws fuel a repressive campaign that makes the state millions

4d ago

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The Russian Supreme Court’s designation of the non-existent “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization in 2023 marked the latest legal escalation in the Kremlin’s increasingly repressive campaign against LGBTQ+ people. Over the past decade, the number of cases opened under Russia’s notorious “LGBT propaganda” laws has grown eighteen…

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Argentina says it uncovered Russian spy ring suspected of disinformation efforts

4d ago

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Argentine intelligence has identified five Russian nationals suspected of espionage activities linked to “Russia’s geopolitical interests,” presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said. “The intelligence service identified a group of Russian residents in Argentina who were allegedly engaged in suspicious activity in service of Russia’s geopolitical…

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Moscow and Kyiv carry out another prisoner exchange

4d ago

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Russia and Ukraine have carried out another prisoner exchange, both sides confirmed. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a “group of Russian servicemen” had returned from Ukrainian captivity but did not specify how many. The repatriated soldiers are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological and medical care. Ukrainian President V…

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E.U. weighs riskier investments of frozen Russian assets to boost returns and raise more funds for Ukraine — Politico

4d ago

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The European Commission is considering transferring approximately 200 billion euros ($229.4 billion) in frozen Russian assets into a new, higher-risk investment fund that could yield greater returns, Politico reported, citing four people familiar with the discussions. Most of the frozen Russian funds are held at Euroclear, a securities depository b…

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‘Let the one without sin cast the first stone’. At St. Petersburg forum, Putin dismisses NATO rearmament, denies civilian toll in Kyiv strike, and quotes the Bible

4d ago

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On Wednesday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin spent more than two hours fielding questions from foreign journalists at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He dismissed fears of a Russian attack on NATO as a Western ploy to distract from domestic economic failures, repeated Kremlin talking points questioning Ukrainian President…

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Economy minister warns Russia is ‘on the brink of recession,’ finance minister and central bank head disagree

4d ago

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Russia is “on the brink of a recession,” Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “In terms of the numbers, we’re seeing a slowdown — but all our figures are essentially a rearview mirror,” Reshetnikov said, as quoted by RBC. “Based on how businesses are feeling right now and on leadi…

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Some Russian highways will ‘never’ have mobile coverage due to ‘closed zones,’ says road agency head

4d ago

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Some sections of Russian highways will never have mobile coverage, according to Vyacheslav Petushenko, the head of the state-owned road company Avtodor, Kommersant reported. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Petushenko said the lack of service in certain areas is due to the roads passing through “closed zones.” “There are…

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Sky-high evidence. Satellite imagery confirms Russia’s capacity for expanded fortifications at Finnish border while waging full-scale war on Ukraine

4d ago

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Russia is making progress on an initiative to expand its military presence near the Finnish border, according to a new report by the Finnish media outlet Yle. The military has begun constructing a new artillery brigade installation in Kandalaksha, in the Murmansk region, while simultaneously expanding its hardware on the Karelian Isthmus. This expa…

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Everyday politics in Russia with Jeremy Morris 1:16:16

26d ago1:16:16

1:16:16

Anthropologist Jeremy Morris joins The Naked Pravda to discuss his latest book, Everyday Politics in Russia: From Resentment to Resistance (Bloomsbury, March 2025). The conversation explores Morris’s extensive fieldwork across urban, regional, and rural Russia to understand how society has responded to the collapse of the USSR, capitalist social Da…

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Jill Dougherty’s Russia 46:36

2M ago46:36

46:36

The Naked Pravda interviews journalist and author Jill Dougherty about her new memoir, My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin, where she recounts her experiences studying and working in Russia. Dougherty talks about early influences, such as discovering the Russian language through an eccentric schoolteacher and later watching the Moon landing fr…

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The banking scandal that broke Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition 34:28

8M ago34:28

34:28

Last month, as another 30 days of war passed in Ukraine, Russian activists, economists, and politicians in the exiled anti-Kremlin opposition spent much of their time arguing about a banking scandal from the last decade. The debate has been as mystifying to outsiders as it is confusing to those without an education in finance. With help from Ilya S…

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Moldova’s knife-edge election and E.U. referendum 36:42

8M ago36:42

36:42

On October 20, Moldovans cast their ballots in both a presidential election and a constitutional referendum — and the results shocked many. In the referendum, which asked whether the country should change its constitution to include the goal of joining the European Union, the “yes” vote won by just over 50 percent. Meanwhile, in the presidential el…

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How Russian propaganda and ordinary Americans build ‘bespoke realities’ 42:03

8M ago42:03

42:03

Earlier this week, journalists at WIRED and The Washington Post reported that a “Russian-aligned propaganda network notorious for creating deepfake whistleblower videos” appears to be behind a coordinated effort to promote false sexual misconduct allegations against vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. At WIRED, David Gilbert wrote that researcher…

1
North Korea's role in the Ukraine War 29:14

8M ago29:14

29:14

In the past few days, both the Zelensky administration in Kyiv and South Korea’s national spy agency have said that they believe North Korea has decided to send more than ten thousand troops to support Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. On October 18, following an emergency security meeting called by South Korea’s president, the country’s National …

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Breaking down Russia's 2025 war budget 28:15

9M ago28:15

28:15

The Russian government’s new draft budget for 2025 through 2027 was introduced to the State Duma this week in its first reading. The state’s proposed spending exceeds earlier predictions, with 41.5 trillion rubles (more than $435 billion) allocated for next year alone — and that may not be the final amount. A record share of the budget is classifie…

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The North Caucasian clan warfare behind a deadly dispute at Wildberries, ‘Russia’s Amazon’ 25:45

9M ago25:45

25:45

Wildberries founder and CEO Tatyana Kim (who recently restored her maiden name) has been having a hell of a time shaking loose her husband, Vladislav Bakalchuk, but their very public divorce is just the tip of the iceberg in what’s become a battle between some of the most powerful political groups in Russia’s North Caucasus. On September 18: Vladis…

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America's expanding crackdown on RT and Moscow's covert influence operations 45:26

9M ago45:26

45:26

Last month, the FBI raided the homes of Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector and critic of American foreign policy, and Dimitri Simes, a former think tank executive and an adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. In late August, The New York Times reported that these searches were part of the U.S. Justice Department’…

1
Iranian ballistic missiles have entered the Ukraine War chat 22:45

9M ago22:45

22:45

The Pentagon says it’s confirmed that Iran has given “a number of close-range ballistic missiles to Russia.” While Washington isn’t sure exactly how many rockets are being handed over to Moscow, the U.S. Defense Department assesses that Russia could begin putting them to use within a few weeks, “leading to the deaths of even more Ukrainian civilian…

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The science of Russian Internet censorship and surveillance 34:57

10M ago34:57

34:57

Russia’s federal censor has been throttling YouTube playback speeds for the last month or so, just like it slowed Twitter data transfer speeds back in 2021. Throughout August, Russian Internet users have reported sudden and widespread outages in access to popular apps and services like Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype, Wikipedia, Steam, Discord, and more.…

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Russian conscripts and Ukraine's Kursk offensive 37:23

10M ago37:23

37:23

It’s been almost two weeks since the Ukrainian Armed Forces smashed through Russia’s border defenses in the Kursk region and began a surprise offensive that has advanced about 17 miles at its deepest point, according to Meduza’s estimates. Regional officials in Kursk have evacuated towns along the Ukrainian border, and more than 120,000 people have…

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The long-term economic effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine 39:49

1y ago39:49

39:49

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the West has imposed over 16,000 sanctions on Russia, intending to cripple the economy driving the Kremlin’s war machine. But the much-anticipated collapse of Russia’s economy never came to pass. In fact, Russia’s wartime economy has proven to be surprisingly resilient, with the IMF estimating …

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How can Ukraine hold the line against Russia? 30:40

1y ago30:40

30:40

It’s a tense moment for Ukraine. The optimism that followed Ukraine’s early successes on the battlefield in 2022 started to fade last summer as its counteroffensive failed to achieve a breakthrough. By late 2023, Ukraine’s then-commander-in-chief said the war had reached a “stalemate” — and by the start of the spring, things were looking even worse…

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Kazakhstan's landmark murder trial 45:31

1y ago45:31

45:31

For the past two months, millions of Kazakhstanis have been glued to their screens, witnessing a landmark moment in the nation’s history: a murder trial live-streamed on YouTube. This was the trial of Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan’s former economic minister, who was convicted of torturing and killing his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, on November 9, 20…

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‘The American faith’: Why Russia targets evangelicals in Ukraine 37:32

1y ago37:32

37:32

Historically, Ukraine has been home to people of a variety of faiths and religious denominations, and it’s been exceptionally “open to receiving a wide spectrum of religious communities” in the years since the collapse of the U.S.S.R, according to expert Catherine Wanner. This laissez-faire approach to religion stands in stark contrast to Russian s…

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Corruption and co-optation in Russia’s autocracy 28:39

1y ago28:39

28:39

It’s strange days recently at Russia’s Defense Ministry. Amid the replacement of the agency’s head, police have brought large-scale bribery charges against at least two senior officials in the Defense Ministry, raising questions about the state of corruption in Russia’s military and the Kremlin’s approach to the phenomenon in wartime. Also earlier …

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How Russian disinformation really threatens the USA 30:50

1y ago30:50

30:50

The leadup to voting this November will renew fears in the United States about Russian malign influence. That means more paranoia from politicians, more alarming op-eds and white papers from the institutes created and funded to draw attention to foreign disinformation, and more mutual suspicions among ordinary people on social media, where journali…

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Returning to the talks that could have ended the war in Ukraine 33:01

1y ago33:01

33:01

Over the past few weeks, many in the think-tank community have argued about the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in the first two months of the full-scale invasion, following an article published on April 16 in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Talks That Could Have Ended the War in Ukraine: A Hidden History of Diplomacy That Came Up Short — but Hol…

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