KennanX

Russia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the Kremlin's approach to public health is inextricable from its national security goals. Jill Dougherty and Nataliya Shok discuss the evolution of public health policy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Sputnik V vaccine as a foreign policy tool, and what policymakers should know about Russian influence in global health policy.

The National Security Archive at George Washington University is the largest independent non-government collection of declassified US documents and a goldmine of primary resources for scholars of US-Russia relations. Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, and Dr. Svetlana Savranskaya, a senior analyst and director of the Archive's Russia programs, share what they have uncovered about post-Cold War politics, the context behind Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the US government information classification system itself.

“Is Putin insane?” Vladimir Putin's speeches can offer insight into the Kremlin's political thought patterns and intentions, but they are often misunderstood. Jill Dougherty sits down with Ivan Grek, Director of the Russia Program at George Washington University's Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, who created a linguistic profile of Vladimir Putin to better understand the Russian leader's approach to statecraft.

Russia is determined that its war in Ukraine will shape the outlines of the future world order, and it's using influence operations to ensure the outcome will be in Russia's favor. Washington Post international investigative reporter Catherine Belton joins Jill Dougherty to discuss the crucial role of influence operations in Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, common Russian disinformation talking points, and the ultimate goal of Russian strategic operations in the United States and around the world.

Jill Dougherty sits down with former US Ambassador to Russia and Bulgaria John R. Beyrle to discuss their shared foundational experiences in Soviet Russia, including as US exchange students in then-Leningrad and later as American National Exhibition guides, and how they still inform their work in journalism and diplomacy today.

Ukraine isn't the only country that's fighting Russian influence for its democratic future. Tinatin Khidasheli, Georgia's first female minister of defense and current Chairperson at Civic IDEA (Initiative for Democratic and Euro-Atlantic Choice), an NGO in Georgia, joins Jill Dougherty to discuss tensions between Georgia's government and its civil society over the direction of the country's future, including this year's mass protests against a proposed “foreign agents” law, and expectations for Georgia's upcoming presidential election in 2024. k

A shocking number of Kremlin opponents have been left dead or permanently injured from poisonings. During a trip to Prague in May 2023, Free Russia Foundation President and Founder Natalia Arno became one of the latest individuals to develop poisoning symptoms after speaking out against political oppression in Russia. Arno shares her harrowing story with Jill Dougherty, and the two also discuss the work of Russia's political activists in exile, the Kremlin's history of transnational oppression of its political opponents, and the signs of hope she sees for Russia's democratic future.

Jill Dougherty sits down with Zhanna Nemtsova to discuss her work with the Boris Nemtsov Foundation, which Zhanna founded in 2015 in Germany after her father's assassination, and the generational gaps that have divided Russian civil society. Their conversation touched on the prevailing apathy of Russian society in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, propaganda in higher education being used to advance Putin's agenda, and why the key to Russia's democratization lies in education reform. Show notes and episode transcript: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/audio/kennanx-episode-28-zhanna-nemtsova

Jonatan Vseviov, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Estonian Ambassador to the US, joins Jill Dougherty to discuss what it means to conduct foreign policy for a country that shares a border with Russia, particularly in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They discuss how Estonia's fraught relationship with the Soviet Union and later Russia shaped the Baltic country's security concerns, and explore how Russia's war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed European security and partnerships.

Food scholar and author Darra Goldstein joins Jill Dougherty to discuss her new book, The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food. They cover the origins and histories of many classic Russian dishes and ingredients as well as their place within the broader culture. Their conversation also touches on the political dynamics between food culture and nationalism during Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. For show notes, please visit: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/audio/kennanx-episode-26-russian-cuisine-and-conflict-darra-goldstein

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan joins Jill Dougherty following an ambassadorship during one of the most tumultuous periods of U.S.-Russia relations to provide his perspective on the current relationship and Russia's troubling diplomatic strategies. Their discussion also touches on the domestic impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin's changing relationship with Evgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group. For more information, visit our website: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/audio/kennanx-episode-25-russia-serious-about-diplomacy-amb-john-sullivan

Russian independent news channel TV Rain (Dozhd TV) has been operating in Latvia since June 2022, after Kremlin authorities blocked the channel as a result of its coverage of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now TV Rain's operation is once again in peril after on-air remarks from one of its anchors resulted in the channel losing its Latvian broadcasting license. TV Rain news director and anchor Ekaterina Kotrikadze joins Jill Dougherty to discuss these challenges and what they mean for the future of the channel.

Jill Dougherty is joined by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to discuss how corruption serves not only to enrich the elites of Russia, but also as tool to ensure continuity of power and that all opposition—both internal and external—is crushed. Senator Whitehouse also explains how this corruption directly targets the United States and the steps the government is taking to combat this this threat.

Host Jill Dougherty shares the second part of her conversations with Russian journalists — both those now in exile and those who remain in the country — about how their lives have changed after the Kremlin's crackdown on independent media and full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She is joined by Sergey Parkhomenko, Russian journalist and Kennan Senior Advisor; Tatiana Felgenhauer and Alexander (Sasha) Plyushchev, independent journalists and former anchors for Echo Moscow Radio; Kirill Martynov, Political Editor, Novaya Gazeta Europe; Roman Dobrokhotov, Founder, The Insider; and Yevgenia Albats, Editor-in-Chief & CEO, The New Times.

Since Russia launched its war against Ukraine in February, hundreds of journalists have left their country because they felt threatened by the Kremlin's crackdown on free speech. In the latest KennanX, Jill Dougherty presents the first in a two-part series profiling Russian journalists who have fled. She is joined by The Insider Founder Roman Dobrokhotov and Riddle Russia Co-Founder Anton Barbashin as they discuss how the war in Ukraine has affected their coverage, how to report investigative journalism in a country dominated by censorship and propaganda, and why they continue to stay connected to Russia despite it all.

Host Jill Dougherty has a special announcement about the future of the KennanX podcast. Plus, we're sharing a recent conversation between Wilson Center President Mark Green and Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, about the impact that Russia's war in Ukraine is having on Europe and the role of Vladimir Putin. We'll be back with new KennanX episodes in April 2022!

The standoff at the Russia-Ukraine border has reached a boiling point following the Biden and Putin video conference. Moscow is demanding major revisions to European security. In this episode of KennanX, Ambassador John Tefft – former ambassador to Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and Lithuania – joins Jill to discuss Putin's red lines and what they mean.

Political discourse in Russia and the post-Soviet space is rife with conspiracy theories, as well as politicians who utilize them to gain an upper hand. On this episode of KennanX, Scott Radnitz, author of Revealing Schemes: The Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region, joins Jill to discuss the politics driving conspiracies in the region.

With echoes of the Soviet retreat, the last American plane left Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 following two decades of war. How do the legacies of the Soviet and American occupations compare, and what does the future hold for Russian-Afghan relations with the Taliban now in charge? Our host Jill Dougherty is joined by Michael Kugelman and others for a conversation on Afghanistan and the role Russia is poised to play.

It's been nearly one year since Alexander Lukashenko declared victory over Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in an election rife with fraud. In this episode of KennanX, our host Jill Dougherty is joined by Ms. Tikhanovskaya for a conversation about her campaign for President of Belarus, the fallout from the election, what motivates her to stay in the fight, and the outcome of her recent trip to Washington, DC.

In their June summit, Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin pledged to restart a strategic dialogue on cyber issues. In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty explores how the United States and Russia interact in the cyber realm, and how each country defines how it uses cyber for its national security. She speaks with Meg King of the Wilson Center, Pavel Sharikov of the Center for Applied Research at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Lauren Zabierek of the Cyber Project at the Belfer Center.

On October 22, 1962, American families gathered around their televisions for an address by President Kennedy. What they heard shocked them. In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty revisits the Cuban Missile Crisis, uncovering lessons learned - and forgotten - with Serhii Plokhy, Director of the Ukrainian Research Center at Harvard University and author the new book, Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Most Russians have long stopped expecting that any real change may come from electoral politics, a playing field tightly controlled by the Kremlin. And yet, a slew of recent, successful popular movements are proving that, even without real elections, Russians can stand up for their interests. People have defended their electoral choice in Khabarovsk, prevented unwanted construction in Yekaterinburg, and stopped a huge landfill from being built in the Arkhangelsk region. Russia’s most prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny also recently returned to Moscow from Berlin, where he had received medical treatment in the aftermath of his attempted poisoning. Navalny was promptly arrested, but his followers are organizing protests all over Russia. The Kennan Institute's Maxim Trudolyubov discusses Russia's newfound social and political activism with Zhanna Nemtsova, co-founder of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. The organization is named after Boris Nemtsov, Zhanna’s father, who was murdered almost six years ago.

In October 2020, Kyrgyzstan’s capital was rocked by protests following an allegedly rigged parliamentary election, ultimately resulting in the resignation of Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov. In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty explores the political geography and changing societal dynamics in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia with Edward Lemon, President of the Oxus Society and Research Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University and Bradley Jardine, Schwarzman Scholar at the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute.

In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty explores the characteristics and dynamics associated with the generation of young Russians that have grown up with Vladimir Putin as their leader for two decades. She speaks with Denis Volkov, Deputy Director at the Levada Center in Moscow, and Maria Snegovaya, Non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council and Post-Doctoral Scholar at Virginia Tech, about the latest CEPA-Levada Center report on Russian youth and civic engagement.

Since Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory over Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in an election rife with fraud, Belarus has been rocked by protests. Empowered by Tikhanovskaya and other female leaders, women have taken to the streets, forming the backbone of these society-altering protests. In this episode, Jill speaks with Elena Gapova of Western Michigan University and Maksimas Milta of the European Humanities University about Belarusian women in the opposition, the protests, and the future of Belarusian society.

In Russia, one of the hottest subjects for debate right now, on TV and in print, is political correctness. What do Russians mean by "political correctness?" In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty speaks with Russian journalist, TV personality, socialite, and former presidential candidate, Ksenia Sobchak, about political correctness, Russian-style.

America is losing the information war. But why? On this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty speaks with Nina Jankowicz about the scourge of foreign and domestic disinformation in America and how we can build a more disinformation-resilient society. Nina Jankowicz is the Disinformation Fellow at the Wilson Center and the author of How Not to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict.

How did George Soros become an international bogeyman? In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty speaks with Emily Tamkin about the proliferation of conspiracy theories surrounding the Hungarian-American philanthropist and investor, from Eastern Europe and Russia to the United States. Emily Tamkin is author of The Influence of Soros: Politics Power and the Struggle for an Open Society.

In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty speaks with Yelena Khanga about the story of her family, what it was like growing up Black in the Soviet Union, and the Black Lives Matter movement here in America. Yelena Khanga is a Russian journalist, talk show host, and author of “Soul to Soul: A Black Russian Jewish Woman’s Search for Her Roots.”

In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty examines the uncertainties - and risks - associated with interpreting signals from adversaries in the cyber domain. Three experts explain the danger: George Beebe of the Center for the National Interest; Chris Painter, President, Global Forum on Cyber Expertise; and JD Work, the Bren Chair for Cyber Conflict and Security at the Marine Corps University.

COVID-19 is spreading in Russia. In this episode, Jill Dougherty is joined by Judy Twigg, Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Oksana Antonenko, Director at Control Risks, for a discussion on how the Russian health system is handling the pandemic, how the average Russian is dealing with the crisis, and how the crisis will affect Putin’s presidency and the Russian economy.

n this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty has a delicious conversation with Darra Goldstein, author of a new cookbook on Russian cuisine entitled “Beyond the North Wind: Russia in Recipes and Lore.” What can you expect? Recipes from the northern corner of Russia and the processes at the heart of Russian cooking: fermentation and preservation. The conversation focuses on the traditional and the modern. On Russians rediscovering traditional flavors and ingredients as part of their culture, today.

Talented individuals are fleeing Russia for greener pastures. In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty discusses the causes of Russian talent flight and the pain of leaving one’s country with Sergei Guriev, Professor and Scientific Director of the Master and PhD programmes in Economics at SciencesPo in Paris; Galina Timchenko, Russian journalist and Executive Editor of Meduza, a Latvia-based online news site; and Denis Volkov, Sociologist at the Levada Center and Columnist at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

There are approximately 1,500 Russian nuclear warheads aimed at the U.S. The U.S. has about the same number aimed at Russia.   In February, 2021, the last remaining arms control agreement between Russia and the U.S., New START, is set to expire. In this episode, Jill Dougherty sits down with John Beyrle, former Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2008-2012) and Rose Gottemoeller, former NATO Deputy Secretary General (2016-2019) to talk New START, should it be extended, and what its expiration would mean. 

“On April 26, 1986, a power surge destroyed Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant causing the largest nuclear disaster in history. On this episode of KennanX our host, Jill Dougherty, explores the lasting legacy and impact of Chernobyl. We are joined by Craig Mazin, Creator and Producer of HBO’s Chernobyl; Serhii Plokhii, Director, Ukraine Research Institute, Harvard University; Masha Gessen, Staff Writer at The New Yorker; and Maxim Trudolyubov, Senior Advisor at the Kennan Institute and Editor-In-Chief of The Russia File.”