Podcasts about ekho moskvy

Our guest today on the podcast is documentary filmmaker Askold Kurov, whose latest film, “Of Caravans and Dogs,” was screened this past June in England as part of the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the UK.According to the festival programme, this “Bold and compelling documentary looks at the curtailment of press freedom in Russia on the eve of and during the invasion of Ukraine.”. The credits list two directors. One is “Anonymous Number 1” and the other is our guest today, Askold Kurov.My questions are: 1. Askold, I watched your movie with great interest. Please explain the title of the movie and where it came from.2. In the Sheffield Docfest programme, your unique access to people and events is very much praised. Tell us about the birth of the project. How did it come about? In the credits it is stated that the film was made with the support of Novaya gazeta. Was it their initiative or did you approach them with the idea?3. Tell us about the relationship between you and your team. After all, your co-director remained anonymous, as well as two others in key roles - sound operator and editor. Why did they remain nameless, while you boldly decided to give your name in the credits? 4. You started shooting before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What made you choose this topic and how did you decide how the film would end?5. The movie talks about Novaya gazeta, Memorial, Dozhd, and Ekho Moskvy. But above all, about Novaya gazeta. Why was this?6. I heard one journalist who works for TV Dozhd say that the Russian authorities were doing everything they could to make the entire opposition press leave the country, so there would be no one to push back against pressure and censorship in Russia itself. What do you think of that?7. You yourself stayed to live and work in Russia right after the beginning of the war. And now you are outside Russia. What brought you to leave? 8. Do you keep in touch with your former “anonymous” colleagues from the film? How are they doing?9. Many people talk about self-censorship among the journalists who stayed in Russia. Do you think this promotes or destroys quality journalism?10. Access to all independent sources of information in Russia is increasingly narrowing. What sources of information are left for Russians and is there a demand for such information? Has what is happening now in Kursk region changed things?11. Tell us a little about yourself. Where did you grow up and how did you become involved in the film business? 12. I remember very well the strongest impression from your movie of 2017 about the fate of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, arrested during the annexation of Crimea and taken to Russia. As you have closely interacted with and observed Ukrainians, what can you say about the differences between Russians and Ukrainians?13. Could you have predicted at that time that a real war between Russia and Ukraine would start?14. How do you see the war ending?15. Are you currently working on a new project? 16. How do you find living in a foreign country?17. How do you see your future - in Russia? Under what circumstances?

In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with Tikhon Dzyadko of Russian opposition outlet TV Rain about his work, the current state of Russian independent media, and an alternative vision for the future of Russia. BIO: Tikhon Dzyadko is a journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of Russian opposition television outlet TV Rain (Dozhd), which is now headquartered in The Netherlands. He is the former deputy Editor-in-Chief and host of the RTVI channel and a former correspondent and presenter of the radio station Ekho Moskvy.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is one of the rare Western social media platforms that is not banned by Russia. Neal Mohan, YouTube's Chief Product Officer, discusses the fine line between disinformation and censorship – and explains why banning fake news channels isn't always the best way forward. Lucy and Vitaly are joined by the BBC's disinformation reporter Marianna Spring. Together, they speak to Sergei Buntman, from the independent Russian radio station, Ekho Moskvy. The station was taken off air on 1st March. It now operates on YouTube. And they hear from journalist Konstantin Ryzhenko, who decided to stay in Kherson under Russian occupation, but is now a wanted man by the Russians and has to remain in hiding. The series producer is Estelle Doyle. The producers are Arsenii Sokolov and Ivana Davidovic. Planning producer is Louise Hidalgo. The technical producer is Emma Crowe. The editor is Jonathan Aspinwall. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to veteran Russian journalist Yulia Latynina regarding the myths, misconceptions and errors that have helped shape the Kremlin's current war in Ukraine. YULIA LATYNINA is an award-winning journalist and literary writer who worked for decades in Russian media, most recently as a correspondent with the Ekho Moskvy radio station and the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. In 2008, she was awarded the U.S. State Department's Freedom Defenders Award for her work on human rights and civil society in Russia.

Save Meduza!https://support.meduza.io/enFollowing the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities imposed military censorship in all but name, annihilating the entire domestic free press. Within a week of Moscow's “special operation in the Donbas,” the television station Dozhd and radio station Ekho Moskvy both shut down, ending 12 and 32 years, respectively, of independent journalism. In late March, after a 28-year run, the newspaper Novaya Gazeta suspended all reporting until the end of the war, citing warnings from the federal censor. Many of the journalists who worked for these outlets have already fled Russia, but they continue their work at new platforms, on their own channels at YouTube, Telegram, and elsewhere. For a better understanding of this new guerilla reporting, The Naked Pravda spoke to two independent journalists now operating from outside Russia to find out how they're managing this job: Farida Rustamova (who uses Telegram and Substack) and Ekaterina Kotrikadze (on Telegram and YouTube). Timestamps for this episode: (2:43) Did Russian independent journalists lose the fight against Kremlin propaganda? (10:23) How has military censorship damaged the quality of reporting and information available from Russia? (18:55) Rustamova's path to Substack. (26:52) Kotrikadze on TV Rain's plans for the future. (36:23) Did Kotrikadze see the full-scale invasion coming?

Russia has attacked Ukraine. This is a war. Inside Russia, the authorities have imposed a new level of censorship, blocking all independent media agencies -- including TV Rain and Ekho Moskvy. Throughout the country, anti-war demonstrations have been brutally suppressed, their participants arrested. Prominent figures who have spoken out against the war have been threatened. The authorities and the Kremlin-controlled media (especially the state-owned television networks) have been lying about the war, manipulating public opinion. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/08/meduza-is-granting-open-access-to-all-content-about-the-war-in-ukraine-under-a-creative-commons-license

Yevgenia Albats is a Russian journalist, and editor-in-chief and CEO of the popular Russian independent magazine The New Times. The magazine has now been blocked by government censors for reporting on the war in Ukraine. Until last week, when the station was taken off the air, Albats was also host of a long-running radio show on Ekho Moskvy. The author of The State Within a State: The KGB and its Hold on Russia–Past, Present, and Future, she is a member of the Persuasion board of advisors.  In this week's conversation, Yevgenia Albats and Yascha Mounk discuss the quickly-evolving nature of the Putin dictatorship, how ordinary Russians view the invasion, and the fate of the free Russian press in the face of a new wave of repression. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by John Taylor Williams, and Brendan Ruberry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Awaiting trial in Belarus and facing a minimum of six years in prison, Russian national Sofia Sapega has already asked Alexander Lukashenko to grant her a pardon, her stepfather Sergey Dudich told the radio station Ekho Moskvy on Tuesday, December 21. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/news/2021/12/21/facing-six-years-in-prison-in-belarus-russian-national-sofia-sapega-appeals-to-lukashenko-for-clemency

This week our guest on the podcast is Sergei Babinets. Sergei Babinets is a lawyer and head of the Orenburg branch of the Committee against Torture, whose head office is in Nizhny Novgorod.The issues discussed in the podcast include: How did someone who had intended to work in the prosecutor's office went to work for a human rights organisation? How does the work of the Committee Against Torture vary in terms of city and region (Moscow, Grozny, Orenburg)? How did you become a journalist (with Ekho Moskvy in Orenburg)? What are the risks that face a human rights defender in Russia today? Is the work of a human rights defender at the Committee Against Torture equally risky across the country? What do you think of the recent revelations of torture in Saratov region penal colonies? To what extent is the state a positive and reliable partner in the work against torture? What is the future of the human rights movement in Russia in the light of what is happening in the country now?This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to the podcast on our website or on SoundCloud, Podcasts.com, Spotify, iTunes and Anchor. The music, from Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Viola, is performed for us by Karolina Herrera. Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook: He dreamed since childhood of protecting people from criminals, following in the footsteps of his soldier-grandfather and his father, who worked in the police force for 25 years. After receiving a law degree, he decided to work in the prosecutor's office, which oversees all law enforcement bodies. Four years as an assistant prosecutor and attempts to join the prosecutor's office as a full-time employee led him to realise that the prosecutor's office didn't really seem to want him. The search for a job where Sergei Babinets could realize his dream led him to the Committee against Torture. Many years ago, I met Sergei in Moscow. He had just started working in the Moscow office of the famous Committee against Torture and he called on us at Amnesty International. Since then, I have kept in touch with Sergei, who after Moscow worked in many cities: Nizhny Novgorod, Grozny and Orenburg. The possibilities to combat torture and protect victims of torture varies from region to region. While in the North Caucasus the office where Sergei worked was set on fire, if in Nizhny Novgorod the group's exhibition was banned, if in Moscow ‘Basmanny Justice' simply does not want to pay any attention to human rights activists, in Orenburg the Committee Against Torture can hold events on any topic - here there is no interest in opposing human rights defenders. Sergei Babinets successfully combines his human rights activities with his work at Ekho Moskvy radio in Orenburg: he is good at this work too, and therefore it's very interesting to listen to him in our latest podcast.

Moscow's Election Monitoring Public Committee has instructed its technical team to recount the city's electronic votes in last weekend's parliamentary elections, the group's deputy chairman, Ekho Moskvy radio station editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov, announced on Wednesday. The decision apparently acknowledges complaints about irregularities in the capital's online voting, though the recount will have no legal force. "It's just a crosscheck," Venediktov explained. Meduza breaks down what this means exactly. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/09/22/just-a-crosscheck-not-a-recount

There is more to Putin's regime than his capacity to threaten and unleash violence - but this is a crucial element, and as his legitimacy wanes, this may come to the fore. Thrones of bayonets are uncomfortable, though, and so today I consider the mood of the police and other security forces, and what scope the opposition may have in wooing, or at least neutralising them.In a short second part, I explain why I think the claims of hacking British and others' coronavirus research sounds wholly plausible.My article on the Khabarovsk protests in Raam op Rusland is here, and the Riddle article on military voting is here. Gallyamov's Ekho Moskvy commentary is here.You can also follow my blog, In Moscow's Shadows, and become one of the podcast's supporting Patrons and gain question-asking rights and access to exclusive extra materials right here. 

Dissecting and digesting the history of the Soviet "experiment" can be a frustrating exercise for academics and a Sisyphean task for laymen; the endeavor demands scrutiny of the facts — and they are legion — but we must also grapple with the dystopian atmosphere and cruel indifference to human life, which characterizes the period. These challenges make the triumph of Professor Michael Khodarkovsky's new book, Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), all the more impressive. Khodarkovsky has taken a novel approach to charting the century by crafting one hundred vignettes, one for each year of the century. Each vignette plunges us into a moment of history, art, politics, science, or international relations, and in each, we add a building block to the tower of interpretation Khodarkovsky constructs in this slim but incredibly impactful book. Even seasoned historians will find Russia's 20th Century a compelling lens through which to consider the entire arc of the Soviet century with entirely fresh eyes. Several themes emerge as the narrative moves each decade. The horrific cost of the Soviet experiment emerges early and is a recurring leitmotif throughout the narrative in heartrending incidents that transport us to the horror of the Gulags, the tragedy Siege of Leningrad, and a drier, but no less thought-provoking examination of the 1959 Census. Khodarkovsky shows us a Soviet state that is out of step with the needs of its citizens and profoundly tone-deaf to its concerns. Khodarkovsky's distinguished academic career includes decades of work on the history of ethnic minorities at the edges of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The plight of minorities seeps in throughout Russia's 20th Century in ways that bring us right to current events, including a strong narrative of Ukraine's continuing struggle to achieve autonomy and Russia's dogged refusal to allow it. As the episodes draw us further and further towards the end of both the century and the Soviet Union itself, a pithy pastiche of Boris Yeltsin invites us to consider that titanic but conflicted character in a new light. Professor Khodarkovsky ends his narrative with the chilling coda that is the emergence of Vladimir Putin in Russian national politics. Russia's 20the century ends with this rather bleak assessment: "Russia was entering the twenty-first century in the same basic set of principles and values it had maintained throughout the twentieth century." But for those who cherish the hope that Russia can break out of its pernicious cycle in the twenty-first century, Khodarkovsky's book is a must-read. Professor Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University, specializing in Early Modern and Imperial Russia, Imperial Borderlands, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Non-Russian peoples of Russia, Eurasia, Ottoman empire, Comparative Empires and Colonialisms, Orientalism. He received his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Professor Khodarkovsky is a frequent commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Ekho Moskvy. Jennifer Eremeeva is an American expatriate food, travel, and culture writer and photographer currently based in Western Massachusetts. Jennifer is the award-winning author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History. She contributes regular feature articles and photos to The Moscow Times, Russian Life, and Reuters and is the in-house travel blogger for Alexander + Roberts, a leading American tour operator. She is currently at work on a historical novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dissecting and digesting the history of the Soviet "experiment" can be a frustrating exercise for academics and a Sisyphean task for laymen; the endeavor demands scrutiny of the facts — and they are legion — but we must also grapple with the dystopian atmosphere and cruel indifference to human life, which characterizes the period. These challenges make the triumph of Professor Michael Khodarkovsky's new book, Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), all the more impressive. Khodarkovsky has taken a novel approach to charting the century by crafting one hundred vignettes, one for each year of the century. Each vignette plunges us into a moment of history, art, politics, science, or international relations, and in each, we add a building block to the tower of interpretation Khodarkovsky constructs in this slim but incredibly impactful book. Even seasoned historians will find Russia's 20th Century a compelling lens through which to consider the entire arc of the Soviet century with entirely fresh eyes. Several themes emerge as the narrative moves each decade. The horrific cost of the Soviet experiment emerges early and is a recurring leitmotif throughout the narrative in heartrending incidents that transport us to the horror of the Gulags, the tragedy Siege of Leningrad, and a drier, but no less thought-provoking examination of the 1959 Census. Khodarkovsky shows us a Soviet state that is out of step with the needs of its citizens and profoundly tone-deaf to its concerns. Khodarkovsky’s distinguished academic career includes decades of work on the history of ethnic minorities at the edges of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The plight of minorities seeps in throughout Russia's 20th Century in ways that bring us right to current events, including a strong narrative of Ukraine's continuing struggle to achieve autonomy and Russia's dogged refusal to allow it. As the episodes draw us further and further towards the end of both the century and the Soviet Union itself, a pithy pastiche of Boris Yeltsin invites us to consider that titanic but conflicted character in a new light. Professor Khodarkovsky ends his narrative with the chilling coda that is the emergence of Vladimir Putin in Russian national politics. Russia's 20the century ends with this rather bleak assessment: "Russia was entering the twenty-first century in the same basic set of principles and values it had maintained throughout the twentieth century." But for those who cherish the hope that Russia can break out of its pernicious cycle in the twenty-first century, Khodarkovsky's book is a must-read. Professor Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University, specializing in Early Modern and Imperial Russia, Imperial Borderlands, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Non-Russian peoples of Russia, Eurasia, Ottoman empire, Comparative Empires and Colonialisms, Orientalism. He received his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Professor Khodarkovsky is a frequent commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Ekho Moskvy. Jennifer Eremeeva is an American expatriate food, travel, and culture writer and photographer currently based in Western Massachusetts. Jennifer is the award-winning author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History. She contributes regular feature articles and photos to The Moscow Times, Russian Life, and Reuters and is the in-house travel blogger for Alexander + Roberts, a leading American tour operator. She is currently at work on a historical novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dissecting and digesting the history of the Soviet "experiment" can be a frustrating exercise for academics and a Sisphyan task for laymen; the endeavor demands scrutiny of the facts — and they are legion — but we must also grapple with the dystopian atmosphere and cruel indifference to human life, which characterizes the period. These challenges make the triumph of Professor Michael Khodarkovsky's new book, Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), all the more impressive. Khodarkovsky has taken a novel approach to charting the century by crafting one hundred vignettes, one for each year of the century. Each vignette plunges us into a moment of history, art, politics, science, or international relations, and in each, we add a building block to the tower of interpretation Khodarkovsky constructs in this slim but incredibly impactful book. Even seasoned historians will find Russia's 20th Century a compelling lens through which to consider the entire arc of the Soviet century with entirely fresh eyes. Several themes emerge as the narrative moves each decade. The horrific cost of the Soviet experiment emerges early and is a recurring leitmotif throughout the narrative in heartrending incidents that transport us to the horror of the Gulags, the tragedy Siege of Leningrad, and a drier, but no less thought-provoking examination of the 1959 Census. Khodarkovsky shows us a Soviet state that is out of step with the needs of its citizens and profoundly tone-deaf to its concerns. Khodarkovsky’s distinguished academic career includes decades of work on the history of ethnic minorities at the edges of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The plight of minorities seeps in throughout Russia's 20th Century in ways that bring us right to current events, including a strong narrative of Ukraine's continuing struggle to achieve autonomy and Russia's dogged refusal to allow it. As the episodes draw us further and further towards the end of both the century and the Soviet Union itself, a pithy pastiche of Boris Yeltsin invites us to consider that titanic but conflicted character in a new light. Professor Khodarkovsky ends his narrative with the chilling coda that is the emergence of Vladimir Putin in Russian national politics. Russia's 20the century ends with this rather bleak assessment: "Russia was entering the twenty-first century in the same basic set of principles and values it had maintained throughout the twentieth century." But for those who cherish the hope that Russia can break out of its pernicious cycle in the twenty-first century, Khodarkovsky's book is a must-read. Professor Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University, specializing in Early Modern and Imperial Russia, Imperial Borderlands, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Non-Russian peoples of Russia, Eurasia, Ottoman empire, Comparative Empires and Colonialisms, Orientalism. He received his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Professor Khodarkovsky is a frequent commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Ekho Moskvy. Jennifer Eremeeva is an American expatriate food, travel, and culture writer and photographer currently based in Western Massachusetts. Jennifer is the award-winning author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History. She contributes regular feature articles and photos to The Moscow Times, Russian Life, and Reuters and is the in-house travel blogger for Alexander + Roberts, a leading American tour operator. She is currently at work on a historical novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dissecting and digesting the history of the Soviet "experiment" can be a frustrating exercise for academics and a Sisphyan task for laymen; the endeavor demands scrutiny of the facts — and they are legion — but we must also grapple with the dystopian atmosphere and cruel indifference to human life, which characterizes the period. These challenges make the triumph of Professor Michael Khodarkovsky's new book, Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), all the more impressive. Khodarkovsky has taken a novel approach to charting the century by crafting one hundred vignettes, one for each year of the century. Each vignette plunges us into a moment of history, art, politics, science, or international relations, and in each, we add a building block to the tower of interpretation Khodarkovsky constructs in this slim but incredibly impactful book. Even seasoned historians will find Russia's 20th Century a compelling lens through which to consider the entire arc of the Soviet century with entirely fresh eyes. Several themes emerge as the narrative moves each decade. The horrific cost of the Soviet experiment emerges early and is a recurring leitmotif throughout the narrative in heartrending incidents that transport us to the horror of the Gulags, the tragedy Siege of Leningrad, and a drier, but no less thought-provoking examination of the 1959 Census. Khodarkovsky shows us a Soviet state that is out of step with the needs of its citizens and profoundly tone-deaf to its concerns. Khodarkovsky’s distinguished academic career includes decades of work on the history of ethnic minorities at the edges of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The plight of minorities seeps in throughout Russia's 20th Century in ways that bring us right to current events, including a strong narrative of Ukraine's continuing struggle to achieve autonomy and Russia's dogged refusal to allow it. As the episodes draw us further and further towards the end of both the century and the Soviet Union itself, a pithy pastiche of Boris Yeltsin invites us to consider that titanic but conflicted character in a new light. Professor Khodarkovsky ends his narrative with the chilling coda that is the emergence of Vladimir Putin in Russian national politics. Russia's 20the century ends with this rather bleak assessment: "Russia was entering the twenty-first century in the same basic set of principles and values it had maintained throughout the twentieth century." But for those who cherish the hope that Russia can break out of its pernicious cycle in the twenty-first century, Khodarkovsky's book is a must-read. Professor Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University, specializing in Early Modern and Imperial Russia, Imperial Borderlands, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Non-Russian peoples of Russia, Eurasia, Ottoman empire, Comparative Empires and Colonialisms, Orientalism. He received his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Professor Khodarkovsky is a frequent commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Ekho Moskvy. Jennifer Eremeeva is an American expatriate food, travel, and culture writer and photographer currently based in Western Massachusetts. Jennifer is the award-winning author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History. She contributes regular feature articles and photos to The Moscow Times, Russian Life, and Reuters and is the in-house travel blogger for Alexander + Roberts, a leading American tour operator. She is currently at work on a historical novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dissecting and digesting the history of the Soviet "experiment" can be a frustrating exercise for academics and a Sisphyan task for laymen; the endeavor demands scrutiny of the facts — and they are legion — but we must also grapple with the dystopian atmosphere and cruel indifference to human life, which characterizes the period. These challenges make the triumph of Professor Michael Khodarkovsky's new book, Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), all the more impressive. Khodarkovsky has taken a novel approach to charting the century by crafting one hundred vignettes, one for each year of the century. Each vignette plunges us into a moment of history, art, politics, science, or international relations, and in each, we add a building block to the tower of interpretation Khodarkovsky constructs in this slim but incredibly impactful book. Even seasoned historians will find Russia's 20th Century a compelling lens through which to consider the entire arc of the Soviet century with entirely fresh eyes. Several themes emerge as the narrative moves each decade. The horrific cost of the Soviet experiment emerges early and is a recurring leitmotif throughout the narrative in heartrending incidents that transport us to the horror of the Gulags, the tragedy Siege of Leningrad, and a drier, but no less thought-provoking examination of the 1959 Census. Khodarkovsky shows us a Soviet state that is out of step with the needs of its citizens and profoundly tone-deaf to its concerns. Khodarkovsky’s distinguished academic career includes decades of work on the history of ethnic minorities at the edges of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The plight of minorities seeps in throughout Russia's 20th Century in ways that bring us right to current events, including a strong narrative of Ukraine's continuing struggle to achieve autonomy and Russia's dogged refusal to allow it. As the episodes draw us further and further towards the end of both the century and the Soviet Union itself, a pithy pastiche of Boris Yeltsin invites us to consider that titanic but conflicted character in a new light. Professor Khodarkovsky ends his narrative with the chilling coda that is the emergence of Vladimir Putin in Russian national politics. Russia's 20the century ends with this rather bleak assessment: "Russia was entering the twenty-first century in the same basic set of principles and values it had maintained throughout the twentieth century." But for those who cherish the hope that Russia can break out of its pernicious cycle in the twenty-first century, Khodarkovsky's book is a must-read. Professor Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University, specializing in Early Modern and Imperial Russia, Imperial Borderlands, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Non-Russian peoples of Russia, Eurasia, Ottoman empire, Comparative Empires and Colonialisms, Orientalism. He received his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Professor Khodarkovsky is a frequent commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Ekho Moskvy. Jennifer Eremeeva is an American expatriate food, travel, and culture writer and photographer currently based in Western Massachusetts. Jennifer is the award-winning author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History. She contributes regular feature articles and photos to The Moscow Times, Russian Life, and Reuters and is the in-house travel blogger for Alexander + Roberts, a leading American tour operator. She is currently at work on a historical novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dissecting and digesting the history of the Soviet "experiment" can be a frustrating exercise for academics and a Sisphyan task for laymen; the endeavor demands scrutiny of the facts — and they are legion — but we must also grapple with the dystopian atmosphere and cruel indifference to human life, which characterizes the period. These challenges make the triumph of Professor Michael Khodarkovsky's new book, Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), all the more impressive. Khodarkovsky has taken a novel approach to charting the century by crafting one hundred vignettes, one for each year of the century. Each vignette plunges us into a moment of history, art, politics, science, or international relations, and in each, we add a building block to the tower of interpretation Khodarkovsky constructs in this slim but incredibly impactful book. Even seasoned historians will find Russia's 20th Century a compelling lens through which to consider the entire arc of the Soviet century with entirely fresh eyes. Several themes emerge as the narrative moves each decade. The horrific cost of the Soviet experiment emerges early and is a recurring leitmotif throughout the narrative in heartrending incidents that transport us to the horror of the Gulags, the tragedy Siege of Leningrad, and a drier, but no less thought-provoking examination of the 1959 Census. Khodarkovsky shows us a Soviet state that is out of step with the needs of its citizens and profoundly tone-deaf to its concerns. Khodarkovsky’s distinguished academic career includes decades of work on the history of ethnic minorities at the edges of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The plight of minorities seeps in throughout Russia's 20th Century in ways that bring us right to current events, including a strong narrative of Ukraine's continuing struggle to achieve autonomy and Russia's dogged refusal to allow it. As the episodes draw us further and further towards the end of both the century and the Soviet Union itself, a pithy pastiche of Boris Yeltsin invites us to consider that titanic but conflicted character in a new light. Professor Khodarkovsky ends his narrative with the chilling coda that is the emergence of Vladimir Putin in Russian national politics. Russia's 20the century ends with this rather bleak assessment: "Russia was entering the twenty-first century in the same basic set of principles and values it had maintained throughout the twentieth century." But for those who cherish the hope that Russia can break out of its pernicious cycle in the twenty-first century, Khodarkovsky's book is a must-read. Professor Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University, specializing in Early Modern and Imperial Russia, Imperial Borderlands, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Non-Russian peoples of Russia, Eurasia, Ottoman empire, Comparative Empires and Colonialisms, Orientalism. He received his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Professor Khodarkovsky is a frequent commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Ekho Moskvy. Jennifer Eremeeva is an American expatriate food, travel, and culture writer and photographer currently based in Western Massachusetts. Jennifer is the award-winning author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History. She contributes regular feature articles and photos to The Moscow Times, Russian Life, and Reuters and is the in-house travel blogger for Alexander + Roberts, a leading American tour operator. She is currently at work on a historical novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with 2009 Yale World Fellow Maxim Trudolyubov. Since 2003, Maxim Trudolyubov has been the Editorial Page Editor for Vedomosti, Russia’s most influential, independent daily business newspaper. He also co-anchors a weekly talk show on Ekho Moskvy, one of the few editorially independent radio stations in Russia.

Russia's police are out of control. They are often referred to as "werewolves in epaulettes" because so many officers prey on the public rather than protect them. Even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin complains about the lawlessness of the country's law enforcers. He once said upstanding citizens cross to the other side of the street as soon as they see a man in uniform. The crimes police commit range from bribe taking to kidnapping, drug trafficking, torture and murder. This brutality is accompanied by corruption. Illegal raids of businesses by police are commonplace as well as the subsequent jailing of their owners on false charges. Victims of police abuse are often helpless in a system of cover-ups long established in the law enforcement forces. Earlier this year, a group of six young men in Primorye, the remote Maritime region of Russia's Far East, decided to fight back. They declared a guerrilla war against the police with the sole purpose of killing as many cops as they could. Their attacks have included shooting of traffic policemen on roads, raiding a village police station and stabbing to death the officer on duty. Bare-chested and brandishing pistols, the 'Primorsky Partisans' posted videos on the internet to explain the motives behind their actions. This summer the gang's exploits gripped the Russian public's imagination. Many people in the Far East and beyond supported them: a poll on Ekho Moskvy radio indicated that 60-75 percent of listeners sympathised with the "young Robin Hoods" and would offer them help. In June the authorities launched a manhunt with tanks and helicopters. Eventually two members of the group died in a shoot-out with police while the rest were captured and are now behind bars awaiting trial. The local government of the Maritime Region is jittery about the case and is reluctant to comment. Local police and the prosecutor's office dismiss them as gangsters. Lucy Ash visits Kirovskiy, the home village of the young men, to investigate what drove the men to act in such an extreme way. Producer: Ibrat Jumaboyev.