Shows / In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows
Russia, behind the headlines as well as in the shadows. This podcast is the audio counterpart to Mark Galeotti's blog of the same name, a place where "one of the most informed and provocative voices on modern Russia", can talk about Russia historical and (more often) contemporary, discuss new books and research, and sometimes talk to other Russia-watchers. If you'd like to keep the podcast coming and generally support my work, or want to ask questions or suggest topics for me to cover, do…
Episodes
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 144: Of Talks and Thugs
In the first part, I talk about some of the issues raised by a recent article in Foreign Affairs by Sam Charap and Sergei Radchenko for negotiations between…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 143: Of MICE and Man
Why are some individuals, parties, even countries still so willing to believe (or at least affect to believe) Putin's nonsense? As a way of trying to explain…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 142: Heresies and Revolutions
Is Putin's Russia becoming a revolutionary state? A recent article on RT by Dmitry Trenin, once one of the doyens of Russian foreign policy analysis, suggests…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 141: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll (kinda)
After a sham election and a ghastly terrorist attack (and a pretty ghastly official response), time to talk about something else: sex, drugs and rock &…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 140: Terrorism and Totalitarianism
What a week it has been. I give my initial thoughts on the awful terrorist attack on the outskirts of Moscow, and then pivot to some further lessons of the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 139: Why Even Sham Elections Can Matter
Russia's presidential elections are coming to a close, and while Putin's landslide victory is a foregone conclusion in light of the manipulation of the process…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 138: Gangster Geopolitics
Are we failing properly to consider the danger as the Kremlin turns to Russian-based organised crime groups abroad to make up for the expulsion of so many of…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 137: They Pretend To Lead Us, We Pretend To Believe
An episode, I admit, on the nerdier end of the spectrum, as I dig into Putin's latest State of the Union, both for the detail and also for three big…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 136: Avenging Navalny
Avenging may not be quite the right word, but what can the West do to punish the Kremlin for Navalny's death and furthering his cause in ways worthy of him? I…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 135: Navalny in the late Soviet Union
Well, not really, but how Navalny's awful death helps illustrate how late Putinism in its 'banana republic' phase comes to resemble the later Soviet era -- and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 134: Kaliningrad still at the Crossroads
Is the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad a dangerous Russian bastion threatening the West, a point of vulnerability for Moscow, or a potential point of…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 133: Books on Russia, Books on Ukraine
As I'm travelling this weekend, this episode is a compilation of two sets of comparative book reviews already provided to my Patrons.First up, three recent…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 132: A View from the Provinces
Barring particularly high-profile developments, we tend to look at Russia through the prism of Moscow (and maybe St Petersburg). How good a picture does this…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 131: European Strategy and Vorobyov's Prospects
A podcast of two halves. First of all, I look at the dilemmas and limitations facing European (EU and UK) strategy over Ukraine. Why is it so hard?After the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 130: Questions I Can't Answer
The essence of podcasting and punditry may be to peddle confident certainties, but often we don’t really know. So today I raise some important questions to…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 129: It's All About Putin's Eggs
Russia is still gripped by an egg crisis, after prices rose 46% last year. Now the security apparatus is investigating hoarding and profiteering, the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 128: Politics, War and Lunacy - a look forward to 2024
Less whimsical than the last one, the final episode of 2023 looks ahead to the coming year: the candidates for the presidential elections, the prospects for…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 127: When Napoleon was Nuked and Other Russian Conspiracy Theories
Was Moscow nuked in 1812? Have a thousand years of history been made up to conceal the power of the 'Russian Horde'? Was Lenin a mushroom? Are reptiloids…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 126: Truth and Tedium in Putin's Marathon Town Hall and the Russian Press
I felt I ought to cover Putin's combined press conference and online town hall, but it was just so, so boring. And maybe that's the point: tedium weaponised as…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 125: Putin's Coming Back! And So's the Cold War?
So, surprise, surprise, Putin's standing for re-election. A few thoughts on how it was announced and the vibe around it, before I look at 'Preventing the Next…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 124: Putin's Performative Politics
There's a myth that authoritarian leaders don't have to worry about public politics: arguably they have to worry all the more. Spinning off from the recent…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 123: Russia's 'Red-Brown' Leftists, and How I Became A Voice of the West
Has hell frozen over? Left Front leading light Leonid Razvozzhaev is backing the inclusion of ultra-nationalist Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin in unofficial 'people's…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 122: Taking on Conventional Wisdom About Putin
After looking at a few recent news stories that caught my eye, on everything from the Ministry of Happiness to a surprisingly subversive economic plan, I look…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 121: Making Sense of Makhachkala
What can we learn from the ugly anti-Semitic riot at Makhachkala airport? Officially sanctioned, foreign-inspired subversion, a symptom of state failure or…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 120: Putin is Dead! (well, probably not)
In what sounds more like a scene from Armando Ianucci's Death of Stalin, an anonymous Telegram channel tells us Putin is dead, his body stuffed into deep…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 119: Manifestos to the Left of me, Manifestos to the Right
Alexei Navalny has posted a list of 10 questions he thinks all movers and shakers in the Russian (opposition) political scene ought to be asked ahead of the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 118: Clueless in Gaza - Russia and the current Middle East crisis
A quick and early episode looking at what roles and goals - if any - Russia has in the current Hamas-Israel war. The bottom line is that Russia was not behind…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 117: Security Politics and the President Who Can't Change His Spots
The Russian police are increasingly under pressure. The National Guard is getting into the mercenary game. There is talk (probably empty) of Wagner being…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 116: Putin's "Forever War" (which isn't)
The easy cliche that the Ukraine conflict may become a 'forever war' is a convenient notion for Putin - it may help dismay his enemies, and provides an…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 115: Kadyrov and the Conflict Entrepreneurs
Is Kadyrov dying? If so, who might replace him - and what may this mean for Russia. If Chechnya again becomes unstable, will Putin be faced with a choice of…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 114: Six of the Best (?)
As a way of getting away from the perennial talk of Wagner and the Ukrainian counter-offensive, I look at current stories relating to six individuals - Dmitri…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 113: And Goodnight Wagner?
After looking at Prigozhin last time, this episode I focus on Wagner. Will it survive in Africa (I suspect not), what this may mean for Russia's Africa…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 112: Goodbye Prigozhin
What can we say about the death of Prigozhin (beyond good riddance?). At the risk of overstating the case, I feel this is a watershed moment, and Putin's…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 111: A Nervous Kremlin and a Neglected Police Force
Marking the anniversary of the second day of the 1991 August Coup, the day when momentum began to shift away from the hardliners behind the seizure of power, a…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 110: Why Navalny Doesn't Hate The Goat
He may have just been sentenced to another 19 years, now in a 'special regime colony', but the indomitable Alexei Navalny has just produced a broadside against…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 109: A Tale of Two Last Wars, Afghanistan and Ukraine
Can one draw meaningful parallels between the Soviets' 1979-88 war in Afghanistan, and the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine? The wars may have been very…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 108: Where Have All The Generals Gone?
Is there a post-mutiny purge of the military going on? What can we learn from the apparent dismissal or detention of figures such as Generals Surovikin and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 107: Where Are We Now On Prigozhin's Mutiny?
There still seems no escaping the fallout from Prigozhin's mutiny, whether we're talking about the fate of Wagner in Africa or those bizarre wig selfies. I…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 106: The Spooky Side of Prigozhin's Mutiny
A shorter episode, because there is still so much about the causes, course and consequences of Prigozhin's mutiny that we still don't know. Instead, I focus in…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 105: Prigozhin's Mutiny
Prigozhin's mutiny... or, 36 hours of what-the-hell? It's too close for a really judicious take on this weekend's hijinks, but first thoughts on why Prigozhin…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 104: Paranormal Putinism
After the usual quick run-through of war-related news, I consider the rise of mysticism and occultism not just in Putin's circle, but Russia as a whole. Tales…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 103: The Rise of the Princeling Patrushev, the Grey Cardigan
After the inevitable quick look at the Ukrainian counter-offensive (too little to say really about the operation on the ground, but some points to make about…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 102: The Wolf that Only Howls: the Chechens in Ukraine
A spat between Wagner's Prigozhin and Chechnya's Kadyrov provides a good opportunity to look at the role of the Chechens in the Ukraine War - or, rather, just…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 101: Phoney Wars and Rising Stars
Bakhmut has (probably, kinda) fallen and Belgorod raided. The first is hardly a real defeat for Ukraine nor a real victory for Moscow. The latter may prove…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 100: All the News That's Fit to Print (in Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
As a change from the usual, I look through the top six news items currently on the website of Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the main government newspaper of record, on…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 99: All Hail the Tsar? Why Putinism has suffered from becoming monarchical
It's an easy journalistic shorthand to hall Putin a new tsar (I've done it myself), but what might it mean? Coronation weekend in the UK seems a fitting time…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 98: Dogs of War (and Racoons)
News that gas corporation Gazprom appears to be sponsoring a mercenary unit in Ukraine prompts me to explore the complex ecosystem of Russian private military…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 97: Where Are They Now?
Even loyalists seem in some cases to be taking a step back, not for a moment standing against the Kremlin but less able or willing to be so vocal and visible…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 96: Of Leaks and Lengths
What can we learn from the massive trove of US secret documents recently and incautiously leaked? And what are the signs that Russia really is digging in, not…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 95: Tatarsky, Gershkovich, Patrushev and Guns
Something for everyone? What we may conclude from the murder of milblogger 'Vladlen Tatarsky', thoughts on the hostage-taking of journalist Evan Gershkovich…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 94: What do you do with a problem like Medvedev?
Spinning off from a recent piece for the Spectator, I look at Dmitri Medvedev's decline and fall, from technocratic liberal hope to peddler of toxic…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 93: Oligarchs and Judges
Isn't it time to scrap the term 'oligarch'? In Russia - as perhaps, not in Ukraine - the time when rich people able to assert power because of their wealth (as…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 92: Everyone's Got an Agenda: Hungary, China, Neo-Nazis, Kadyrov, Anime Fans...
Why did Budapest 2023 remind me of Moscow 2007? Are Hungary or China 'pro-Russia'? What can we read into pro-Ukrainian neo-Nazi incursions into Russia and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 91: Russian Fantasies - Putin's address to the nation and the lessons from Russian science fiction
Putin has finally set a date for his annual address to the Federal Assembly, 21 February. He will likely try to tread the balance between scaring and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 90: A Murder in Donbas Evokes the 90s and Putin Cosplays the 40s
The apparent hit on a Russian rightist, propagandist, and self-styled "swindler and mercenary" raises a range of questions about coordination in the Russian…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 89: Tanks, the New Patriotic War and the Strelkov-Prigozhin Spat
What does it mean that Western-designed tanks will now be supplied to Ukraine, and what - if any - potential responses does Putin have? At the very least, it…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 88: Enter Gerasimov
So what might it mean for Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov to be made the new overall commander of Russian operations in Ukraine? I suspect Putin is…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 87: War, Politics and Putin's New Year's Address
A collection of topics: Putin's rather bellicose New Year Address and what to make of it, the limits of Russian politics, what to make of Medvedev's and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 86: Russian Rumours and Cognitive Biases
Is Putin contemplating fleeing to Venezuela? Is Medvedev more powerful than Patrushev? Does it make sense to decolonise Russia? Is a maverick spook spilling…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 85: War and Peace (and how both are changing)
What broader lessons about the changing nature of war, peace and power can we draw from the Russo-Ukrainian conflict? A more conceptual and rambling episode…