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 27: Men of Force and Forceful Language
Who are the main 'siloviki' or 'men of force,' the heads of Russia's security structures? In response to a request from a patron, I give a run-through of the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 26: Moscow's Marvels, and Mob Murder
All the Ms. First of all, as a counter to the understandable pessimism about Russia at the moment, I look at some of the aspects of Moscow that still make me…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 25: Navalny in Prison
A short. 'one act' special: with the news (still unconfirmed) that Navalny is being sent to IK-2 penal colony in Vladimir region, I look at the prison, and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 24: Scenarios for Russia after Navalny, and Dzerzhinsky vs Nevsky [reloaded]
With Navalny in prison, the opposition mobilising, and the state cracking down, what will happen next?The only honest answer anyone can give is "no idea." So…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 23: Is Navalny the best thing that ever happened to Putinism? Russia's 'Stolypin moment'?
It's a deliberately provocative title, I know, but how might the 'Navalny effect' impact late Putinism? A swing towards blunt and uncompromising…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 22: The Morning After A Hot Day in Russia
Yesterday saw major protests all across Russia, a genuine success for Team Navalny. But now what? My rough and uncurated first thoughts...You can also follow…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 18 January 2021: What does the Kremlin do with Navalny?
Another short 'cellcast', though given its timeliness, going public straightaway.In this cellcast, recorded on 18 January 2021, I take a very speculative…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 21: The Federal Protection Service (FSO) and Russian security politics; and Three Stories About the Opposition
The FSO, the Federal Protection Service (or Federal Guard Service) is more that just Putin's dark-suited bodyguards, or the goose-stepping soldiers at the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 4 January: Kulikovo, 1380 to 2021
So Russia has a new laser system, called Peresvet. Pere-who? This gets me talking, for the last of the Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas cellcasts, about the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 1 January: Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu
How did Defence Minister Shoigu make it from graduating from Krasnoyarsk Poly as a construction engineer to being discussed as a potential future president? In…
- In Moscow's Shadows
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 28 December: Directorate K and the FSB's dilemma
How might a scandal from 2019 affect who runs the FSB in 2021? And should we consider levels of elite embezzlement a good index of their confidence? In this…
- In Moscow's Shadows
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 25 December: Afghan Christmas
Today in 1979, Afghanistan was waking up under Soviet domination. In this first cellcast of the 2020-21 Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas, I pull out three…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 20: Spooks: more Navalny, will the FSB change tack, and did the SVR carry out a 'cyberattack'?
More on the Navalny case, the story that keeps unfolding, following the publication of his conversation with one of his would-be killers, and a rumination on…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 19: The Navalny Hit (after the Bellingcat/Insider report)
An impressively detailed investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider meticulously details the Russian Federal Security Service operation against Alexei…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 18: Life in the Communist Party? And Three Random Stories
Is there life in the Communist Party, and any chance of it again becoming an opposition party, maybe even in some kind of entente with Alexei Navalny? My…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 24 November 2020: Konstantin Malofeev and his Tsargrad party - a potential threat to the Kremlin from the right?
Another short 'cellcast', going out directly to my Patrons, and to everyone else a week later.In this cellcast, recorded on 24 November, I look at the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 17: Russian Gangsters; and Kadyrov and Captain America
An introduction to the Russian underworld and, especially, three problematic concepts - the 'honest thief,' the 'thieves' world' and the 'mafia state' - to…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 16: The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR): and Is Putin Ill? (Spoiler: Probably Not)
After a few very brief observations on the US elections and the implications of a Biden presidency, a look at the SVR, its operations, role, culture and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 1 November 2020: Five Things Bugging Me in Western Russia Coverage
Another short 'cellcast', going out directly to my Patrons, and to everyone else a week later.A rant, plain and simple. Sparked by the article 'The Narcissism…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 15: In conversation with Anna Arutunyan, on sanctions, calling Putin's bluff, and various bunches of guys
In the first In Moscow's Shadows to have a guest, I talk to Anna Arutunyan, analyst and writer on Russia (her The Putin's Mystique is well worth a read if you…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 14: The Kremlin, Will and Empire; and, A Fistful of Books #1
Russia has long considered the so-called 'Near Abroad' of post-Soviet states to be its sphere of influence. But does it really have the will to assert…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 29 September 2020: A Week in the life of Sergei Naryshkin
Sergei Naryshkin, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and chair of the Russian Historical Society, has been a busy man this past week…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 13: The GRU, and why is it so hard to leave Putin?
I take a general look at Russian military intelligence, the fearsome GRU (OK, GU for purists), what it is and does and what it isn't and doesn't...And in the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 19 September 2020: Questioning Less about Navalny
A short cellcast 'mini-podcast' released in this case simultaneously to Patrons and publicly. Recording this was, frankly, triggered by exasperation that so…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 12: Drift in Russian Politics and the Decay of the 'Hybrid Regime'; on Cheating, in dissertations, politics and the underworld
What is going on with Putin and his regime? Less of a distinct answer to that question, and more a pondering of what we can read into the mishandling of a…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 6 September 2020: Belarus's Strongmen
Released on 6 September to Patrons, public release later. A snapshot of the three key figures within Belarus's security structures: the new head of the KGB…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 11: On Power and its perceived absence: the National Guard, the European Union
Trying (it turns out in vain) to avoid the present inevitable concentration on Navalny and Belarus, I discuss two forms of power. What the creation and current…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 22 August 2020: #Navalny
What makes Alexei Navalny so dangerous for Putin's regime? This short 'cellcast' was provided to patrons of the podcast…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 19 August 2020: Belarus, Russia and the Information War
Rumours abound amidst the Belarusian revolution. Why do I think that's a particular problem now? Because, as it looks like the revolution is moving from its…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 11 August 2020: Russia and Belarus
Belarus is in turmoil. Why did Lukashenka award himself such an implausible 80% of the vote> How does Moscow see the current crisis, and what might it do about…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 10: Russian Influence, Soft Power and Dark Power
The release of a long-awaited report on Russian influence in the UK provides a chance to look at why Moscow tries - and often fails - to exert influence, and…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 9: Thrones of Bayonets (and hacking coronavirus research)
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…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 8: Serebrennikov, Miniakhmetov and Set' and the 'Three Russias'
The big story is the constitutional vote, but I honestly have nothing new to say about that, so instead I take three controversial court cases - Kirill…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 7: Technocrats and Cultural Warriors, and Why I'd Vote No In the Constitutional Plebiscite
Having talked about Security Council secretary Patrushev in the last podcast, he and most of the other heads of the security agency chiefs suddenly seem…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 6: The Most Dangerous Man in Russia
Who could be the most dangerous man in Russia? A president? An ideologue? A kleptocrat? A gangster? None of those, in my opinion...If anyone is interested in…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 7 June 2020: A Plot in Prague, The Murders That Weren't
What to make of the Czech Republic's bizarre 'ricin case' whereby a Russian diplomat was accused of being part of an assassination plot that turned out to be…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 5: Disinformation (and deep-cover spies and Libya)
Does Russia use disinformation as a weapon against the West? Yes. But is this a constant and carefully coordinated campaign? Not so much: this episode, I…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 25 May 2020: Gangsters, SMEs and Covid economic policy
As an extra initiative, I've decided from time to time to record very short 'cellcasts' riffing off some article or piece of news. They will go out to patrons…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 4: Vorontsov, Police Protests and Community Action (plus 'late Putinism', spooks and Western policy)
Why should we care about police protests against the victimisation of an ex-cop activist? I suggest it says some interesting things about community and the…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 3: Victory Day, National Myths and Patron's Questions
What more can be said about Victory Day and how the Kremlin seeks to co-opt the myth and memory of the Great Patriotic War to its own purposes? I have a go…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 2: Mishustin, Sechin, Institutional vs Personal Power
Prime Minister Mishustin is self-isolating with COVID-19 symptoms, and Andrei Belousov is standing in for him, But how does the prime minister really matter in…
- In Moscow's Shadows
In Moscow's Shadows 1: Coronavirus, Sobyanin, Social Contracts and Big Len
The inaugural episode of the In Moscow's Shadows podcast, Mark Galeotti's rumination on all things Russia, past, present and future. This episode addresses the…