Direct Line with Vladimir Putin: Fatigue, Promises, and Democratic Institution

For 20 years the Russian President Vladimir Putin was happy to lurk in the shadows, trying and occasionally succeeding to manipulate the rest of the world into doing what he wanted them to do.

But this year he chucked that out the window.

His invasion of Ukraine has turned global security and the global economy upside down. In this episode we ask, why did he do it?

Guests:

• Philip Short - Former BBC Moscow Correspondent; Author of Putin: His Life and Times
• Dr Yevgenia Albats - Chief Editor of The New Times
• Dr Mykhailo Minakov - Philosopher; Editor in Chief of Focus Ukraine blog from the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center
• Dr Paul Dibb - Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU; Former Director of the Australian Joint Intelligence Organisation
• Simon Shuster - Reporter for Time Magazine; author of an upcoming biography of Volodymyr Zelenskyy