Russian Roulette

Today's episode is about the escalating waves of repression in Russia, and what they mean for both the regime and what remains of the organized domestic opposition. Maria sat down with Natalia Arno, the founder and president of the Free Russia Foundation, and Miriam Lanskoy, the Senior Director for Russia and Eurasia at the National Endowment for Democracy, to discuss this important topic.

Today's episode is a recording of an event Max and Maria held on April 14, 2023 to discuss the findings of a new CSIS report, "Out of Stock? Assessing the Impact of Sanctions on Russia's Defense Industry." Joined by Samuel Bendett and Paul Schwartz, Max and Maria discuss the effects Western sanctions and export regulations have had on Russia's ability to produce key weapons systems, in addition to the Kremlin's efforts to circumvent the sanctions regime.Read the full report here.

On this week's episode, Max and Maria sit down with Russian journalist Michael Nacke, and scholar Nikolai Petrov, to talk about the state of the Russian elite today. Topics include the recently leaked phone call between Iosif Progozhin and Farkhad Akhmedov, the impact of individual sanctions on powerful Russians, and whether or not fragmentation is occurring within Russia's ruling circles and power vertical.

In this special episode, Max and Maria sit down with President Zelenskyy's Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Aliona Verbitskaya. As you will hear, this conversation was conducted in Russian, with Vera Mironova serving as Aliona's translator.

This week’s special episode of Russian Roulette features an interview on Georgia’s foreign agents law conducted by our sister podcast, The Eurofile. Max Bergmann and Donatienne Ruy from the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program sit down with Kakha Gogolashvili, Senior Fellow and Director of EU Studies at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, to discuss the recently abandoned foreign agents law, Russia’s presence in the South Caucasus, and Georgia’s EU membership aspirations. Listen to The Eurofile | CSIS Podcasts Read more: In Georgia, Civil Society Wins against Russia-Style ‘Foreign Agents’ Bill (csis.org) 

Dr. Jeffrey Mankoff discusses how the imperial histories of China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey shape their international actions today. Topics include strategic competition, nationalism in Ukraine and Russia, tensions in the Caucasus, reactions to Xinjiang developments, and interactions between the four powers.

In this episode, Max and Maria are joined by Michael Kimmage to discuss the state of affairs in Russia after a year of war in Ukraine, and where the country may be headed in 2023. Max, Maria, and Michael all highlight their recent writing connected to the war, and note the various debates around the impact of sanctions, Russia's shifting domestic political scene, and what all this means for Russia's leadership.Read the articles discussed in the episode: Putin's Last Stand by Michael Kimmage and Liana Fix (Foreign Affairs) Wartime Putinism by Michael Kimmage and Maria Lipman (Foreign Affairs) What Could Come Next? Assessing the Putin Regime's Stability and Western Policy Options by Max Bergmann (csis.org) Russia Sanctions at One Year: Learning from the Cases of South Africa and Iran by Maria Snegovaya, Tina Dolbaia, Nick Fenton, and Max Bergmann (csis.org)

Listen to the audio from an event our team hosted at CSIS on February 15, 2023. Max Bergmann moderated a panel comprised of Maria Snegovaya, Michael Kimmage, and the RAND Corporation's Dara Massicot, a Senior Policy Researcher and expert on the Russian military. The discussion took stock of the war in Ukraine so far, its implications for both Ukraine and Russia, and the ongoing impact the war is having on European politics and US policy in the broader region.

On this episode of Russian Roulette, listen to Max Bergmann interview Brian Hart and Meia Nouwens about a recent report from the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at CSIS, titled "Understanding the Broader Transatlantic Security Implications of Greater Sino-Russian Military Alignment." Brian and Meia both contributed papers to the report and discuss their findings with Max, along with their thoughts on the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine on the Sino-Russian strategic relationship at large. This conversation was originally recorded in early December 2022.Read the full report: https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-broader-transatlantic-security-implications-greater-sino-russian-military

After a long hiatus, Russian Roulette is back! For our first episode after our time away, listen in to a conversation Max and Maria recently had at CSIS in Washington, DC. Following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, The US, EU, and their partners imposed severe sanctions on the Russian economy. Sanctions of this scale and scope are unprecedented in recent history, and have major potential implications not just for the course of the war in Ukraine, but also for Russia's broader geopolitical position. Max and Maria hosted held a wide-ranging conversation on this topic, and they were joined by our CSIS colleague and global energy market expert, Ben Cahill. Additionally, we welcomed Dr. Sergey Aleksashenko, a Russian economist and Member of the Board of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, and the Board of the Free Russia Foundation.  This event and podcast episode was made possible through the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.