Carnegie Politika Podcast

It's been more than a month since Hamas attacked Israel, reigniting the Middle East crisis once again and switching the focus of other political players to the region. Is Russia benefiting from the escalation in the conflict? How is it affecting the war in Ukraine? And what are the long-term consequences for Russia's position as a global player in the Middle East?

Explore the role of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary army, in Russian politics and interference. Discuss the impact of Prigozhin's death on Russia's political elites. Analyze the activities and future of the Wagner Group. Debate the stability of the Russian regime amidst recent events and the Ukrainian war.

Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Sophia Besch, a fellow at the Carnegie Europe Program, and Eric Ciaramello, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Program, to discuss the outcomes of the NATO summit in Vilnius.The recent NATO summit in Vilnius is being labeled by many as a historic moment for the future of European security, and Ukraine's in particular. What were the summit's key results? How will the accession of Sweden to the alliance change the security role of the Baltic Sea? And is the plan for future NATO accession enough to satisfy Ukrainian society?

Alex Gabuev is joined by Tom de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, and Anna Ohanyan, a nonresident senior scholar at Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia program, to discuss developments in and around the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh. As the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh appears to be inching toward a resolution, is the new political reality accepted in Armenia? What does Azeri President Ilham Aliyev hope to achieve? How will the failure of Russian peacekeepers to intervene in recent developments affect the relationship between Moscow and Yerevan? Is the rivalry between competing Western and Russian resolution tracks an asset or a hindrance? And how will an eventual resolution impact on the political systems of Armenia and Azerbaijan?

Why did Xi Jinping choose to visit Moscow at a time when Russia has been ostracized by the global community for its invasion of Ukraine? Did both sides get what they wanted from the visit? Has Russia resigned itself to being the junior partner in this burgeoning relationship? What is China’s agenda in putting forward a peace plan for Ukraine? Podcast host Alexander Gabuev is joined by Yanmei Xie, a geopolitics analyst at Gavekal Research, and Vita Spivak, an analyst at Control Risks and non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Podcast host Alexander Gabuev and Sergei Vakulenko, a new non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, discuss the energy dimension of the ongoing battle between Russia and the West. How successful was Russia’s plan to wreak economic havoc in Europe by choking gas supplies? Can Europe breathe a sigh of relief, or will Russian energy blackmail still a be threat next winter? How effective have Western energy sanctions been in cutting off the cash flow for the Kremlin’s war machine? And what impact has the war in Ukraine had on the green agenda, both in Russia and beyond? Read Vakulenko's piece on how Russian oil companies defied sanctions and paid less tax here: https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/89052

Podcast host Alexander Gabuev discusses what the next few months may have in store together with Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, and Mark Galeotti, CEO of Mayak Intelligence. As the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, Ukraine is set to receive Western battle tanks, while Russia is believed to be planning a new offensive. What military developments can we expect to see in the next few months? What impact will the Western tanks have on Ukraine’s capabilities, and why has the West only agreed to supply them now? What do the changes in the military leadership mean for Russia’s campaign? And who is really dictating Russia’s aims and tactics in this war?

As we relaunch our Russia-focused podcast under the Carnegie Politika brand, FT correspondent Polina Ivanova and economist-in-exile Sergei Guriev join podcast host Alexander Gabuev to discuss how access to both data and sources has changed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and whether people inside the Russian government itself also have a poorer understanding of the broader picture as a result of the same changes.

This podcast episode focuses on the recent upheaval in Kazakhstan and what to expect moving forward. What and who was behind the recent unrest in Kazakhstan? What was the role of Russia? What will become of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s family, and what are the implications for other former Soviet countries? Podcast host Alexander Gabuev is joined by Assel Tutumlu, an assistant professor at the Near East University, and Temur Umarov, a fellow at Carnegie Moscow Center.

What are the roots and drivers of the digital sovereignty narrative in Russian politics? Is there any Russian alternative to foreign 5G technology? How successful is Moscow’s import substitution policy in telecom hardware and software? Is the specter of sanctions against 5G equipment and other civilian telecom software a real threat, or a myth spread by scaremongers? Podcast host Alexander Gabuev is joined by Janis Kluge, a senior associate with the SWP research facility in Berlin, and Alena Epifanova, a research fellow at DGAP—also in Berlin—to discuss the ideas of digital sovereignty and a sovereign internet, and the challenges to those concepts.