The Naked Pravda

Meduza reports on opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s death in prison and speaks to experts about his legacy and the political science behind autocrats eliminating dissident threats. This week’s guests are Meduza journalists Evgeny Feldman and Maxim Trudolyubov and scholars Graeme Robertson and Erica Frantz. Timestamps for this episode: (0:43) Photographer Evgeny Feldman reflects on what Navalny meant to him (4:02) The circumstances surrounding Navalny’s death (6:33) Maxim Trudolyubov discusses Navalny’s impact on Russian politics (14:32) Graeme Robertson puts Navalny’s death in the context of the Putin regime’s crackdown on liberalism (18:21) Erica Frantz explains why political prisoners can still threaten autocrats from behind barsКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

Yandex has restructured, selling Russian assets to Kremlin-approved hands while continuing to develop international properties. The podcast discusses the implications of this deal, including potential state control and censorship practices. It also explores the involvement of Putin's banker, Yuri Kavil Chuk, in various business ventures and his connections to Yandex. Key decisions made during the restructuring are explored, as well as the challenges faced by Yandex in finding new startups abroad.

The Russian government has a message for its citizens living in exile: nowhere is safe for you. For years, it’s made this threat clear by subjecting its critics abroad to intimidation, forced repatriation, and assassination attempts. And just as the Kremlin has taken increasingly draconian measures to silence dissent at home since launching the full-scale war in Ukraine, it’s also devised new tactics for targeting activists, journalists, and politicians far beyond its borders. For insight into how Moscow’s approach to transnational repression has changed over the last two years, The Naked Pravda turned to journalist and activist Dan Storyev, who serves as the managing editor of OVD-Info’s English-language edition, and Yana Gorokhovskaia, the research director for strategy and design at Freedom House. *** No country can be free without independent media. In January 2023, the Russian authorities outlawed Meduza, banning our work in the country our colleagues call home. Just supporting Meduza carries the risk of criminal prosecution for Russian nationals, which is why we’re turning to our international audience for help. Your assistance makes it possible for thousands of people in Russia to read Meduza and stay informed. Consider a small but recurring contribution to provide the most effective support. Please donate here. *** Timestamps for this episode (10:22) Case study: An abduction in Kyrgyzstan (16:40) The goal of Moscow’s repressions abroad (20:10) How countries unwittingly “work hand-in-hand with the Kremlin” (23:41) How the Kremlin’s tactics have changed since 2022 (28:29) How Russia takes advantage of the Interpol system to repatriate citizens (34:18) Transnational repression by BelarusКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

Boris Nadezhdin’s surname has its root in the Russian word for “hope,” and he’s inspired just that in tens of thousands of voters as the politician with an antiwar message who’s come the furthest in the country’s byzantine bureaucracy for presidential candidacy. Nadezhdin’s campaign says it’s collected roughly 200,000 signatures, which is twice what it technically needs for the Central Election Commission to add his name to the ballot in March. While the commission’s approval remains unlikely, the Nadezhdin campaign has been a major news event for antiwar Russians, especially in the ever-growing diaspora, where thousands of people have lined up in cities across Europe and the Caucasus to offer their signatures. Nadezhdhin’s allies have no illusions about his prospects, but showing their support for an antiwar challenger to Vladimir Putin has quickly become the opposition’s first visible civic movement in some time. To understand how this happened, who Nadezhdin is as a politician, and how opposition politics has worked throughout Russia’s Putin era, The Naked Pravda welcomes back Dr. Маrgarita Zavadskaya, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. *** No country can be free without independent media. In January 2023, the Russian authorities outlawed Meduza, banning our work in the country our colleagues call home. Just supporting Meduza carries the risk of criminal prosecution for Russian nationals, which is why we’re turning to our international audience for help. Your assistance makes it possible for thousands of people in Russia to read Meduza and stay informed. Consider a small but recurring contribution to provide the most effective support. Please donate here. *** Timestamps for this episode: (5:43) Nadezhdin’s Political Career and Ideology (9:58) Understanding the Nature of Russian Liberal Politicians (19:26) The Role of Elections in Authoritarian Regimes (26:04) A Hopeful Note: The Power of Collective ActionКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

The U.S. government is reportedly becoming more “assertive” about backing the confiscation of roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets to provide an alternative funding stream for Kyiv. The news comes amid faltering efforts in Europe and Washington to approve the budgetary allocations needed to sustain aid for Ukraine, which presumably makes it even more attractive to force Russia to foot the bill. Kyiv’s most ardent supporters in the West say the seizure of the immobilized Russian state assets is long overdue. In fact, that the seizure hasn’t happened already is both alarming and confounding to many people. To understand what’s keeping the West from grabbing this Russian money and what it will take for the confiscation to go ahead, Meduza spoke to journalist, economist, and political analyst Alexander Kolyandr and welcomed back Maximilian Hess, the founder of Enmetena Advisory and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the author of “Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West.” Timestamps for this episode (4:33) What and where are these frozen Russian assets?(8:46) Confiscation’s potential impact on the world economy(12:41) Implications for Western countries(14:55) Understanding the resistance to confiscation(36:09) Barriers to asset confiscationКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

Grigory Sverdlin, creator of 'Get Lost', a human rights group helping Russians evade the draft discusses the challenges of avoiding mobilization and military recruiter tactics. Dr. Stefan Wolff provides a geopolitical perspective on Russia's mobilization. They also explore the social and demographic impact of mobilization in Russia and Ukraine.

In a special holiday departure from The Naked Pravda’s usual coverage of Russian politics and news, Meduza in English’s social media editor Ned Garvey and senior news editor Sam Breazeale chat about their personal experiences living in Russia, what they found surprising there as Americans, and what still stands out today in their memories of the country. Timestamps for this episode: (8:52) Encounters with seedy characters and police(12:58) Travels around the country(15:01) Surprises in daily life(18:00) Holiday memories(23:06) Friendships in Russia(26:45) Stereotypes: fact vs. fictionКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

Lena Wolf, a descendant of 18th-century German settlers in Soviet Kazakhstan, shares her family's story of identity confusion, deportation, and the challenges faced by ethnic Germans. She is now creating a graphic novel to document her family history, uncovering suppressed stories and finding new meaning in her parents' memories.

There’s a paradox in studying Russia today: the country has become “more prominent in the news agenda and simultaneously less transparent for observers,” thanks to the invasion of Ukraine, Western sanctions, isolation, and the intensification of propaganda. This week’s show is devoted to studying Russia in conditions of growing non-transparency, which is the subject of a paper published in October 2023 by scholars Dmitry Kokorin, Dmitriy Gorskiy, Elizaveta Zubiuk, and Tetiana Kotelnikova. For more about this work, The Naked Pravda spoke to Dmitriy Gorskiy, a researcher at the Ideas for Russia Program. Gorskiy and his coauthors write about “distortions” of knowledge production in Russia and knowledge production about Russia, and they explore how experts adapt to less reliable data and disruptions in international cooperation, among other challenges. Timestamps for this episode: (5:30) The importance of studying Russia(6:57) Lessons from the Soviet Union(8:13) Distortions of knowledge production(13:28) Government data and reliability(15:40) Triangulation and leaked data(16:25) A media diet for Russia scholars(26:13) Rigorous social scientific workКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

On November 30, the Russian Supreme Court outlawed an organization that doesn’t exist: the so-called “international LGBT movement.” The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry, which claimed the “international LGBT movement’s” activities showed signs of “extremism” and incited “social and religious discord.” The new ban won’t officially come into force until January 10, 2024, but its chilling effect was almost immediate. The day after the ruling, Russian police reportedly raided multiple nightclubs that were hosting events for LGBTQ+ people. One of St. Petersburg’s oldest gay clubs has announced its closure, as has at least one LGBTQ+ rights organization. The mapping service 2GIS instructed employees to create a “registry” of LGBTQ+ establishments. According to the Russian authorities, this human rights crackdown is necessary to protect Russia’s “traditional values” from outside threats. But the truth is that this type of conservative nationalism didn’t originate in Russia at all. To learn where it actually came from and what it means for LGBTQ+ life in Russia, Meduza senior news editor Sam Breazeale spoke to historian Dr. Dan Healey, sociologist Dr. Alexander Kondakov, and political scientist Dr. Leandra Bias. Timestamps for this episode: (3:48) Dan Healey on LGBTQ+ rights in Russia in the 1990s and 2000s(9:28) Anti-gay repressions under Joseph Stalin(13:44) Alexander Kondakov on Putin’s “ideology”(25:05) The “innovation” of Russia’s “LGBT movement” ban(31:11) The future of LGBTQ+ rights organizations in Russia(33:55) Leandra Bias on the foreign roots of Russia’s “traditional values”(38:08) How Russia uses homophobia and transphobia to justify warКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно