The lawyers and journalists who worked with the Team 29 project specialized in Russia’s most hopeless political prosecutions — the treason case against journalist Ivan Safronov, the extremism charges against Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption movement, and dozens more indictments all but doomed to convictions. Earlier this year, the project was forced to disband after Russia’s federal censor started blocking its website. In November 2021, the Justice Ministry designated Team 29’s former members as “foreign agents” and many of those people subsequently fled the country. Valeria Vetoshkina, today’s guest on The Naked Pravda, is one of those people. 

Timestamps for this week’s episode:

• (0:00) Filmmaker Alexander Sokurov lectures Vladimir Putin about Russia’s “constitutional crisis”
• (4:23) Analysts and experts battle in op-ed columns and online over the right strategy in Ukraine
• (6:46) Moving closer into the Kremlin’s orbit than ever, the social network Vkontakte gets new owners
• (11:02) The head of Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee has no sense of humor and no patience for exoneration
• (13:21) Human rights lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina, a former member of the now dissolved Team 29 project, describes her education in law school and the state of her field in Russia today

“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”

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