
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
We meet Ivan and Anna, who fall for each other at a club and later marry. Ivan dreams of adventure but confronts the reality of life in the military, and Anna worries that Ivan’s talents are wasted in the army.
Ivan gets a corrupt new commander, “Pig,” who brings conflict and a demotion. After a visit with friends in St. Petersburg, Ivan and Anna plan for a new life.
In “The Deserter,” the journalist Sarah A. Topol reports the story of Ivan, a deserter who served as a captain in the Russian Army, fought in Ukraine and then ultimately fled the war and his country with his wife, Anna. (Ivan and Anna are pseudonyms used for their protection.)
Topol spoke to 18 deserters while reporting in eight countries across four continents over the last year and a half; their experiences helped inform a vivid picture of the Russian war operation and its corruption, chaos and brutality.
This audio version is in five parts and is narrated by Liev Schreiber.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
4.7
133133 ratings
We meet Ivan and Anna, who fall for each other at a club and later marry. Ivan dreams of adventure but confronts the reality of life in the military, and Anna worries that Ivan’s talents are wasted in the army.
Ivan gets a corrupt new commander, “Pig,” who brings conflict and a demotion. After a visit with friends in St. Petersburg, Ivan and Anna plan for a new life.
In “The Deserter,” the journalist Sarah A. Topol reports the story of Ivan, a deserter who served as a captain in the Russian Army, fought in Ukraine and then ultimately fled the war and his country with his wife, Anna. (Ivan and Anna are pseudonyms used for their protection.)
Topol spoke to 18 deserters while reporting in eight countries across four continents over the last year and a half; their experiences helped inform a vivid picture of the Russian war operation and its corruption, chaos and brutality.
This audio version is in five parts and is narrated by Liev Schreiber.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
3,892 Listeners
1,463 Listeners
90,400 Listeners
8,831 Listeners
139 Listeners
2,062 Listeners
111,059 Listeners
1,497 Listeners
12,629 Listeners
307 Listeners
6,897 Listeners
31,751 Listeners
469 Listeners
52 Listeners
2,321 Listeners
380 Listeners
1,449 Listeners
6,675 Listeners
15,495 Listeners
360 Listeners
1,493 Listeners
1,498 Listeners
10 Listeners
67 Listeners
21 Listeners
11 Listeners
943 Listeners
466 Listeners
0 Listeners
54 Listeners