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In this episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, we’re joined by Professor Mark Galeotti, one of the world’s leading experts on modern Russia, for a sweeping conversation on authoritarianism, democracy, and the future of Putin’s regime.

We explore:

• Why democracy failed in post-Soviet Russia
• The real legacy of Boris Yeltsin and the 1990s
• How Putin rebuilt an authoritarian state with elite loyalty and public apathy
• Russia’s strategic culture and the "first punch" doctrine
• What comes after Putin—and how the war in Ukraine might end
• Grey zone warfare, gangsters as proxies, and Russia’s criminal statecraft
• How democracies can resist authoritarian influence without sacrificing their values
• Why Russian disinformation works—and why fact-checking alone won’t stop it

Key Takeaways:

• “You can have rule of law without democracy, but not democracy without rule of law.”
• Putin's Russia is a hybrid of medieval court politics and 21st-century bureaucracy.
• The West enabled Russian authoritarianism by endorsing rigged elections and prioritising short-term stability over long-term democratic development.
• Today’s global struggle isn’t just military—it’s narrative, emotional, and psychological.
• Disinformation thrives where trust in institutions has already collapsed.
• Fixing democracy’s reputation means fixing democratic systems themselves.
• Russia’s alliances with Iran, China, and others are transactional—not ideological.
• “Democracy is a frustrating, unstable beast—but it can do amazing things if we fight for it.”

Mark Galeotti’s Latest Book:

Homo Criminalis — out now in the UK and Netherlands. U.S. release coming soon.

Listen to Mark’s podcast: In Moscow’s Shadows

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