The Russia Guy

Sexual harassment allegations are gaining steam against Leonid Slutsky, the unbeautifully named head of the State Duma’s committee on foreign affairs. In this episode of The Russia Guy, Kevin asks and answers the following three questions:*Who exactly has accused Leonid Slutsky of what exactly?*How have Slutsky’s colleagues in the legislature responded to the allegations?*What legal recourse do journalists in Russia have against sexual harassment?As always, don't forget to check out Meduza's coverage of this story, which you can find in several articles, including but not limited to:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/03/07/leonid-slutsky-must-resign-from-the-state-dumahttps://meduza.io/en/short/2018/03/07/the-speaker-of-the-state-duma-told-women-reporters-to-find-new-jobs-if-they-feel-threatened-by-sexual-harassment-at-russia-s-parliamenthttps://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/03/02/several-russian-journalists-say-a-federal-lawmaker-sexually-harassed-them-what-s-their-legal-recoursehttps://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/02/28/i-m-prepared-to-take-a-couple-of-journalist-girls-myself

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The Russian Federation Council’s Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Foreign Interference published its first major report on March 5. Much of the 83-page document is a digressive look at America’s history of meddling in various countries’ domestic affairs over the past half century. In their introduction, the commission members write that this study is an “objective analysis based on reliable data.” Meduza took a closer look at the report and found that a significant part of its data was taken from an article written by a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in September 2016, with some additional excerpts copied from a book by the Stalinist pseudo-historian Igor Pykhalov, plus a bit lifted from Wikipedia.This episode of The Russia Guy asks and answers the following questions:*What did the Federation Council commission steal from?*How do we know the commission basically copy-pasted?*Why did the commission take from these sources?And don't forget to read Meduza's report on this report:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/03/06/russia-s-senate-released-a-report-accusing-the-u-s-of-meddling-in-foreign-countries-its-sources-are-a-stalinist-pseudo-historian-wikipedia-and-an-american-postgraduate

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On March 1, Vladimir Putin gave his annual state-of-the-nation address, devoting a significant part of his speech to a presentation of Russia’s latest weapons, including nuclear missiles. “Nobody listened to us before. Well listen up now,” the president said. Meduza asked several Russian political and security experts to explain why Putin demonstrated all these weapons and what the speech means for his next presidential term.In this episode, Kevin summarizes and comments on the expert interpretations reported by Meduza. Some questions asked and answered here: Who was Putin’s intended audience? Why does Putin feel the need to threaten the United States? And what does Putin hope to gain by talking up Russia’s next-generation nukes?And don't forget to read the Meduza story here:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/03/02/he-s-trying-to-say-take-us-seriously-we-re-not-joking-anymoreSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Two sources have confirmed to the independent TV station Dozhd that a former “troll factory” manager is now living happily in a suburb outside Seattle, Washington. This episode of The Russia Guy asks:* What’s the evidence of this woman’s connections to the troll factory?* How did she end up in the United States?* Why isn’t she in handcuffs or witness protection?* What does it matter if a former Russian troll factory manager has moved to Seattle?And don't forget to read Meduza's report on this latest “troll factory” development:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/02/26/russian-journalists-say-a-former-troll-factory-manager-is-now-living-happily-outside-seattle

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Today's episode looks at a series of flashy viral ads that have appeared on YouTube recently, advertising Russia's upcoming presidential election, asking: *What are these viral election ads? What are they about? How do they use humor to try to get people to vote?*How does the advertising industry get involved in this kind of work?*What’s the Kremlin’s role in all this?And don't forget to read Meduza's article on this story:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/02/23/viral-videos-promoting-the-presidential-election-are-popping-up-online-in-russia-and-nobody-is-sure-who-s-making-them-the-breadcrumbs-lead-back-to-the-kremlin

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After almost two months, The Russia Guy is back! Here's the outline for today's episode:Who is Vitaly Serukanov and how did he end up betraying Alexey Navalny?How did the political strategist Andrey Bogdanov end up working with Serukanov?How does Serukanov justify double-crossing Navalny like this?And don't forget to read Meduza's report on this story, which is my source for most of this information:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/02/22/how-one-of-navalny-s-former-staffers-teamed-up-with-a-notorious-strategist-to-steal-his-political-party

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In this episode, Kevin discusses “Going Vertical,” a new Russian blockbuster film about the USSR's 1972 Olympic basketball defeat of the United States, which was both an upset and upsetting to the Americans, who refused to accept silver medals, arguing that the game ended unfairly. This episode features audio clips from the film and from the actual game. Meduza also spoke to several of the 1972 team's members, including two of their widows, who have not exactly welcomed the new movie.https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/01/12/miracle-on-maple

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In this third installment of The Russia Guy's interview series with professionals in the expert community specializing on Russia, Kevin spoke to Kimberly Zenz, a senior international threat intelligence researcher at the Deutsche Cyber-Sicherheitsorganisation (German Cyber Security Organization) who's spent more than a decade working on Russian cybercrime. If you're a student of Russian area studies and want to know more about the career opportunities Kimberly describes in this interview, she encourages you to reach out on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kimberlytzenzSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Behold the second guest in The Russia Guy's new interview series: Nina Jankowicz, an expert in disinformation and democracy promotion in Eastern Europe. Kevin found out how she got into Think Tank Land and asked her just what it means to work toward democratic aims, both abroad and at home.You can follow her on the Twitters here:https://twitter.com/wiczipediaShe also runs a whole newsletter for your education and edification enjoyment. You can sign up at her website here:https://tinyletter.com/wiczipediaAnd you can read her Fulbright paper about Russian disinformation here (it's a slick 29 pages):https://wiczipedia.com/russian-disinformation/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's the first in The Russia Guy's new interview series. Kevin sat down (remotely. don't read too much into that word) with Aric Toler, one of Bellingcat's top analysts and the lead Eastern Europe digital researcher at DFR Lab, to find out how he got into the Russia expertise biz, and what life is like in the open-source intelligence world.Follow him on Twitter, y'all.https://twitter.com/AricTolerSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)