The Russia Guy

By Kevin RothrockNews News Commentary

The Russia Guy episodes

May 09, 2020E106: Michael Schwirtz on Journalism and the NYT's Pulitzer Prize
On today’s show, “The Russia Guy” welcomes Michael Schwirtz, a journalist from The New York Times staff who just won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. The award was granted for “a set of enthralling stories, reported at great risk, exposing the predations of Vladimir Putin’s regime.”

The newspaper's winning work includes six articles and two documentary videos published in 2019. Now an investigative reporter with The New York Times, Michael has been with the newspaper for 14 years, having started in the Moscow bureau and then working at the Metro Desk, first covering the New York City Policy Department, then as part of Metro's investigative team, reporting about brutality and corruption in the New York State prison system and at Rikers Island in New York City.

The four winning works that Michael authored or co-authored are the following:
“Russia Ordered a Killing That Made No Sense. Then the Assassin Started Talking.”
”Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say”* “How Russia Meddles Abroad for Profit: Cash, Trolls and a Cult Leader”* “How a Poisoning in Bulgaria Exposed Russian Assassins in Europe”

You can read them all here:https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staff-new-york-times
Follow Michael Schwirtz on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/mschwirtz

Support this very podcast here:
www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock

Music and audio:
Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7s
Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
34 min
April 19, 2020 E105: Miriam Elder
Today’s guest is Miriam Elder, a political reporter at BuzzFeed, where until recently she worked for many years as the world editor. Before that, she was the Russia correspondent for The Guardian, and her work has been featured in many other publications, including The Financial Times, The Atlantic, The Moscow Times, and more. Miriam is also the first Western journalist who reported extensively on Pussy Riot. She was kind enough to come on this podcast and answer some questions about life in Moscow, life as an editor, and the ups and downs of writing about Russia.Follow Miriam Elder on Twitter:https://twitter.com/MiriamElderFollow Miriam's reported at BuzzFeed:https://www.buzzfeednews.com/author/miriamelderSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQModern Jazz Samba by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4063-modern-jazz-sambaLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
24 min
April 05, 2020 E104: Brian O’Toole on Russian Medical Supplies for NYC
Today’s guest is Brian O’Toole, a senior fellow in the Global Business and Economics Program at the Atlantic Council. Brian previously worked at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2009 to 2017, becoming a senior adviser to the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). As a senior adviser, Brian helped manage the implementation of all OFAC-administered economic and financial sanctions programs, and provided strategic direction of the internal management of the agency. He additionally played a central role in designing the U.S. sanctions regime in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and negotiating the multilateral sanctions imposed by the European Union and G7 in coordination with the United States.Brian came on “The Russia Guy” to discuss the recent shipment of Russian medical supplies to New York City and the geopolitical scandal that erupted as a result.Brian O’Toole at the Atlantic Council:https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/brian-o-toole/“A Mystery Wrapped In An Enigma Inside A Russian Coronavirus Aid Shipment To The U.S.,” By Mike Eckel:https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-coronavirus-aid-shipment-u-s-mystery-sanctions-propaganda/30529019.htmlSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQWalking Along by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4603-walking-alongLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Bandit by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4483-the-banditLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
22 min
March 29, 2020 E103: Jill Dougherty
Today’s guest is Jill Dougherty, a Russia expert who worked as a journalist at CNN for 30 years before shifting to work in academia. At CNN, she served as a White House correspondent, a foreign affairs correspondent covering the U.S. State Department, as a U.S. affairs editor, a managing editor for CNN Asia/Pacific, and for almost a decade as Moscow Bureau chief. Jill was kind enough to come on this podcast to discuss her many years in this field, how she’s seen it change and evolve over time, and what she makes of Russia’s past, present, and future. She also explained her new podcast for the Wilson Center, “KennanX.” Jill Dougherty on Twitter:https://twitter.com/jillrussiaThe KennanX podcast:https://www.wilsoncenter.org/collection/kennanx-podcastSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQThinking Music by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4522-thinking-musicLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Bandit by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4483-the-banditLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
35 min
March 15, 2020 E102: The Russian Defense Policy Blog
Today’s guest is the man behind one of the longest-running, best Russia blogs ever written. If you’ve even a fleeting interest in Russia’s military, you’ve probably read the Russian Defense Policy blog at least once, and on today’s episode of The Russia Guy, you can finally hear from the author, who asked to remain anonymous, which is how he’s always maintained his blog, of course. How do you sustain a blog for more than a decade? Where do you go for information to maintain expertise on an issue like Russian defense policy? Is open-source intelligence the future? This and more in the interview.The blog:https://russiandefpolicy.blog/ Follow Russian Defense Policy on Twitter:https://twitter.com/russiandefpolicSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
31 min
March 06, 2020 E101: Anton Troianovski on the USSR's Bernie Sanders Files
Today's guest is New York Times Moscow correspondent Anton Troianovski, the author of the March 6, 2020, article, “As Bernie Sanders Pushed for Closer Ties, Soviet Union Spotted Opportunity,” which addresses previously unreported archival documents uncovered in Yaroslavl, where Sanders traveled in 1988 in a combination of civic diplomacy and his own honeymoon. The story has been provocative among many Sanders’s supporters, so here's Troianovski explaining why he wrote it.The article itself:https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/europe/bernie-sanders-soviet-russia.html“Excerpts from the Sanders Files in a Russian Archive”https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/europe/sanders-russia-excerpts-archive.htmlSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
17 min
January 27, 2020 E100: Julia Ioffe on Journalism and Writing
On The Russia Guy’s 100th episode, today's guest is Julia Ioffe, now a correspondent at GQ Magazine, a former Moscow-based reporter, a prominent public figure in both academic settings and cable news, and the author of an upcoming book about Russia. In the interview you’re about to hear, Julia talks about the steps that led her to journalism, the differences of working with official sources in Moscow and Washington, D.C., what it’s like to have a personal connection to the news, and the highs and lows of life as a writer.Follow Julia on Twitter:https://twitter.com/juliaioffeRead her stories at GQ:https://www.gq.com/contributor/julia-ioffeSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
43 min
January 25, 2020 E99: Oliver Carroll on Reporting From the ‘Heart of Darkness’
Today's guest is Oliver Carroll, the Moscow correspondent for the British newspaper “The Independent.” Ollie has lived in and reported from Moscow and Kyiv for more than a decade, he’s back in the Russian capital now, and he was kind enough to come on this podcast to discuss the latest political shakeup in the Russian government and the constitutional amendments, as well as his long career reporting from Russia, Ukraine, and the war-torn Donbas.Follow Ollie on Twitter:https://twitter.com/olliecarrollRead his work at The Independent:https://www.independent.co.uk/author/oliver-carrollSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQ
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
38 min
January 02, 2020 E98: Elizaveta Fokht on Russian Troll Journalism
Today’s guest is Elizaveta Fokht, a journalist the BBC’s Russian-language service, who's also reported for Russian news outlets like Dozhd and RBK. Earlier this month, she and her colleague, Andrey Zakharov, wrote a spectacular story about a new media holding company called “Patriot,” which unites several websites with connections to Evgeny Prigozhin, the Russian catering magnate (who also dabbles in media, mercenaries, and God knows what else).Read their report (in Russian) here:https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-50632900Read an English-language summary at Meduza here:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/12/04/why-so-negativeFollow Elizaveta on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/lizafohtSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
28 min
December 21, 2019 E97: Lincoln Pigman on Russian Cybersecurity
Today's guest is Lincoln Pigman, a Master’s graduate student at Oxford University and a research fellow at the Foreign Policy Center. He’s written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other outlets, usually about Russian cyberspace. About a year ago, he wrote an article in the Journal of Cyber Policy, titled “Russia’s Vision of Cyberspace: A Danger to Regime Security, Public Safety, and Societal Norms and Cohesion.”Follow Lincoln on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/lincolnpigmanSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHd3sxpEbo&t=7sОлег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3wC7gkMDQSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)
31 min

About The Russia Guy

From the publisher's feed

In this podcast, translator and news aggregator Kevin Rothrock talks to movers and shakers in Russia-focused journalism and academia. Interviews deal with views on trending news stories, the…