The Russia Guy

On today’s show, we welcome back Matt Bodner, a journalist in Moscow who reports primarily on national defense and the space industry. His latest article for Defense News combines these two themes, as it’s about the mysterious explosion reported on Russia’s northern frontier on August 8. In the article, Matt reviews the leading theories about what blew up, and he floated some bold suggestions that Russia’s so-called “Skyfall” nuclear-powered missile could be an entirely fake project designed to deter the United States.Read the article here:https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/08/13/an-explosion-a-spike-in-radiation-evacuation-preparations-what-exactly-happened-in-russia/Follow Matt on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/mattb0401Support 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)

Today's guest is Nick Trickett, the editor-in-chief of the Foreign Policy Research Institute's “BMB Russia” newsletter, a frequent contributor to “The Diplomat,” and a current Master of Science candidate for a degree in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics. Nick studies energy politics and markets, with a special interest in oil and gas. He came on today's show to discuss European and especially U.S. opposition to Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline.Follow Nick on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/ntrickett16Subscribe to the BMB Russia newsletter here:https://bearmarketbrief.com/Read “The Hill” article (mentioned in this show) here:https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/454353-enact-us-sanctions-against-russias-nord-stream-2-pipeline#.XTh2N4Qgf54.twitterSupport 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)

Today's guest is Yana Gorokhovskaia, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute from 2016-2019. She researches authoritarian politics and civil society in post-Soviet states. Earlier this week, Gorokhovskaia authored an article at Eurasianet, titled “Moscow’s Local Election: Ghosts, Disqualification, and Real Political Competition,” about the recent electoral shenanigans in Russia's capital.Gorokhovskaia has written about local politics in Russia for years, and she was kind enough to come on the show to explain how she got onto this subject, and what the latest developments in the Moscow City Duma election mean more broadly for Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition.Follow Yana on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/gorokhovskaiaRead her article at Eurasianet here:https://eurasianet.org/perspectives-moscows-local-election-ghosts-disqualification-and-real-political-competitionSupport 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

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Today’s guest is Patrick Reevell, the Moscow bureau reporter for ABC News who co-authored the June 26 report about American Gaylen Grandstaff’s “two-year odyssey” in a Moscow remand prison. Patrick was kind enough to come on the podcast and explain how this report came together. He and Kevin talked about how he discovered the story, what this banned “gamma-butyrolactone” substance really is, and how ABC journalists decided to cover Grandstaff’s trial.(Pictured in podcast episode featured image: Gaylen Grandstaff.)Read the ABC News article here:https://abcnews.go.com/International/inside-american-gaylen-grandstaffs-year-odyssey-russian-prison/story?id=63769708Follow Patrick on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/ReevellpSupport 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-3wC7gkMDQHenrik Lundkvist, “Kalinka on a Balalaika,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5znHQ9QRYGaylen Grandstaff - ESL Teacher at British Academic Centre, December 18, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7xyMdOxaAI

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Today's guest is Maxim Trudolyubov, the editor-in-chief of the Kennan Institute’s “The Russia File,” a blog that offers insights on current events in Russia, U.S.-Russian relations, and other critical issues of the day. He’s been a contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times since 2013, he writes regularly in Russian for the website Republic, and his latest book is called “The Tragedy of Property: Private Life, Ownership and the Russian State.” Max has also worked at the newspaper Vedomosti for more than a decade.Read “The Russia File” here:http://www.kennan-russiafile.org/author/maxtrudolyubov/Follow Max on Twitter:https://twitter.com/russiafilesBuy his latest book, “The Tragedy of Property: Private Life, Ownership and the Russian State”:https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Property-Private-Ownership-Russian/dp/150952701XSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic: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-3wC7gkMDQHenrik Lundkvist, “Kalinka on a Balalaika,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5znHQ9QRYSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Today's guest is RFE/RL journalist Carl Schreck, talking about the June 17 investigative report he cowrote with Sergei Khazov-Cassia, titled “His Name Was Andrei,” about the apparent murder of Andrei Kobyshev, a middle-age masseur who disappeared in Grozny in March 2017. The new article details how Kobyshev moved to Chechnya and likely got swept up in the republic’s so-called “gay purges.” There’s a lot here about case records, witness testimony, and cell-phone records, and Carl explains it all in this interview.Read the article here:https://www.rferl.org/a/chechnya-missing-gay-purge-andrei-kobyshev-mobile-phone-kadyrov/29993363.html Support this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic: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

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Today’s guest is Kate Brown, a professor of science, technology, and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of a new book called “Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future,” as well as the books “Dispatches from Dystopia” (2015), “Plutopia” (2013), and “A Biography of No Place” (2004). She spoke to Kevin about her research into the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster, her work on the nuclear industry more broadly, and of course her thoughts about the recently aired HBO miniseries, “Chernobyl.”(10:02)Local archives(12:05)Choosing an author's voice(14:19)The West's role in expertise on global nuclear disasters(19:01)The Lifespan Study of the Japanese Bomb Survivors(23:46)Counting the fallout(27:39)Why do others put the death count so much lower?(39:28)HBO's “Chernobyl” miniseriesVisit Professor Brown's faculty page:https://sts-program.mit.edu/people/sts-faculty/kate-brown/Get her latest book:https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Survival-Chernobyl-Guide-Future/dp/0393652513Support this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic: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-3wC7gkMDQHenrik Lundkvist, “Kalinka on a Balalaika,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5znHQ9QRY

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On today’s show, Kevin reads the full text of his translation of Meduza investigative journalist Ivan Golunov’s August 2018 report on corruption in Russia’s funeral industry. This is the journalism (plus a forthcoming part two) that got him arrested over the weekend and turned the country upside-down. Read the text at Meduza:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/12/coffins-graveyards-and-billions-of-dollars Chapter breakdowns:(5:33)ST. PETERSBURGA private security monopoly(8:21)VOLGOGRADThe “Pamyat” (Memory) Society(15:50)MOSCOWRituals and criminals(22:23)IN AND AROUND MOSCOW292 pairs of eyeballs for sale(26:42)MOSCOWAccess to death(30:36)RUSSIAA piece of land in Seychelles(34:08)MOSCOWGuardians of the graves(37:47)MOSCOW, TOLYATTI, AND OMSKSuicide at the cemetery(41:48)YEKATERINBURG“Dondiki” versus the President’s Office(44:19)RUSSIAThe activist from “Occupy-Pedophilia”(52:16)Finishing remarksSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic: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“Hedgehog in the Fog,” music by Mikhail Meyerovich, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jZ2G--y1hw

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No interview today. Instead, Kevin reviews the following five op-eds/essays (timestamps below):(2:19)Oleg Kashin in Republic: Why hasn’t GRU veteran Nikita Belyankin’s murder sparked ethnic riots in Russia?https://republic.ru/posts/93868 (7:25)Vladimir Frolov in Republic: The U.S.-Israel-Russia summit is a chance for Moscow to find out what it's worth to Trump in Iranhttps://republic.ru/posts/93851 (12:45)Dmitry Steshin in Komsomolskaya Pravda: A Maidan activist’s new public policy job at Facebook is a vatnik nightmarehttps://www.kp.ru/daily/26986.4/4045597/ (17:23)Gleb Pavlovsky in the Carnegie Moscow Center: Russia meddles in other countries because it’s king of the global wormholeshttps://carnegie.ru/commentary/79222 (25:37)Oleg Kashin in Republic: Vladislav Surkov’s personal mythology makes him the Kremlin’s indispensable manhttps://republic.ru/posts/93796 Read Kevin's summaries of these articles, as well as other trending op-eds and essays, by signing up for Meduza’s daily newsletter:https://us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ff4a009ba1f59d865f0301f85&id=5188608ad4Support this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic: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

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Today we’re talking about human-rights promotion in Moldova with guest Gina Lentine, a senior program officer at Freedom House, who works primarily on advancing freedom of expression in Moldova and Ukraine. In many ways, her career mirrors the work Kevin has discussed with Paul Massaro and Rachel Bauman at the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and Nina Jankowicz at the Kennan Institute (episodes 63 and 18, respectively).Follow Gina on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/ginayoginaAnd read her work at Freedom House here:https://freedomhouse.org/expert/gina-s-lentineSupport this very podcast here:www.patreon.com/kevinrothrockMusic: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-3wC7gkMDQHenrik Lundkvist, “Kalinka on a Balalaika,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5znHQ9QRY

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)