Russian Roulette

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff is joined by Andrey Baklitskiy, a recent CSIS Visiting Fellow and a consultant at the PIR Center in Moscow. They discuss Andrey’s forthcoming CSIS report on the future of U.S.-Russia arms control, whether strategic arms control is needed in today’s context, and Russian experts’ and officials’ views of arms control. Andrey also discusses his wager on whethe...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute and author of Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin (Bloomsbury, 2018). They discuss the proposed Russian constitutional reform, its key provisions, and what their impact is likely to be.   Will’s previous ap...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Joshua Yaffa, correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow. They focus on his recently published book Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia. They discuss how entrepreneurs, artists, or historians balance the demands of the state and their ambitions and whether “double think” that was present in the Soviet Union i...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Rachel Salzman, who was recently a Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. They discuss her recent book Russia, BRICS, and the Disruption of Global Order, as well as role BRICS plays in U.S. policy.   You can find Rachel’s bio here: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/rachel-s-salzman   As Jeff said, h...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Alexey Khlebnikov, Middle East/North Africa expert at the Russian International Affairs Council and private consultant at various think tanks around the world. They discuss Moscow’s successes and failures in Syria as well as the changes in the region that have taken place since Russia’s military intervention in Syria. Khlebnikov also discuss...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, investigative journalists based in Moscow and co-founders of the website agentura.ru. They discuss their recently released book The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia's Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad. You will get to hear the history of Russian intelligence as well as its relationship...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Anthony Bowyer, Programmatic and Research Advisor, Europe and Eurasia at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). They discuss President Mirziyoyev’s reform program in Uzbekistan and how the country has changed, including its parties and elections, and what has remained constant. You can find Anthony Bowyer’s bio here: http...

In this special joint episode of Russian Roulette and Take as Directed, Jeff is joined by J. Stephen Morrison, the Senior Vice President and Director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, and Judy Twigg, Professor of Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Senior Associate with the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program. They discuss Stephen and Judy’s recent report “Putin and Glob...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Hilary Appel, the Podlich Family Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College in California. They discuss her memo “Are Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin Partners? Interpreting The Russia-China Rapprochement,” as well as the reinterpretation of Chinese investment as a ‘debt trap.’ You can find Hilary Appel’s...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director and senior fellow with the Europe Program at CSIS. They discuss the European reaction to the lapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the effect of the demise on NATO’s strategy, and the prospects for the new START agreement. You can find Rachel Ellehuus’s bio here: https://www.csis.org/pe...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with George Beebe, the Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for the National Interest, and former head of Russia analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency. They discuss the American schools of thought on Russia, how the new tools and technology complicate strategic stability, and how to avoid potentially catastrophic outcomes. Y...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Erica Marat, who is an associate professor at the College of International Security Affairs at the U.S. National Defense University. Her recent book, The Politics of Police Reform, explores transformation of law enforcement agencies in former Soviet countries. They discuss the recent upheaval in Kyrgyzstan, as well as protests and police ref...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with…well, himself, to talk about the Moscow protests and what they may mean for Russia and for the Kremlin. He also answers mailbag questions, including on the differences between U.S. and Russian ideologies and the role of nationality and history in the countries sandwiched between the West and Russia. We want more mail! If you would like to ha...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Dmitry Suslov, who is Deputy Director, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. They discuss the Trump-Putin meeting in Osaka, strategic stability, competing U.S. and Russian views of international order, and much else besides. You can find Dmitry Suslov’s bio here: https://www.hse.ru/en...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Lyndon Allin, currently a D.C. based lawyer, who was a U.S. State Department secondee to the OSCE Mission to Moldova from 2011 to 2016. They discuss Moldova’s political transition, what it means for Russia, U.S., and Europe as well as devote time to Transnistria. You can find Lyndon Allin’s bio here: https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/people/a...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Jakub Janda, head of Kremlin Watch and Director at the European Values Think-Tank in Prague. They discuss Russian disinformation and influence operations in Europe as well as European states’ responses to them. If you are interested in China’s operations in Europe and how they differ from Russia’s, stay tuned to hear Jakub mention this as we...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff welcomes Marian Schwartz, a prize-winning translator of Russian fiction and other works. They discuss her new translation of Olga Slavnikova’s novel The Man Who Couldn’t Die, as well as the state of Russian fiction today. Marian recommends other authors for you to discover and mentions a funny story illustrating the dangers of translating classical literat...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff welcomes back Melinda Haring, editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Atlantic Council. As the dust settles from a raucous Ukrainian presidential campaign (though by all measures a smooth and fair election day) they discuss what a Zelenskiy presidency means for Ukraine, for Russia, and for the West, and delve into Ukraine’s parliamentary politics in the run...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Ambassador James Dobbins, Howard Schultz, and Ali Wyne, authors of the recent RAND Corporation report “Russia Is a Rogue, Not a Peer; China Is a Peer, Not a Rogue.” They discuss what type of challenge Russia and China pose to U.S. interests, how the two challenges are similar and different, and what U.S. policy can do in response to each. We...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and a professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University, and author of the recent book “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest” (Twelve, 2019), for which she won the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s prize for the be...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute and author of Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin (Bloomsbury, 2018). They discuss the evolution of law in Russia, the role of state power in the Russian legal tradition, the criminalization of commercial disputes,...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Anna Ohanyan, the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College. They discuss the concept of “regional fracture” in the post-Soviet world, how Russia employs this strategy to secure its own aims, what can be done about it, and why we should care. For more on this topic, chec...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Joanna Lillis, an Almaty-based journalist for The Economist, The Guardian, and EurasiaNet and author of the recent book Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, a vibrant portrait of the country based on 13 years of on-the-ground reporting. They discuss Nursultan Nazarbayev’s legacy, Kazakh identity and lots more. You can follow...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Louis Lauter, Vice President for Congressional and Government Affairs at CSIS, and Colin McElhinny, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for Congressional and Government Affairs at CSIS. They discuss the role of Congress in U.S. relations with Russia, attitudes and approaches to Russia in the new Congress, and what sanctions legislation m...

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Adam Mount, a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Defense Posture Project at the Federation of American Scientists, to discuss the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, its apparent demise, and the future of nuclear arms control. Then, Jeff answers our listeners’ mailbag questions on missile defense, the link between national ide...