Russia on the Record

This month, several senior officials in Russia's republic of Chechnya have been reshuffled or replaced. Meanwhile, strongman ruler Ramzan Kadyrov's children have been appointed to a number of government posts. Overshadowing all this are reports that Kadyrov, 47, is gravely ill, fueling rumors about his ability to rule and the future of the republic, which fought two separatist wars against Moscow...

This week in Russia, a man was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to trying to persuade his friend to surrender to the Ukrainian army. Cases like this are on the rise, with over 5,500 desertion cases prosecuted in Russia in 2023 alone. Idite Lesom (Get Lost), an NGO founded in Georgia after Russia declared its "partial" mobilization in fall 2022, helps Russians e...

As Russia opens a new front in its invasion of Ukraine, the country has a new defense minister. Sergei Shoigu has been replaced with the economist Andrei Belousov. Who is he, and what does his appointment mean for Russia’s war machine? This week we talked with Ruben Enikolopov, a political economist and professor at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, about what to expect from Belousov’s new...

Protesters in Georgia have for weeks rallied against a controversial "foreign influence" bill that critics say resembles legislation in Russia used to crack down on independent media and the opposition. Introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party, the draft law would force organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as entities "pursuing the interests of a fore...

In April, reports emerged that Russia had opened criminal cases against two prominent Russian feminist activists – Daria Serenko, one of the founders of Feminist Anti-War Resistance, and Zalina Marshenkulova, who also openly opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Though both women now live abroad, they were added to Russia’s federal wanted list. Join us to explore the influence of Russia’s femin...

April 26 marks 38 years since Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear disaster. In this episode, we discuss the legacy of this tragedy on modern-day Russia, how nuclear energy is used in Russia today, and its underexamined role as a Russian foreign policy tool. Joining us is Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian Environmental Group Eco-Defense and winner of the 2021 Right Livelihood Award. Find u...

Israel and Iran's exchange of drone strikes over the past week has fueled fears that the longstanding enmity between the two countries could spill over into all-out war as Israel continues its offensive on Gaza in the wake of the attack on Israel by the Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas. Moscow has traditionally tried to maintain relations with all the major powers in the Middle East....

The Russian city of Orenburg is famous for its elegant lace shawls, which are so fine they can be folded up to be so small that they can fit in a goose's egg. But the city and its surrounding regions have hit the headlines for a different reason this week, as historic flooding from the Ural River has forced thousands of people to be evacuated. In this episode, we read out a dispatch from Orenburg...

Russia has seen a resurgence in xenophobic sentiment since the suspected gunmen in the Crocus City Hall attack were identified as Tajikistan citizens. Moscow police have established special units to carry out document checks on motorways and in migrant hostels, and police raids targeting migrants have been seen in several Russian cities. This rise in migrant-phobia and xenophobia has drawn concern...

The attack on Crocus City Hall has become the deadliest attack in Russia’s modern history. Its repercussions for Russian society are already being felt, with a spike in xenophobic sentiment against people from Central Asia. For this episode, we talked to Ruslan Suleymanov, an expert on Central Asia, about how the attack was possible in Moscow, despite the city’s heightened security measures. Find...

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a former journalist for The Moscow Times, has been held in Moscow’s notorious Lerfortovo prison for almost a year on espionage charges that he, the U.S. and his employer vehemently deny. Gershovich, who was arrested while working on a story in Yekaterinburg, is the first American journalist since the Cold War to be charged with espionage. Amid persist...

Russia's three-day presidential election is off to a start, with Vladimir Putin expected to secure an easy victory after sidelining the opposition, leaving only his hand-picked opponents on the ballot. Since the last presidential election of 2018, there have been significant changes to electoral legislation, significantly reducing the opportunities for independent observers to ensure the fairness...

Russia celebrates March 8, International Women's Day, as a national public holiday. But in recent years, and especially after the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian government has largely neglected gender-equality initiatives. Instead, the state has encouraged women to prioritize having children and passed new restrictions on reproductive rights. Sasha Talaver, a Ph. D. candidate in gender s...

About 116,000 people have been subjected to direct political repression in Russia over the past six years, according to a recent study by the investigative outlet Proekt. According to Proekt, the number of people convicted on political charges during President Vladimir Putin’s current presidential term alone exceeds the numbers recorded under Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. F...

Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition figure, died in a remote Arctic prison on Feb. 16, sparking an outpouring of grief among his supporters and Russians who hope for a democratic, peaceful future. This episode is dedicated to remembering Navalny's life, his impact on Russian politics and the legacy he leaves behind. We first recap how the news of Navalny's death has played out in th...

As the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches, the Kremlin continues to rely on historical narratives to justify its aggression. In an interview with Tucker Carlson last week, President Vladimir Putin dedicated significant time to reciting his distorted view of Ukraine’s history, which calls Ukraine’s very statehood into question. Researcher Jade McGlynn joins us to discuss...

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian comedians who have openly voiced their anti-war views have had to emigrate in order to keep speaking openly about politics. Some of them are starting to form communities with fellow comedians in countries that have become hubs for Russian exiles. In this episode, comedians Ilya Ovechkin and Denis Chuzhoy, who fled Russia shortly after the invasion, jo...

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, there have been a number of scandals related to surveillance of Russians abroad by Moscow’s intelligence services and alleged Russian spies working in foreign countries. Investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov joins us to discuss the work of Russian intelligence services outside Russia —and how they put pressure on journalists, activists and public persons l...

Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, located in the Ural Mountains region, erupted in protests in mid-January following the arrest of Fayil Alsynov, a well-known local activist who was sentenced to four years in prison. In one of the few major protests since the invasion of Ukraine made public dissent almost impossible, thousands of people came to the small town of Baymak to show their support for...

A widespread heating crisis and the controversy surrounding the "almost-naked party" have both dominated Russia's news headlines in recent weeks. In this episode, researcher Andras Toth-Czifra and music critic Artemy Troitsky join us to analyze these events and how they will impact the wider social mood across the country. Find us at:  https://www.themoscowtimes.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Mosco...

The Russian city of Belgorod has made international headlines in late 2023 and early 2024 after it was rocked by a deadly shelling incident on Dec. 30. The attack in central Belgorod, occurring just before New Year, wrought devastation on the city of approximately 350,000 that sits just 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It claimed the lives of 25 individuals, including five children, and le...

President Vladimir Putin has officially entered his fifth presidential election. He is seeking six more years in power as Russiaremains bogged down in the nearly two-year war in Ukraineand grapples with an increasingly difficult economic outlookdue to sanctions and international isolation. In this episode, we discuss the political platform Putin is likely planning for his new campaign and whether...

President Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for almost a quarter-century, announced he will run for a fifth term in the 2024 presidential election next March. Putin announced his decision after a Kremlin award ceremony when Donbas war veterans asked him to seek re-election. This will be the first Russian presidential election since the invasion of Ukraine and a post-Cold-War collapse in relati...

Russia's Supreme Court labeled the so-called “international LGBT movement” as a banned “extremist” group in a closed ruling late last month. It is not yet clear what exact changes will come from the court's ruling. But activists warn that it sets the stage for a sweeping crackdown on LGBT rights not seen since the Soviet era. To better understand the changes and risks for Russia's LGBT community u...

The number of politically motivated cases in Russia has significantly risen over the past five years, reaching a record of 700 cases in 2022, the first year of the war in Ukraine. Today, more than 1,000 people are in jail or prison in Russia for political reasons, according to the human rights media project OVD-Info. But these numbers don’t give the full picture of what happens to those who do not...