Talk Eastern Europe

This episode of the podcast opens with a rundown of some of the latest news, including the floods in Central Europe, the new EU commission, developments in Slovakia, and the failing Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. For the main interview, Adam is joined by Kate Tsurkan , a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes on culture-related topics. They discuss how Ukraine’s culture has been affected by war by l...

Nina, Adam, and Alexandra are all back together after the August break! They open by discussing the latest US presidential debate, illegitimate elections in Russian occupied Crimea, and new developments in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria. Alexandra then hosts three different guests to discuss the current situation in the North of Kosovo from a variety of angles, including the daily r...

Talk Eastern Europe is back after the August break! In this episode, Adam and Alexandra start with some discussion of the news headlines from the last few weeks, including Ukraine’s Kursk operation, the prisoner swap with Russia, Vladimir Putin’s visit to Mongolia, Georgia’s foreign agent law, Azerbaijani elections, and repressions in Serbia. During the main interview Adam and Nina are joined by J...

Adam and Alexandra open this episode with a few updates on the news from the region, including in Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and Serbia. Next, Adam is joined by Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, journalist and writer and Editor-in-Chief of Ukraine World (https://ukraineworld.org/en). Volodymyr gives his insights on the current situation in Ukraine and what the current mood is there. The...

In this episode, Adam and Nina start by sharing some good news from Armenia, where the EU Commission has announced the start of a dialogue on visa liberalisation with the country. They also cover the latest developments in Russia, Poland, and Serbia. The main interview features Zsuzsanna Végh , an analyst specialising in the European and foreign policies of Central European countries, with a parti...

In this episode Adam and Nina start with some of the recent developments including the return of Robert Fico after an assassination attempt in Slovakia which also gives added context to the recent attempted assassination of Donald Trump in the United States. They also discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and finally Trump’s pick for Vice President, Senator JD Vance, and how that is seen from...

In this episode, Adam, Alexandra and Nina discuss recent horrific attacks on Ukraine, Orbans' visit to Kyiv and Moscow, and the Washington NATO summit. They also commemorate the  July 11th Srebrenica massacre remembrance day  and recommend a film  Qua Vadis, Aida ? which dramatizes events of the Srebrenica massacre. Later, Alexandra and Nina are joined by Dominika Hajdu, the Policy Director of the...

In this episode, the three hosts finally get back together and discuss the results of the Bulgarian elections, celebrate the opening of accession talks for Ukraine, Moldova and Montenegro and speak about the recent developments in Georgia, Ukraine and Russia.   Later, Alexandra and Nina are joined by Žilvinas Švedkauskas, a PhD candidate at Tübingen University and the author of the article A Newfo...

In this episode, Alexandra and Nina start by reviewing some of the latest developments in the region, including the start of the Hungarian presidency of the EU, new sanctions against Bosnia and Herzegovina's Respublika Srpska officials, developments in Ukraine and Moldova.    Later, Alexandra and Nina are joined by Emina Bošnjak, Executive Director of the  Sarajevo Open Centre - a civil society or...

In this episode, Adam and Alexandra start by reviewing some of the latest developments in the region, including the high-level Ukraine Recovery Conference, the results of the European parliamentary elections, and Russian-Armenian relations. Later, Adam and Nina are joined by Šimon Pánek, the Executive Director and one of the founders of the Czech organization “People in Need”. They discuss Šimon's...

In this episode of Talk Eastern Europe, Adam and Alexandra kick off this episode with a rundown of some of the recent developments in the region, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, recent local elections in Serbia, the upcoming European parliamentary elections and developments in Hungary and Poland. Later, Adam is joined by Vazha Tavberidze, a Georgian journalist and staff writer with RFE/RL's...

In this episode, Alexandra and Nina start by catching up on news from the Western Balkans. They also discuss the latest developments in Georgia and Alexandra shares her impressions from a recent trip to Tbilisi.    For the main interview, Alexandra talked with publisher Buzz Poole about his decades of experience working with authors from Southeastern Europe and bringing their stories to Anglophone...

This episode opens with Adam and Nina running down the latest news in the region, including the situations in Georgia and Armenia as well as the new mobilization law in Ukraine. Nina also mentions the assassination attempt of Slovakia's Robert Fico - and we have a special longer update via our patreon page here:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/exclusive-update-104836695 Later, Alexandra helps us ma...

In this episode, Adam and Nina open with breaking news from Slovakia and discuss the recent shooting of Slovak’s Prime Minister- Robert Fico. Later, they move to the South Caucasus and comment on protests in Armenia and Georgia. They close with an update about Ukraine and positive news from the Czech Republic.  For the main interview, Nina is joined by Dr Marat Ilyasov , a visiting Scholar at the...

In this episode, Adam, Alexandra and Nina commemorate the 20th anniversary of the EU's 'Big Bang' enlargement. They also discuss Xi Jinping's visit to Serbia and Hungary, the latest news from Russia and Ukraine, and the elections in North Macedonia and Croatia.   Later in the episode, Alexandra and Nina are joined by Maja Gergorić, an expert on anti-gender movements in post-communist Europe. Maja...

This episode opens up with Adam, Alexandra and Nina discussing the latest news developments including the US Congress’s passage of the Ukraine aid bill; political developments in Croatia; the situation in Georgia and the situation of civil society in Azerbaijan. Later, Adam is joined by Andrew Wilson, a professor of Ukrainian Studies at UCL and a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Re...

In this episode of the podcast, Alexandra and Nina share some tips on interesting films from the region and discuss the latest developments related to foreign agent laws in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They also remind listeners of the political prisoners' situation in Belarus and shed light on the challenging circumstances in Ukraine. Later, Nina has a conversation with Ivan Ostrochovský a...

In this episode of the podcast, Adam, Alexandra and Nina start by discussing latest developments in the region including intensified Russian air attacks against Ukrainian cities, recent Slovak and Polish election results, protests in Hungary and draft UN resolution recalling the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. For the main interview, Alexandra sits down with Dr. Hikmet Karcic, a Research Associate at...

In this episode of the podcast, Adam, Nina and Alexandra start by a discussion of some of the latest developments in the region including the Georgia’s pursuit of a new version of the “foreign agent law”; a similar development in Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ukraine’s targeting of Russian oil refineries and Romanian and Bulgaria entering the Schengen Zone (at least partially). For t...

In this episode, Adam, Alexandra and Nina begin by discussing last weeks' horrific terrorist attack in Moscow, Russian attacks against energy infrastructure in Ukraine and the Russian missile in Polish airspace. They continue with some potentially hopeful developments such as results of first round of Slovak presidential elections and the European Council decision to open accession negotiations wi...

In this episode, Adam and Alexandra start the episode by discussing worrying news for Kyrgyz civil society, Armenia's potential return to Europe, and upcoming elections in Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia. During the main interview - to mark International Women’s Day - Nina sat down with a photographer and videographer Zula Rabikowska who explores gender identities in Central and Eastern Europe. They...

In this episode, Adam and Nina discuss the deterioration of relations between Czechia and Slovakia, the celebration of 25 years of NATO membership in Czechia, Hungary and Poland and the ongoing media crackdown in Azerbaijan. They continue to analyse the split in the Visegrád Group as Hungary's Viktor Orbán's met with Donald Trump while Poland's president and prime visited US President Joe Biden. F...

In this episode, Alexandra and Nina discuss the funeral of Alexei Navalny, Putin's state-of-the-nation address and the latest attack on Odesa in Ukraine. They walk you through relatively positive developments related to recent Serbian elections and reflect on meetings between Hungarian, Slovak and Russian foreign ministers. Later, Alexandra interviews Miruna Butnaru-Troncotă, a Bucharest-based wri...

In this episode, Adam and Nina start by reflecting on recent Belarusian parliamentary elections and tragic death of Alexei Navalny. They also discuss last week's farmer's protests and dynamics among the Visegrád Group countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). Later, Alexandra interviews Andrea Mazelliu, a lecturer of law at the University of New York Tirana, to get his insights on domesti...

This special episode marking the second anniversary of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine features four short-form interviews with Ukrainians in the country and outside it. First, Nina and Alexandra discuss the news of the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was murdered while imprisoned in one of Russia's northernmost prisons. Later, Nina and Alexandra share four stories f...