Kevin returns to run his mouth about recent events in the Russia-Ukraine world, and other stuff. Topics discussed here: Twitter ad revenue sharing Russia's new Moon mission, Luna-25 Slow counteroffensive darkens mood in Ukraine Sergey Vakulenko on the Black Sea naval war Blocking VPNs and Google services Navalny's essay from prison on Russia in the 1990s Viral videos: Alexander Dudka, the collaborationist mayor of Lazurne in the occupied Kherson region, and an...

Today’s guest is Dr. Jade McGlynn, a specialist in Russian memory and foreign policy at the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies and the author of two books: “The Kremlin’s Memory Makers” and “Russia’s War.” Discussed in this interview: the Kremlin’s claims that Russia is fighting an existential battle in Ukraine, how memory shapes that conversation, balancing dispassionate scholarly work and ethical advocacy, and more!

Today’s show features an interview with Jonny Tickle, a man with an incredible name and a controversial resume, given that he worked as a writer for Russia Today — RT — right up until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. He left the country shortly thereafter, but he’s since returned (like quite a few others), and he’s even resumed his YouTube travel vlog where he visits cities across Russia and talks about the local scene and attractions. Jonny agreed to come on The Russia...

Today’s guest is Dr. Emily Holland, an assistant professor in the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, where she teaches and researches subjects like the Cold War, Russia, energy politics, diplomacy, geopolitics, and more. Follow her on Twitter here. In the interview you’re about to hear, Dr. Holland describes her background and the nature of her job at the Naval War College before explaining the challenges and tradeoffs inherent in the West’s efforts to isolate...

Today’s guest is Dr. Marlene Laruelle, the director of Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University. On this episode of The Russia Guy, Dr. Laruelle discussed her 2021 book, “Is Russia Fascist? Unraveling Propaganda East and West,” and its relevance to today’s crisis in Ukraine. We focused specifically on the book’s insights into Russian geopolitics and post-colonialism. Read more about the book here! Timestamps...

This is to notify listeners of a special installment of The Russia Guy that utilizes “Music + Talk,” Anchor’s Spotify integration, for a music-focused episode featuring music journalist Aleksandr Gorbachev, who selected five recent Russian songs that signify for him the state of affairs and everyday life in Russia now. The episode is available exclusively on Spotify here and on Telegram here.

This episode’s guest is Nikolaus von Twickel, a journalist-turned-analyst who specializes on the war in eastern Ukraine. He is now an editor at the Center for Liberal Modernity in Berlin, and he previously served as a media liaison officer for the OSCE Monitoring Mission in Donetsk. In 2020, he co-authored a book with Thomas de Waal called “Beyond Frozen Conflict: Scenarios for the Separatist Disputes of Eastern Europe,” which looks at the Donbas, Transdniestria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and...

Elena Chernenko, a special correspondent at the newspaper Kommersant who focuses on cybersecurity, non-proliferation, and arms control, joins the show to talk about arriving at foreign-affairs journalism, navigating Russia's contemporary media environment, and staying sane in an increasingly crazy world. Follow her on Twitter here. Music and audio for "The Russia Guy": Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show...

On today's episode, Kevin speaks to the scholars behind the new book “Navalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future?” The three authors: Jan Matti Dollbaum, a postdoctoral researcher at Bremen University, Morvan Lallouet, a PhD candidate at the University of Kent, and Ben Noble, a lecturer in Russian Politics at University College London. Music and audio for "The Russia Guy": Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Support the show...

Today's show welcomes back Anton Barbashin, a political analyst focusing on Russia and the editorial director at Riddle, for a conversation about the different schools of thought and general drift and direction of foreign-policy expertise inside Russia. Follow Anton on Twitter here and read Ivan Timofeyev's Valdai Club article here (in Russian), which is cited during the interview. Music and audio for "The Russia Guy": Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты,...

Today's guest is Dr. Sam Greene, the director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London and the co-author of the 2019 book “Putin V. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia." Music and audio for "The Russia Guy": Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Счастье вдруг (из х/ф Иван Васильевич меняет профессию)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Matthew Luxmoore, a Moscow-based correspondent for RFE/RL, discusses his March 2021 article about an amateur researcher in Tomsk named Denis Karagodin who’s spent the better part of a decade compiling archival documents about the execution of his great-grandfather in 1938 by officers in the NKVD. Earlier this year, the local authorities reportedly started building a criminal case against Karagodin on defamation charges filed by the relatives of some of his grandfather’s supposed executioners....

Kevin asks a Radio Svoboda journalist in Moscow about his investigative reporting on corruption in Russia’s oil industry.

Kevin talks to Mary Ilyushina, a Moscow-based journalist and producer at CNN, about her career and life.

Kevin Rothrock and Neil Hauer discuss unrest in Yerevan, Navalny’s status loss with Amnesty International, and an effort to import Moscow activism to Dagestan.

Kevin speaks to Anton Barbashin, the editorial director at Riddle, about Russian think tanks, Moscow’s foreign policy in 2021, and more.

Reuters special correspondent Polina Ivanova talks about the tragic death of a doctor inside Star City, the secretive home of Russia’s space program.

Samantha Berkhead, a news editor at The Moscow Times, describes life in Moscow as an American journalist.

Kevin speaks to Dr. Leslie Root about pronatalism in Russia and life as a demographer.

Kevin speak to Alex Kliment, the creative director at GZERO Media, Eurasia Group’s global-politics-oriented independent media spinoff, where he directs “Puppet Regime,” a political satire puppet series.

Jack Stubbs, the European cybersecurity correspondent at the news agency Reuters, talks about a Russian online initiative focused on U.S. politics and current events that republishes articles from conservative media and pays real Americans to write about politically-sensitive issues.

Kevin interviews Ben Aris, the editor-in-chief of “bne IntelliNews” and a journalist who’s spent decades covering Russia.

Bryan MacDonald, the head of the online Russia desk at the English-language edition of Russia Today, or RT, joins “The Russia Guy” to discuss his career in journalism and his views on Alexey Navalny, Western reporting, and Russian politics.Follow him on...

Today’s guest is Anna Arutunyan, a Russian-American analyst and writer and the author of “The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia’s Power Cult” (2014).