The Naked Pravda

Meduza speaks to Novaya Gazeta Europe editor-in-chief Kirill Martynov to dig into his outlet’s recent investigation into Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov and learn more about the predicament of Russia’s second-worst autocrat.

To learn about Russia’s migration policy under Putin and the xenophobic backlash to the Crocus City Hall attack, Meduza speaks to journalist Leyla Latypova, policy expert Temur Umarov, and political scientist Caress Schenk.

Foreign intelligence services expert Dr. Kevin Riehle joins The Naked Pravda to talk about the past, present, and future of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.

Meduza speaks to Oscar-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher and journalist Julia Ioffe, one of America’s foremost voices on Russia-U.S. relations, for a look back at Alexey Navalny’s career in politics and ahead to the political future of his widow, Yulia.

To discuss the fluid geopolitics that drives terrorism like the Crocus City Hall attack and the road ahead for Russia as the Kremlin tries to utilize the tragedy for its own aims, Meduza spoke to scholars Jean-François Ratelle and Domitilla Sagramoso.

To learn how Europe is preparing for the prospect of Russia invading NATO territory, Meduza turns to Baltic defense expert Lukas Milevski, political scientist Henrik Larsen, and retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe.

For the inside scoop on team Biden’s Russia and Ukraine policy, Meduza turns to Politico national security reporter Alex Ward, the author of The Internationalists: The Fight To Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump.

To make sense of U.S. reports about new Russian space-based weapons and to respond to the panic that this situation provokes, The Naked Pravda welcomes back nuclear arms expert Pavel Podvig.

To mark the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s brutal ongoing campaign to seize more territory, Meduza sits down with journalist Christopher Miller to talk about his book, “The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine.”

Meduza reports on opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s death in prison and speaks to experts about his legacy and the political science behind autocrats eliminating dissident threats.

The Naked Pravda speaks to Meduza journalist Svetlana Reiter about the ins and outs of Yandex’s historic restructuring and what the deal means for the future of Kremlin control over the Russian Internet.

Meduza speaks to activist Dan Storyev and researcher Yana Gorokhovskaia about how Russia’s approach to transnational repression, or the persecution of its citizens in exile, has evolved since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

Meduza speaks to scholar Маrgarita Zavadskaya about Boris Nadezhdin’s political career and sudden popularity among antiwar Russians, and about opposition politics throughout Russia’s Putin era.

To understand what’s keeping the West from grabbing frozen Russian sovereign assets and what it will take for the confiscation to go ahead, Meduza spoke to journalist Alexander Kolyandr and welcomed back political risk advisor Maximilian Hess.

Meduza interviews Project “Get Lost” creator and director Grigory Sverdlin and International Security Professor Stefan Wolff about the challenges and consequences of military recruitment and mobilization in Russia and Ukraine.

Two of Meduza’s American editors exchange memories from the time they spent living in Russia between 2014 and 2020.

Meduza talks to graphic novelist Lena Wolf about her childhood as a “Kazakh German” and the process of documenting her family’s story of survival in the Soviet Union.

Meduza speaks to researcher Dmitriy Gorskiy about challenges facing academics, journalists, and analysts who study Russia amid heightened global interest and shrinking reliable data.

Meduza speaks to historian Dan Healey, sociologist Alexander Kondakov, and political scientist Leandra Bias about the roots of the Kremlin’s anti-LGBTQ+ politics in the wake of the Russian Supreme Court’s decision to ban the “LGBT movement.”

In an episode all about Georgia — including crackdown on protests, media freedom and Russia’s occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia — Meduza speaks to Crisis Group South Caucasus Senior Analyst Olesya Vartanyan and OC Media co-founder Mariam Nikuradze.

Two Russian comedians, “Dan the Stranger” and Sasha Dolgopolov, describe emigrating to Europe to continue performing antiwar material and what it’s like to do stand-up in English.

Meduza spoke to Dr. Sergey Radchenko about his forthcoming book, To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power, which explores how narratives of legitimacy offer crucial insights for interpreting Moscow’s motivations and foreign policy.

The Naked Pravda asks political and security analyst Harold Chambers and RFE/RL Caucasus Realities senior editor Zakir Magomedov what has fomented anti-Semitism in the North Caucasus.

Meduza interviews iStories journalist Sonya Savina to learn more about her report on the Russian military’s alleged use of “torture pits.” Plus news from the week about Hamas and Iran in Moscow, Mikhail Fridman’s woes, poisoned cake, and more.

Meduza speaks to two music journalists and the frontman of the band The Largest Prime Number to learn about Russia’s contemporary music scene and how the invasion of Ukraine influences popular trends.

Meduza speaks to freelance journalist Sher Khashimov and Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center fellow Temur Umarov about The Beet’s recent reporting on Russia’s covert effort to conscript newly naturalized citizens and migrant workers from Central Asia.

Meduza interviews political risk analyst Maximilian Hess about his new book tackling how the West uses its clout and privileged position with international markets to deter and penalize the Kremlin for its aggression against Ukraine.

Meduza speaks to Crisis Group South Caucasus Senior Analyst Olesya Vartanyan about Russian troops’ mandate in Nagorno-Karabakh and Moscow’s peacekeeping track record.

In light of Vladimir Putin’s recent string of anti-Semitic comments, Meduza talks to historian Artem Efimov about anti-Jewish sentiment in Russia and how the state-sponsored anti-Semitism Putin witnessed in his youth may have shaped his views today.

Meduza speaks to Access Now tech-legal counsel Natalia Krapiva and Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton about the Pegasus spyware attack on Meduza co-founder and CEO Galina Timchenko.

Meduza speaks to elections experts Dr. Galina Selivanova and András Tóth-Czifra about voting in Russia’s September 2023 regional races and the remaining opportunities for competition and protest.

Meduza speaks to Dr. Jade McGlynn about her new book, “Russia’s War,” tackling questions about moral culpability for the invasion of Ukraine and what she calls “the grievances, lies, and half-truths that pervade the Russian worldview.”

To learn more about a state-endorsed, controversial new Russian history textbook, Meduza spoke to Professor Polly Jones and historians Artem Efimov and James Pearce.

Writer and historian Jacob Mikanowski joins The Naked Pravda to discuss his new book, “Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land.”

The Naked Pravda spoke to political scientist Mikhail Turchenko and Wilson Center senior adviser and Meduza Ideas editor Maxim Trudolyubov about Alexey Navalny, his movement, and about how he’s changed Russian politics even as he languishes behind bars.

Meduza welcomes back political scientist Kirill Shamiev to discuss the “specialized enterprises” forged in new legislation and explore what such a project says about Russia’s civil-military relations.

Meduza reviews the Kremlin’s growing willingness to seize Western assets in Russia and asks Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center expert Alexandra Prokopenko to break down today’s elite business politics.

The Naked Pravda speaks to one of the authors of a new joint study by journalists at Meduza and Mediazona that estimates the total number of Russian combatants killed in Ukraine to be roughly 47,000 men, so far.

Meduza welcomes back nuclear arms expert Pavel Podvig to discuss the current danger at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant amid allegations that an attack by either Russia or Ukraine could cause a major radiological event.

Meduza asks three experts — Kirill Shamiev, Маrgarita Zavadskaya, and Katia Glod — about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed mutiny and what it reveals about Russia’s PMCs, elite politics, and relationship with Belarus.

Meduza talks to Russian LGBTQ+ rights activists about the state of trans rights in Russia and the likely impact of Moscow’s impending ban on gender transitions.

Meduza asks environmental journalist Angelina Davydova to gauge the fallout from Russia’s crackdown on Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund and to weigh the chances of environmentalism in Russia at war.

Meduza speaks to investigative journalists Roman Badanin and Andrey Zakharov about the biggest and latest revelations in Vladimir Putin’s secret family life.

Natalia Krapiva, a tech-legal counsel at the digital-rights group Access Now, explains new revelations that Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group, was used to hack civil-society figures in Armenia.

To understand the current state of the Russian Internet and online free speech in Russia, The Naked Pravda turns to scholar Mariëlle Wijermars and Sarkis Darbinyan, the senior legal expert at the RuNet watchdog RosKomSvoboda.

Meduza asks Dr. Judith Pallot, research director of the Gulag Echoes project at the University of Helsinki, and journalist Ksenia Mironova, the partner of political prisoner Ivan Safronov, about life inside Russia’s prison system.

Meduza speaks to military analyst Rob Lee and investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov about Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia and Crimea and special operations designed to take the war to Moscow.

Meduza examines the role of Victory Day in Russia, focusing on memory politics and how the Putin regime uses the holiday to achieve its own ends during the invasion of Ukraine. With guest Dr. Allyson Edwards, a specialist in Russian militarism.

Meduza speaks to OVD-Info English managing editor Dan Storyev about how his organization coordinates the activities of activists, journalists, and lawyers to assist and publicize the victims of Russian political repressions.

Following the assassinations of pro-invasion bloggers Daria Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky, The Naked Pravda asks two scholars, Dr. Lynn Ellen Patyk and Dr. Iain Lauchlan, about the history of terrorism in Russia.

Journalist Svetlana Reiter discusses her joint investigation of Rostec, one of Russia’s key state corporations, and its campaign to exert control over the public discourse on Telegram about Rostec’s operations and executives.

Mediazona reporter and data-team journalist David Frenkel discusses a new investigation into service-related felony cases skyrocketing in Russian military courts as the pressures of mobilization mount.

Show host Kevin Rothrock revisits noteworthy news stories in Russia from mid-March 2023 and celebrates 99 episodes of The Naked Pravda by reading some listener feedback.

The Naked Pravda tackles late February’s “PMC Ryodan” scare and talks to two experts in Russian youth culture, Kristiina Silvan and Felix Krawatzek, about the state of their field and today’s most common research methodologies.

Meduza speaks to journalist and Bellingcat Monitoring Project head Michael Colborne for background about the Russian Volunteer Corps and its neo-Nazi leader after a raid on two small towns outside Bryansk on March 2.

To understand how Wagner Group should be defined, why its brutality is so valuable to Moscow, and how its recruitment of inmates has played out, Meduza spoke to scholars Candace Rondeaux and Andreas Heinemann-Grüder and Bellingcat researcher Aric Toler.

For a look at Russian influence in Hungary and its impact on the Orbán government’s response to the war in Ukraine, Meduza speaks to three experts: Szabolcs Panyi, Andras Tóth-Czifra, and Zsuzsanna Vegh.

Meduza speaks to migration researcher Yan Matusevich about the ongoing consequences of the “Russian migrant crisis” that hit Central Asian countries in 2022.

Meduza asks Washington Post Kyiv bureau chief Isabelle Khurshudyan about the expanding news coverage of Ukraine, the sensitivities journalists navigate when interviewing sources in wartime and in warzones, and more.

Meduza speaks to Anna Arutunyan about her new book, “Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers, and Moscow’s Struggle for Ukraine,” a study of the early pivotal years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meduza speaks to anthropologist Jeremy Morris about foreign Russia scholars’ growing reliance on state television as a means of monitoring what is thought to be public opinion, and about problems with polling in Russia.

Meduza speaks to sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko about his recent essay in New Left Review, where he warns that talk in the West about Ukraine’s “decolonization” often focuses too much on “symbols and identity” and not enough on social transformation.

Meduza welcomes Riddle editor-in-chief Olga Irisova to discuss being banned by the Russian authorities and producing Russia expertise remotely amid heightened police censorship.

The Naked Pravda asks philologist Gasan Gusejnov to explain how he views the social and political state of the Russian language today.

To understand the current significance in Russia of warlord, catering magnet, troll king, and all-around Putin buddy Evgeny Prigozhin, The Naked Pravda speaks to five journalists and experts.

Meduza asks military analyst Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), for a rundown of the invasion’s latest developments and answers to common questions about the war.

The Naked Pravda asked experts Richard Aboulafia and Dr. Pavel Luzin about the risks of safety lapses in Russia’s aviation industry amid international sanctions that could soon jeopardize domestic commercial air travel.

What are “dirty bombs”? And what would happen if a radiological weapon were detonated in Ukraine? The Naked Pravda asked three experts.

Dr. Lisa Gaufman joined the podcast to discuss her research on how feminization rhetoric helps legitimize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Naked Pravda asks FPRI Eurasia Program fellow Aaron Schwartzbaum and international relations Associate Professor Volodymyr Dubovyk how U.S. partisan politics affects American support for Ukraine.

If China invades Taiwan, what would it mean for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? The Naked Pravda asked regional experts Dr. Sergey Radchenko and Dr. Natasha Kuhrt.

What if Vladimir Putin orders a nuclear strike? The Naked Pravda asked two experts in nuclear weapon strategy and nuclear crises, Dr. Olga Oliker and Dr. Mariana Budjeryn.

The Naked Pravda turns to three experts for insights into the potential domestic and global consequences of Putin’s death.

The Naked Pravda returns for a third season on Friday, September 23, 2022. Each show explores a hypothetical event and its potential consequences for Russia and its relationship with the rest of the world.

Russian domestic and foreign policy expert Kadri Liik joins The Naked Pravda to discuss her recent article, “Putin’s Archaic War,” about how the invasion of Ukraine derailed Russia’s poorly understood, peculiar democratization trends.

The Naked Pravda speaks to three Russian film and television experts about the industry’s trends and struggles over the past few years and in recent months.

To discuss how economic sanctions are reshaping Russia’s place in the world, Meduza welcomed back political risk analyst Dr. Maria Shagina.

The Naked Pravda spoke to four experts about war atrocities in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, focusing particularly on genocide as it’s understood both legally and historically.

Meduza turns to researcher Maria Avdeeva and journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk for insight into civilian life in Ukraine after nine weeks of all-out war.

Meduza speaks to journalist and activist Izabella Evloeva and independent political and security analyst Harold Chambers to find out how the invasion of Ukraine has affected politics and public life in the Russian North Caucasus.

Meduza interviews two independent journalists now operating from outside Russia to find out how they’re managing this job: Farida Rustamova (who uses Telegram and Substack) and Ekaterina Kotrikadze (on Telegram and YouTube).

The Naked Pravda speaks to journalist Lilya Yapparova about her new report from the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which she left just as Russian troops again besieged the city.

The Naked Pravda speaks to digital media experts Dr. Tanya Lokot and Dr. Mariëlle Wijermars about Russia’s wartime Internet censorship and Russians’ growing reliance on Telegram for unfiltered information.

Meduza asked Russian economy expert Maximilian Hess how badly the financial system in Moscow could collapse under Western sanctions. We mentioned 1991. He talked about 1918.

The Naked Pravda speaks to historian Dr. Faith Hillis about Ukrainian and Soviet history, and how we ought to understand Putin’s grand vision of the past.

Meduza speaks to scholar and journalist Jill Dougherty and arms control expert Dr. Hanna Notte about their experiences hosting a major interview series from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies with eight former U.S. ambassadors to Moscow.

Kevin Rothrock reviews the week’s news and opinions, and Eilish Hart speaks to journalist Katie Marie Davies about the evolving contemporary cultures of Transnistria, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia.

With Russia massing troops along its border with Ukraine and the conflict in the Donbas entering its eighth year, Meduza turns to journalists Angelina Karyakina and Uliana Pavlova for some perspective on how Ukrainians and Russians view today’s tensions.

Meduza speaks to EurasiaNet Central Asia editor Peter Leonard about Kazakhstan’s recent unrest and the CSTO peacekeeping mission in the country, and foreign policy expert Fyodor Lukyanov answers questions about the Kremlin’s security demands in Europe.

The Naked Pravda looks back at some of the journalism and scholarly work in 2021 that made significant contributions to our knowledge about Russia. Nine articles and five books.

Human rights lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina describes her past work for the Team 29 project and explains how the Russian authorities crushed the organization and “killed civil society” earlier this year.

Independent analyst and disarmament expert Pavel Podvig explains the science behind antisatellite missiles, the dangers of orbital debris, and the diplomatic obstacles to a more rational use of outer space.

Meduza talks to political risk analyst Nick Trickett, the author of the OGs and OFZs newsletter, about how Russia fits into Europe’s ongoing energy crisis and what rising gas prices mean for ordinary Russians.

Meduza asks cybersecurity experts Julien Nocetti and Josephine Wolff, as well as journalist Mike Eckel, about the significance of treason charges against Group-IB co-founder and CEO Ilya Sachkov.

The Naked Pravda asks economist Dr. Tatiana Mikhailova and BBC Russia journalist Liza Fokht to break down the allegations of online voter fraud in Moscow’s 2021 State Duma elections.

To learn more about Khalimat Taramova’s abduction in Dagestan and forced return to her abusive home in Chechnya, Meduza speaks to human rights professionals Veronika Lapina and Vanessa Kogan.

To learn more about how a Russian marketing firm tried to recruit European bloggers in a secret media campaign to smear Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, The Naked Pravda spoke to journalists Alexey Kovalev, Mark Krutov, and Carl Schreck.

“The Naked Pravda” talks to journalist Olga Tokariuk about the treason charges against Kremlin-linked oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, his place in the Ukrainian political landscape, and what the Zelensky government is doing to combat oligarchic influence.

For insights into “foreign agent” laws in Russia and the U.S., Meduza turns to scholars Sasha Raspopina and Dmitry Dubrovsky, as well as human rights lawyer Marina Agaltsova and journalist Casey Michel.