Russia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the Kremlin’s approach to public health is inextricable from its national security goals. Jill Dougherty and Nataliya Shok discuss the evolution of public health policy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Sputnik V vaccine as a foreign policy tool, and what policymakers should know about Russian influence in global health policy.
The National Security Archive at George Washington University is the largest independent non-government collection of declassified US documents and a goldmine of primary resources for scholars of US-Russia relations. Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, and Dr. Svetlana Savranskaya, a senior analyst and director of the Archive’s Russia programs, share what they have uncovered about post-Cold War politics, the context behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the US government information classification system itself.
“Is Putin insane?” Vladimir Putin's speeches can offer insight into the Kremlin’s political thought patterns and intentions, but they are often misunderstood. Jill Dougherty sits down with Ivan Grek, Director of the Russia Program at George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, who created a linguistic profile of Vladimir Putin to better understand the Russian leader's approach to statecraft.
Russia is determined that its war in Ukraine will shape the outlines of the future world order, and it’s using influence operations to ensure the outcome will be in Russia’s favor. Washington Post international investigative reporter Catherine Belton joins Jill Dougherty to discuss the crucial role of influence operations in Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, common Russian disinformation talking points, and the ultimate goal of Russian strategic operations in the United States and around the world.
Jill Dougherty sits down with former US Ambassador to Russia and Bulgaria John R. Beyrle to discuss their shared foundational experiences in Soviet Russia, including as US exchange students in then-Leningrad and later as American National Exhibition guides, and how they still inform their work in journalism and diplomacy today.
Ukraine isn’t the only country that’s fighting Russian influence for its democratic future. Tinatin Khidasheli, Georgia’s first female minister of defense and current Chairperson at Civic IDEA (Initiative for Democratic and Euro-Atlantic Choice), an NGO in Georgia, joins Jill Dougherty to discuss tensions between Georgia’s government and its civil society over the direction of the country’s future, including this year’s mass protests against a proposed “foreign agents” law, and expectations for Georgia’s upcoming presidential election in 2024.
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A shocking number of Kremlin opponents have been left dead or permanently injured from poisonings. During a trip to Prague in May 2023, Free Russia Foundation President and Founder Natalia Arno became one of the latest individuals to develop poisoning symptoms after speaking out against political oppression in Russia. Arno shares her harrowing story with Jill Dougherty, and the two also discuss the work of Russia’s political activists in exile, the Kremlin’s history of transnational oppression of its political opponents, and the signs of hope she sees for Russia’s democratic future.
Jill Dougherty sits down with Zhanna Nemtsova to discuss her work with the Boris Nemtsov Foundation, which Zhanna founded in 2015 in Germany after her father’s assassination, and the generational gaps that have divided Russian civil society. Their conversation touched on the prevailing apathy of Russian society in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, propaganda in higher education being used to advance Putin’s agenda, and why the key to Russia’s democratization lies in education reform. Show notes and episode transcript: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/audio/kennanx-episode-28-zhanna-nemtsova
Jonatan Vseviov, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Estonian Ambassador to the US, joins Jill Dougherty to discuss what it means to conduct foreign policy for a country that shares a border with Russia, particularly in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They discuss how Estonia’s fraught relationship with the Soviet Union and later Russia shaped the Baltic country’s security concerns, and explore how Russia’s war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed European security and partnerships.
Food scholar and author Darra Goldstein joins Jill Dougherty to discuss her new book, The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food. They cover the origins and histories of many classic Russian dishes and ingredients as well as their place within the broader culture. Their conversation also touches on the political dynamics between food culture and nationalism during Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. For show notes, please visit: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/audio/kennanx-episode-26-russian-cuisine-and-conflict-darra-goldstein
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan joins Jill Dougherty following an ambassadorship during one of the most tumultuous periods of U.S.-Russia relations to provide his perspective on the current relationship and Russia's troubling diplomatic strategies. Their discussion also touches on the domestic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin's changing relationship with Evgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group. For more information, visit our website: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/audio/kennanx-episode-25-russia-serious-about-diplomacy-amb-john-sullivan
Russian independent news channel TV Rain (Dozhd TV) has been operating in Latvia since June 2022, after Kremlin authorities blocked the channel as a result of its coverage of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now TV Rain’s operation is once again in peril after on-air remarks from one of its anchors resulted in the channel losing its Latvian broadcasting license. TV Rain news director and anchor Ekaterina Kotrikadze joins Jill Dougherty to discuss these challenges and what they mean for the future of the channel.
Jill Dougherty is joined by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to discuss how corruption serves not only to enrich the elites of Russia, but also as tool to ensure continuity of power and that all opposition—both internal and external—is crushed. Senator Whitehouse also explains how this corruption directly targets the United States and the steps the government is taking to combat this this threat.
Host Jill Dougherty shares the second part of her conversations with Russian journalists — both those now in exile and those who remain in the country — about how their lives have changed after the Kremlin’s crackdown on independent media and full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She is joined by Sergey Parkhomenko, Russian journalist and Kennan Senior Advisor; Tatiana Felgenhauer and Alexander (Sasha) Plyushchev, independent journalists and former anchors for Echo Moscow Radio; Kirill Martynov, Political Editor, Novaya Gazeta Europe; Roman Dobrokhotov, Founder, The Insider; and Yevgenia Albats, Editor-in-Chief & CEO, The New Times.
Since Russia launched its war against Ukraine in February, hundreds of journalists have left their country because they felt threatened by the Kremlin's crackdown on free speech. In the latest KennanX, Jill Dougherty presents the first in a two-part series profiling Russian journalists who have fled. She is joined by The Insider Founder Roman Dobrokhotov and Riddle Russia Co-Founder Anton Barbashin as they discuss how the war in Ukraine has affected their coverage, how to report investigative journalism in a country dominated by censorship and propaganda, and why they continue to stay connected to Russia despite it all.
Host Jill Dougherty has a special announcement about the future of the KennanX podcast. Plus, we’re sharing a recent conversation between Wilson Center President Mark Green and Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, about the impact that Russia’s war in Ukraine is having on Europe and the role of Vladimir Putin. We’ll be back with new KennanX episodes in April 2022!
The standoff at the Russia-Ukraine border has reached a boiling point following the Biden and Putin video conference. Moscow is demanding major revisions to European security. In this episode of KennanX, Ambassador John Tefft – former ambassador to Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and Lithuania – joins Jill to discuss Putin’s red lines and what they mean.
Political discourse in Russia and the post-Soviet space is rife with conspiracy theories, as well as politicians who utilize them to gain an upper hand. On this episode of KennanX, Scott Radnitz, author of Revealing Schemes: The Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region, joins Jill to discuss the politics driving conspiracies in the region.
With echoes of the Soviet retreat, the last American plane left Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 following two decades of war. How do the legacies of the Soviet and American occupations compare, and what does the future hold for Russian-Afghan relations with the Taliban now in charge? Our host Jill Dougherty is joined by Michael Kugelman and others for a conversation on Afghanistan and the role Russia is poised to play.
It’s been nearly one year since Alexander Lukashenko declared victory over Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in an election rife with fraud. In this episode of KennanX, our host Jill Dougherty is joined by Ms. Tikhanovskaya for a conversation about her campaign for President of Belarus, the fallout from the election, what motivates her to stay in the fight, and the outcome of her recent trip to Washington, DC.
