In Moscow's Shadows
Episodes
In Moscow's Shadows 54: Naughty or Nice? What 2022 May Hold For Russia's Rulers
01 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To kick off the year, rather than making some grand predictions about Russia, instead I speculate as to what 2022 may offer Putin, Patrushev, Mishusti...
In Moscow's Shadows 53: Trick or Treaties - Russia's proposals to 'resolve' the current crisis
19 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A short, one-segment piece on Russia's proposed new treaties and how, despite what their deputy foreign minister may say, we have to treat them a...
In Moscow's Shadows 52: Nightmares before Christmas? Ukraine and the Russian underworld
12 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Quite what is Russia's game plan over Ukraine? It seems hard to explain through common sense, so I conduct a thought experiment: what would Putin...
In Moscow's Shadows 51: Ukraine, Prisons, Legitimacy and Lombards...
28 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Something of a miscellany. First of all, latest thoughts - that turn out to be disappointingly inconclusive - about what's going on with Ukraine....
In Moscow's Shadows 50: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belarus and Ukraine
21 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the first part, a little exploration of MID, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its decline - and yet why it still ought not to be taken lightly. The...
In Moscow's Shadows 49: Survivalism in Russia. And cheese.
14 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While still processing a month spent in Russia, I feel that the uniting leitmotif is survivalism, that every sector - from ordinary Russians through t...
In Moscow's Shadows 48: What can you learn from Tula? On Russian provincial life and politics, Governor Dyumin, and busses
24 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A trip to Tula, 200km south of Moscow, provides a chance to mix a little history and travelogue with some thoughts about what the city reveals about t...
In Moscow's Shadows 47: Postcards from Moscow
17 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just back to Russia, my first trip since February 2020, and for this podcast I try something different - a random collection of impressions, mainly re...
In Moscow's Shadows 46: New 'Foreign Agent' restrictions and 'Hybrid Warfare'
02 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two quite big topics this episode. First of all, the restrictive new rules on 'Foreign Agent' status that, if applied, would make it almost ...
In Moscow's Shadows 45: Pretty much everything but the election: Lavrov's corruption, Team Navalny's strategy, Zapad-2021, Stories That Didn't Bark, and Shoigu's future
19 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I confess at this stage I couldn't think of much to say about the Russian elections that wasn't obvious, or hadn't been said, so instea...
In Moscow's Shadows 44: As above, so below - a prison riot in Kamchatka and a society looking to a sanitised past for hope
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A shorter episode that looks at a vicious criminal's end in a prison riot in Kamchatka, and after talking a little about prison realities in Russ...
In Moscow's Shadows 43: Poklonskaya, Ethnic Rumbles and Naryshkin's Claims to be Putin's Mate
29 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes it's worth digging into what look like less important stories, to see what lessons the offer about the big picture developments, so I t...
In Moscow's Shadows 42: Moscow's Afghan Worries, and the Trouble with Predictions
21 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There may be a little schadenfreude as America abandons Afghanistan and the Taliban sweep into Kabul, but Moscow is worried, above all about the count...
In Moscow's Shadows 41: The Communist Party Embattled...And Occultism and Russian Politics
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Having long relied on it as a stalwart of the ‘systemic opposition’, the Kremlin now seems to be treating the Communist Party (KPRF) as if it were...
In Moscow's Shadows 40: 'Mishustinism' and 'Kozakisation' - the adventures of technocrats in Moscow and the Donbas
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is PM Mikhail Mishustin thinking long-term? His vision for Russia seems to be technocratic, maybe even techno-authoritarian, but it is interesting - a...
In Moscow's Shadows 39: Putin's latest article on Ukraine and his attempt to place himself on the right side of history
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Another short, single-segment episode, this time looking at 'On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,' Putin's latest ventur...
In Moscow's Shadows 38: The topic I never thought I'd address: Sport
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A brief, single-segment podcast on the distinctive roles of sport for today's Kremlin. Not a topic that I'd usually expect to discuss...The ...
In Moscow's Shadows 37: Direct Line and the Politics behind Politics; and Wars in Afghanistan Compared
03 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The main reasons for the annual ritual of Putin's Direct Line phone-in encounter with the Russian people is to allow him to present himself as th...
In Moscow's Shadows 36: Good News/Bad News: The Geneva Summit and Coronavirus on the Rise
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Geneva Summit: frankly, as good as one could expect, with Biden offering a shrewd carrot and stick - Russia can feel itself more like a great powe...
In Moscow's Shadows 35: Crackdown, Belarus, HMS Defender and the Putin-Biden Summit
12 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A bit of a grab-bag: what to make of the continuing crackdown in Russia, is there scope to undermine the cohesion of the security forces in Belarus, s...
In Moscow's Shadows 34: Belarus, of course
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A spur-of-the-moment, off-the-top-of-my-head take on what's going (wr)on(g) in Belarus: the Russian connection or rather the absence of any evide...
In Moscow's Shadows 33: The Russian Orthodox Church PLC; and No Country For Old Securocrats
23 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is the Russian Orthodox Church a spiritual community, a political institution, or a business empire? The truth of the matter is that it has become all...
In Moscow's Shadows 32: Victory Day and Memory Politics, and the Kremlin in WW2
09 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today (9 May) is Victory Day, and the sad truth is that this also inevitably means claims and counter claims of 'memory wars' over the Great...
In Moscow's Shadows 31: Navalny, Patrushev, Orban, and more [RELOADED]
01 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A mysterious glitch silenced the first, Navalny-related part of this podcast. This has now been fixed, and the full, uncensored version is now up - sh...
In Moscow's Shadows 30: The (Czech) Lion that Roared
18 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A personal and unpolished snap response to the news that the Czech government is expelling 18 Russian diplomat-spies after an investigation linked the...
In Moscow's Shadows 29: Is Russia Declining, and Is Putin's Handsome?
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why is there this talk of Russia as a 'declining power' - and is it true? I'd suggest we ought to use the term with caution, not least ...
In Moscow's Shadows 28: The LDPR: Paralunatic Wing of United Russia
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rumours that Zhirinovsky is going to step down from leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party look more credible these days, and oligarch Oleg Deripa...
In Moscow's Shadows 27: Men of Force and Forceful Language
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who are the main 'siloviki' or 'men of force,' the heads of Russia's security structures? In response to a request from a pat...
In Moscow's Shadows 26: Moscow's Marvels, and Mob Murder
14 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
All the Ms. First of all, as a counter to the understandable pessimism about Russia at the moment, I look at some of the aspects of Moscow that still ...
In Moscow's Shadows 25: Navalny in Prison
27 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A short. 'one act' special: with the news (still unconfirmed) that Navalny is being sent to IK-2 penal colony in Vladimir region, I look at ...
In Moscow's Shadows 24: Scenarios for Russia after Navalny, and Dzerzhinsky vs Nevsky [reloaded]
21 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With Navalny in prison, the opposition mobilising, and the state cracking down, what will happen next?The only honest answer anyone can give is "...
In Moscow's Shadows 23: Is Navalny the best thing that ever happened to Putinism? Russia's 'Stolypin moment'?
06 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's a deliberately provocative title, I know, but how might the 'Navalny effect' impact late Putinism? A swing towards blunt and uncom...
In Moscow's Shadows 22: The Morning After A Hot Day in Russia
24 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday saw major protests all across Russia, a genuine success for Team Navalny. But now what? My rough and uncurated first thoughts...You can also...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 18 January 2021: What does the Kremlin do with Navalny?
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Another short 'cellcast', though given its timeliness, going public straightaway.In this cellcast, recorded on 18 January 2021, I take a ver...
In Moscow's Shadows 21: The Federal Protection Service (FSO) and Russian security politics; and Three Stories About the Opposition
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The FSO, the Federal Protection Service (or Federal Guard Service) is more that just Putin's dark-suited bodyguards, or the goose-stepping soldie...
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 4 January: Kulikovo, 1380 to 2021
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So Russia has a new laser system, called Peresvet. Pere-who? This gets me talking, for the last of the Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas cellcasts, abo...
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 1 January: Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How did Defence Minister Shoigu make it from graduating from Krasnoyarsk Poly as a construction engineer to being discussed as a potential future pres...
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 28 December: Directorate K and the FSB's dilemma
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How might a scandal from 2019 affect who runs the FSB in 2021? And should we consider levels of elite embezzlement a good index of their confidence? I...
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 25 December: Afghan Christmas
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today in 1979, Afghanistan was waking up under Soviet domination. In this first cellcast of the 2020-21 Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas, I pull out t...
In Moscow's Shadows 20: Spooks: more Navalny, will the FSB change tack, and did the SVR carry out a 'cyberattack'?
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
More on the Navalny case, the story that keeps unfolding, following the publication of his conversation with one of his would-be killers, and a rumina...
In Moscow's Shadows 19: The Navalny Hit (after the Bellingcat/Insider report)
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An impressively detailed investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider meticulously details the Russian Federal Security Service operation against Alexe...
In Moscow's Shadows 18: Life in the Communist Party? And Three Random Stories
06 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is there life in the Communist Party, and any chance of it again becoming an opposition party, maybe even in some kind of entente with Alexei Navalny?...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 24 November 2020: Konstantin Malofeev and his Tsargrad party - a potential threat to the Kremlin from the right?
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Another short 'cellcast', going out directly to my Patrons, and to everyone else a week later.In this cellcast, recorded on 24 November, I l...
In Moscow's Shadows 17: Russian Gangsters; and Kadyrov and Captain America
22 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the Russian underworld and, especially, three problematic concepts - the 'honest thief,' the 'thieves' world&ap...
In Moscow's Shadows 16: The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR): and Is Putin Ill? (Spoiler: Probably Not)
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After a few very brief observations on the US elections and the implications of a Biden presidency, a look at the SVR, its operations, role, culture a...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 1 November 2020: Five Things Bugging Me in Western Russia Coverage
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Another short 'cellcast', going out directly to my Patrons, and to everyone else a week later.A rant, plain and simple. Sparked by the artic...
In Moscow's Shadows 15: In conversation with Anna Arutunyan, on sanctions, calling Putin's bluff, and various bunches of guys
24 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the first In Moscow's Shadows to have a guest, I talk to Anna Arutunyan, analyst and writer on Russia (her The Putin's Mystique is well w...
In Moscow's Shadows 14: The Kremlin, Will and Empire; and, A Fistful of Books #1
10 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Russia has long considered the so-called 'Near Abroad' of post-Soviet states to be its sphere of influence. But does it really have the will...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 29 September 2020: A Week in the life of Sergei Naryshkin
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sergei Naryshkin, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and chair of the Russian Historical Society, has been a busy man this past we...
In Moscow's Shadows 13: The GRU, and why is it so hard to leave Putin?
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I take a general look at Russian military intelligence, the fearsome GRU (OK, GU for purists), what it is and does and what it isn't and doesn&ap...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 19 September 2020: Questioning Less about Navalny
19 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A short cellcast 'mini-podcast' released in this case simultaneously to Patrons and publicly. Recording this was, frankly, triggered by exas...
In Moscow's Shadows 12: Drift in Russian Politics and the Decay of the 'Hybrid Regime'; on Cheating, in dissertations, politics and the underworld
12 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is going on with Putin and his regime? Less of a distinct answer to that question, and more a pondering of what we can read into the mishandling ...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 6 September 2020: Belarus's Strongmen
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Released on 6 September to Patrons, public release later. A snapshot of the three key figures within Belarus's security structures: the new head ...
In Moscow's Shadows 11: On Power and its perceived absence: the National Guard, the European Union
30 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Trying (it turns out in vain) to avoid the present inevitable concentration on Navalny and Belarus, I discuss two forms of power. What the creation an...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 22 August 2020: #Navalny
29 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What makes Alexei Navalny so dangerous for Putin's regime? This short 'cellcast' was provided to patrons of the podcast (https://www.pa...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 19 August 2020: Belarus, Russia and the Information War
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rumours abound amidst the Belarusian revolution. Why do I think that's a particular problem now? Because, as it looks like the revolution is movi...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 11 August 2020: Russia and Belarus
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Belarus is in turmoil. Why did Lukashenka award himself such an implausible 80% of the vote> How does Moscow see the current crisis, and what might...
In Moscow's Shadows 10: Russian Influence, Soft Power and Dark Power
08 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The release of a long-awaited report on Russian influence in the UK provides a chance to look at why Moscow tries - and often fails - to exert influen...
In Moscow's Shadows 9: Thrones of Bayonets (and hacking coronavirus research)
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There is more to Putin's regime than his capacity to threaten and unleash violence - but this is a crucial element, and as his legitimacy wanes, ...
In Moscow's Shadows 8: Serebrennikov, Miniakhmetov and Set' and the 'Three Russias'
05 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The big story is the constitutional vote, but I honestly have nothing new to say about that, so instead I take three controversial court cases - Kiril...
In Moscow's Shadows 7: Technocrats and Cultural Warriors, and Why I'd Vote No In the Constitutional Plebiscite
22 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Having talked about Security Council secretary Patrushev in the last podcast, he and most of the other heads of the security agency chiefs suddenly se...
In Moscow's Shadows 6: The Most Dangerous Man in Russia
14 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Who could be the most dangerous man in Russia? A president? An ideologue? A kleptocrat? A gangster? None of those, in my opinion...If anyone is intere...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 7 June 2020: A Plot in Prague, The Murders That Weren't
14 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What to make of the Czech Republic's bizarre 'ricin case' whereby a Russian diplomat was accused of being part of an assassination plot...
In Moscow's Shadows 5: Disinformation (and deep-cover spies and Libya)
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Does Russia use disinformation as a weapon against the West? Yes. But is this a constant and carefully coordinated campaign? Not so much: this episode...
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 25 May 2020: Gangsters, SMEs and Covid economic policy
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As an extra initiative, I've decided from time to time to record very short 'cellcasts' riffing off some article or piece of news. They...
In Moscow's Shadows 4: Vorontsov, Police Protests and Community Action (plus 'late Putinism', spooks and Western policy)
18 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why should we care about police protests against the victimisation of an ex-cop activist? I suggest it says some interesting things about community an...
In Moscow's Shadows 3: Victory Day, National Myths and Patron's Questions
09 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What more can be said about Victory Day and how the Kremlin seeks to co-opt the myth and memory of the Great Patriotic War to its own purposes? I have...
In Moscow's Shadows 2: Mishustin, Sechin, Institutional vs Personal Power
02 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Mishustin is self-isolating with COVID-19 symptoms, and Andrei Belousov is standing in for him, But how does the prime minister really ...
In Moscow's Shadows 1: Coronavirus, Sobyanin, Social Contracts and Big Len
25 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The inaugural episode of the In Moscow's Shadows podcast, Mark Galeotti's rumination on all things Russia, past, present and future. This ep...