Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 28 December: Directorate K and the FSB's dilemma
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? In this second cellcast of the 2020-21 Twelve Days ...
4 Jan 202120min
Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas: 25 December: Afghan Christmas
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 three aspects of that conflict of relevance today. ...
1 Jan 202120min
In Moscow's Shadows 20: Spooks: more Navalny, will the FSB change tack, and did the SVR carry out a 'cyberattack'?
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 rumination on whether there will be implications for the...
22 Des 202036min
In Moscow's Shadows 19: The Navalny Hit (after the Bellingcat/Insider report)
An impressively detailed investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider meticulously details the Russian Federal Security Service operation against Alexei Navalny, so here is a short podcast episode devo...
15 Des 202025min
In Moscow's Shadows 18: Life in the Communist Party? And Three Random Stories
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? My thoughts. And in the second part, I highlight...
6 Des 202027min
In Moscow's Shadows Cellcast: 24 November 2020: Konstantin Malofeev and his Tsargrad party - a potential threat to the Kremlin from the right?
Another short 'cellcast', going out directly to my Patrons, and to everyone else a week later. In this cellcast, recorded on 24 November, I look at the Orthodox, nationalist businessman Konstantin Mal...
1 Des 202020min
In Moscow's Shadows 17: Russian Gangsters; and Kadyrov and Captain America
An introduction to the Russian underworld and, especially, three problematic concepts - the 'honest thief,' the 'thieves' world' and the 'mafia state' - to kick off a series of segments about aspects ...
22 Nov 202030min
In Moscow's Shadows 16: The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR): and Is Putin Ill? (Spoiler: Probably Not)
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 and political ambitions of its director, Sergei Nar...
8 Nov 202039min
