The Naked Pravda

Episod

• Lucian Kim explains how a generational clash over Soviet nostalgia enabled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 24.02.2026 33min

  On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, journalist Lucian Kim discusses his book, tracing the war from Soviet collapse and imperial nostalgia to one man’s radicalization, and asks what, if anything, could have stopped it.
• Unpacking the economics behind Russia’s military recruitment machine, with researcher Janis Kluge 21.02.2026 25min

  Economist and Russia expert Janis Kluge unpacks the economics behind Russia’s military recruitment machine.
• Russia has crushed open defiance in occupied Ukraine. Scholar Jade McGlynn explains how the resistance went underground to survive. 12.02.2026 35min

  King’s College London scholar Jade McGlynn discusses how resistance efforts in occupied Ukraine have adapted to survive life behind the front lines.
• What happens when you drunk-text the FBI about Russian spies and prostitutes at 4 a.m.? The curious case of Nomma Zarubina. 06.02.2026 29min

  Host Kevin Rothrock sits down with RFE/RL senior international correspondent Mike Eckel to discuss his investigation into the bizarre case of Nomma Zarubina: “The FSB, Lies, and Drunk Texting the FBI.”
• Historian William Jay Risch looks back at Euromaidan and Ukraine’s road from ‘revolutionary euphoria to the madness of war’ 15.01.2026 44min

  Twelve years after Euromaidan, historian William Jay Risch discusses his new book about Ukraine’s 2014 revolution, the Antimaidan counter-movement, and how escalating violence and Russian intervention weakened national unity.
• Is Trump’s Venezuela operation a ‘gift to Putin,’ and what is the state of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’? 10.01.2026 45min

  Meduza speaks with political scientist Seva Gunitsky and Russian oil industry expert Craig Kennedy about what the U.S. capture of Venezuela’s president means for Vladimir Putin and his war machine.
• Moscow Times opinion editor Charlie Hancock discusses the challenges of commissioning commentary on Russia amid the war in Ukraine 23.12.2025 28min

  Moscow Times opinion editor Charlie Hancock discusses the constraints of her work, handling reader criticism, and balancing sharply divergent viewpoints while maintaining editorial coherence (and her own sanity).
• Pavel Durov’s Russian biographer explains the tech-bro feudalism that drives Telegram 16.12.2025 35min

  Journalist Nikolay Kononov discusses his new book, “The Populist: The Untold Story of Pavel Durov and Telegram,” diving into the ideology and politics of one of the world’s most influential tech bros.
• Simon Shuster on the fall of Andriy Yermak 09.12.2025 35min

  Journalist and Zelensky biographer Simon Shuster explains the fallout from Andriy Yermak’s removal as the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff and assesses the current state of the war in Ukraine.
• Andrei Sannikov on Lukashenko’s latest gambit — and why the West keeps taking the bait 06.12.2025 24min

  Belarusian activist Andrei Sannikov warns that Trump’s outreach to Lukashenko may repeat a long-standing trap, where Minsk trades select prisoner releases for sanctions relief while continuing to jail more dissidents and legitimize repression.
• Russia’s elites once dreaded war. Now, they fear peace. 22.11.2025 31min

  Meduza talks with independent journalist Farida Rustamova about how Putin’s war effort changed the rules of the game for Russia’s “old elites” — and made them fear peace.
• Elena Kostyuchenko explains why E.U. multiple-entry visas were so crucial for Russian dissidents and journalists 15.11.2025 32min

  Meduza interviews journalist and activist Elena Kostyuchenko to find out why the loss of E.U. multiple-entry visas is such a major problem for Russia’s scattered network of dissidents, independent journalists, and activists.
• Julia Ioffe’s ‘Motherland’ 29.10.2025 37min

  Journalist Julia Ioffe returns to The Naked Pravda to discuss her new book, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy.
• Four scenarios for the next chapter in Russia’s war against Ukraine 09.10.2025 30min

  Political scientist Maria Snegovaya joins The Naked Pravda to discuss the mounting costs straining the Kremlin’s war machine and four plausible scenarios for the Russia–Ukraine war’s next chapter.
• Here’s what you do when Russia won’t stay out of your airspace 24.09.2025 26min

  Dr. Olga Oliker discusses escalating incursions by Russian aircraft into NATO airspace in Eastern Europe, drawing comparisons to Turkey downing a Russian bomber in Syria in the November 2015.
• Joshua Yaffa explains how Donald Trump got NATO to pay up 02.07.2025 50min

  Journalist Joshua Yaffa discusses his June 2025 New Yorker article, “Collective Punishment: Why is Donald Trump upending America’s commitment to NATO?” and how the looming threats of Russian aggression and U.S. withdrawal pressure Europe.
• Pulitzer-winner Benjamin Nathans on the Soviet dissident movement’s ‘many lives’ 23.06.2025 53min

  Historian Benjamin Nathans joins The Naked Pravda to discuss his latest book, “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement” (Princeton University Press, August 2024).
• Everyday politics in Russia with Jeremy Morris 29.05.2025 1j 16min

  Anthropologist Jeremy Morris joins The Naked Pravda to discuss his latest book, “Everyday Politics in Russia: From Resentment to Resistance” (Bloomsbury, March 2025).
• Jill Dougherty’s Russia 29.04.2025 46min

  The Naked Pravda interviews journalist and author Jill Dougherty about her new memoir, “My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin.”
• The banking scandal that broke Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition 09.11.2024 34min

  With help from financial transparency expert Ilya Shumanov, Meduza breaks down the squabbling and criminal stakes at the heart of the scandal involving Probusinessbank, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, and activist Maxim Katz.