In Moscow's Shadows
Russia, behind the headlines as well as in the shadows. This podcast is the audio counterpart to Mark Galeotti's blog of the same name, a place where "one of the most informed and provocative voices on modern Russia", can talk about Russia historical and (more often) contemporary, discuss new books and research, and sometimes talk to other Russia-watchers.
If you'd like to keep the podcast coming and generally support my work, or want to ask questions or suggest topics for me to cover, do please contribute to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/InMoscowsShadows
The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybrid warfare, counter-terrorism, civil affairs and similar situations.
Episodes
207 episodes
In Moscow's Shadows 187: Tatarstan
As Russia-watchers, we know that Russia is not just Russian, or Russian Orthodox, but there is also a glib assumption that to be Muslim or otherwise a minority is to be depressed, repressed, and suppressed. So how to explain Tatarstan, one of t...
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Episode 187
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48:50
In Moscow's Shadows Bonus Minipod: Ukrainskii Sindrom
Originally one of the 'Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas' bonuses for Patrons, in this short pod I explore whether, when the soldiers come home, Russia is likely to experience a problem of a dispossessed and alienated generation akin to the 'Afg...
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19:08
In Moscow's Shadows 186: Why is Putin's Russia so Prone to Conspiracy Theories?
The Russian response to Tucker Carlson's claim that the Biden administration tried to assassinate Putin has to a large extent been driven by political expediency -- it makes a great propaganda narrative -- but there does seem to be more to it t...
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Episode 186
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48:28
In Moscow's Shadows 185: The One With All The Stuff
How else, frankly, to title an episode which covers Trump and Putin, the CIA's Ukrainian cooperation, Russo-Iranian and -Indian relations, Belarus, and four books on Crimea's history?The Vlad Vexler commentary I mentioned is
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Episode 185
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51:28
In Moscow's Shadows 184: One Hundred Years of Companionship?
The UK has signed a 'One Hundred Years Partnership Agreement' with Ukraine -- what's really involved under this grandiose title, and what does it show us about the wider challenges (and some missed opportunities) for supporting Kyiv?The...
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Episode 184
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45:44
In Moscow's Shadows 183: War and Peace (and Public Opinion)
We pundits have done more than our fair share speculating on whether, how, when and with what consequences there could be peace or a ceasefire in Ukraine, but instead it seems a good time to see what various research projects suggest about what...
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Episode 183
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42:21
In Moscow's Shadows 182: Things To Watch in 2025
Outright prediction may be a mug's game, but what are some of the people and processes I will be watching in 2025?For those who get lost in the flow, they are:PERSONALIA· Elvira Nabiullina...
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Episode 182
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54:59
In Moscow's Shadows 181: Strap in for a Bumpy 2025
Sabotage under the Baltic, a grudging apology, a possible attack on a Russian cargo ship, firebombing ATMs, energy blackmail in Moldova... what connects them beyond a sense that, having changed his rules of engagement abroad in 2024, Putin may ...
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Episode 181
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34:47
In Moscow's Shadows 180: Keep Calm and Carry On
What can one learn from Putin's 4½-hour-long end of year press conference? Essentially, his message to his people is that - however they might feel - everything is fine and they should stay the course. Meanwhile, over Ukraine if anything his li...
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Episode 180
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57:48
In Moscow's Shadows 179: Sex, Drugs & Rocky Roads
We tend to focus on the big challenges facing Russia: war, sanctions, the struggle of authoritarianism vs the remnants of civil society. Maybe it is time to look at some of the less often discussed problems that nonetheless characterise the eme...
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Episode 179
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52:24
In Moscow's Shadows 178: Assad la vista, baby - what does Damascus's fall mean for Russia?
So Bashar al-Assad's blood-drenched regime has fallen. Hurrah. But what now for Russia? Is this a terrible geopolitical defeat, or actually something that perversely frees it from a commitment made in 2015, yet less relevant today? What are the...
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Episode 178
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46:13
In Moscow's Shadows 177: Adaptation in Russia and Ukraine
President Zelensky's suggestion that military attempts to retake the occupied territories could be abandoned in return for rapid NATO membership for Ukraine does mark a change in tack. What is driving this political-diplomatic adaptation?
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Episode 177
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50:22
In Moscow's Shadows 176: Is Andrei Belousov the Lavrov of the Defence Ministry?
Schrödinger's Defence Minister, at once busy and visible yet strangely inconsequential and intangible, what can one make of Andrei Belousov, his rise and his chances of achieving anything in his current role?The entry page for the Condu...
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Episode 176
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55:30
In Moscow's Shadows 175: 'In a dangerous world, strike first' - Russian strategic culture
'Strategic culture' means the underlying cultural assumptions about threats and options that informs a nation's specific strategic choices, and Russia's has been strikingly continuous for centuries. As I discuss, it reflects the underlying circ...
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Episode 175
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48:56
In Moscow's Shadows 174: Putin, Trump, and the 'Polyphonic' world order
It's impossible to avoid talking about the potential implications of Donald Trump's election, even as its difficult to know for sure what he intends and almost as hard to say anything that hasn't already been said. I have a go, though, after co...
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Episode 174
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37:28
In Moscow's Shadows 173: Personalistic Power under Putin
I use reviews of three books to consider the risks and limitations of personalistic explanations of power under Putin, and whether a medieval concept of clan and family actually makes more sense...The books are:THE WIZARD...
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Episode 173
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49:51
In Moscow's Shadows 172: BRICS without Straw
(It seems to be obligatory to use a weak BRICS/bricks pun, so I felt I had to follow...)The BRICS summit in Kazan (a smart place to hold it) gives all the appearances of being a propaganda win for Putin. However, I think it emphasised t...
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Episode 172
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39:08
In Moscow's Shadows bonus minipodcast: North Koreans in Russia?
Released to Patrons yesterday, a bonus mini-pod on the claims that North Korean combat troops are heading to fight in Ukraine and what the media discussion also says about the current discourse.The podcast's corporate partner and sponso...
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16:00
In Moscow's Shadows 171: The invisible and invidious Sergei Korolev, perhaps the next head of the FSB
An all-spook episode, as I try to piece together the rise of FSB First Deputy Director Sergei Korolev, who seems the most likely figure to succeed current agency chief Bortnikov. Corruption, clientelism, feuds, the power of the St Petersburg cl...
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Episode 171
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47:34
In Moscow's Shadows 170: The Opposition Soap Opera
At times it does look as if the emigre liberal opposition to Putin is in such a mess that it looks like a soap opera. So what are some of the recent plot twists and why are they so divided -- and, ultimately, is it necessarily such a bad thing?...
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Episode 170
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48:20
In Moscow's Shadows 169: The GUSP, the most secret of Russia's secret services
The appointment to the Security Council of Alexander Linets, head of the Main Directorate of Special Programs of the President of the Russian Federation (GUSP), is a suitable moment to look into this, the most secret of Russia's security agenci...
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Episode 169
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47:12
In Moscow's Shadows 168: Putin Wants Us To Have Nuclear Nightmares
Putin's at it again, raising nuclear fears to unsettle the West. Or is the new revision to Russian nuclear doctrine more than just a bit of sabre-rattling? I suggest it is, with bearing on potential Ukrainian endgames. But we ought not to becom...
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Episode 168
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43:05
In Moscow's Shadows 167: Shoigu Redux
While the Security Council itself is having its time wasted with trivia, new Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu has been busy. How has he survived (is it the shaman connection? It is not), and what do his goals seem to be?And, wit...
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Episode 167
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47:25
In Moscow's Shadows 166: Raider Nation, a quick news round-up
I still haven't decided how/if to continue with these mid-week quickfire podcasts picking up on some news stories that catch my eye, but in the meantime, there's a divorce/business shootout in Moscow, more traffic fines (it matters, believe me)...
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Episode 166
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18:55
In Moscow's Shadows 165: Prince Bogdoi, Information Logjams and Public-Private Empire
What may a misadventure from 17th century Russian imperial history tell us about modern Russia? Why, about the perils of information logjams and public-private empires!Details of the Pushkin House event I mentioned are
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Episode 165
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58:27