On this week's episode, Max and Maria sat down with Roman Dobrokhotov, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Russia-focused investigative media outlet, The Insider. Roman's team, along with colleagues at CBS's 60 Minutes and the German outlet Der Spiegel, recently concluded an investigation that uncovered evidence potentially linking Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, with the health incidents impacting U.S. government officials and their families that have come to be known as "Havana Syndrome."

Show Notes: "Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on U.S. officials and their families" by Roman Dobrokhotov, Christo Grozev, and Michael Weiss (The Insider)

Max and Maria sat down with Paul Schwartz and Sam Bendett to discuss the different technological and tactical battlefield innovations taking place in Ukraine today, and what they mean for military analysts studying the war.

Disclaimer: Paul and Sam's views as expressed in this episode are their own, and do not necessarily represent the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA).

Nicolas Véron of Bruegel and the Peterson Institute for International Economics joined Max to discuss the ongoing debate over Russia's frozen central bank reserves. This conversation was recorded on March 15, 2024.

See "The European Union should do better than confiscate Russia's reserve money" by Nicolas Véron for Bruegel. At the time of this episode's publication, the European Council met for a summit in Brussels and was considering a plan to use the profits accrued to frozen Russian assets to provide military support for Ukraine.

This week, Maria was joined once again by Liana Fix and Nikolay Petrov to discuss Russia's March 2024 presidential election, and what "politics" looks like in the country today.

Be sure to read the new paper written by Maria and Liana, "Leadership Change in Russia: Contingency Planning Memorandum" (Council on Foreign Relations).

This week, Max and Maria are joined again by Miriam Lanskoy from the National Endowment for Democracy to discuss the recent news of Alexei Navalny's death in a Russian penal colony.

On this week's episode, listen to Max interview Maria on her new book, "When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe." Max and Maria were joined by Dan Kelemen, a Senior Associate non-resident fellow at CSIS and an expert on the European Union. This conversation was recorded on January 30, 2024. To order a copy of Maria's book, please click here.

This week, Max and Maria were joined by acclaimed reporter, Catherine Belton. Catherine currently writes for the Washington Post, and has written extensively on the Russian elite and security services. Max, Maria, and Catherine discussed ongoing Russian efforts to influence democratic societies, and the particular vulnerability facing Western countries as they gear up for a series of elections across the globe in 2024.

Michael Kofman, a leading expert on the Russian military and a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace joined Max, Maria, and Michael Kimmage, to discuss the status of further Western military and financial aid to Ukraine, and the impact a lack of additional assistance would have on the battlefield. This recording took place on December 20, 2023. The full video of the conversation can be found here.

This week, Max and Maria were joined again by Michael Kimmage, and Michael's frequent co-author and a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations, Liana Fix. Recently, Michael and Liana published a piece in Foreign Affairs titled, "A Containment Strategy for Ukraine: How the West Can Help Kyiv Endure a Long War," and they shared their piece's main arguments and conclusions over the course of the episode. This conversation was recorded on December 8, 2023.

Learn More:

"A Containment Strategy for Ukraine: How the West Can Help Kyiv Endure a Long War," by Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage

On this week's episode, Maria fills in Max and Michael Kimmage after her recent trip to Kyiv. The three of them then discuss the current state of the war with Russia, and examine some of the key questions facing Ukraine and its partners as we head into 2024.

On October 31st, Max moderated a conversation between Maria and Sergei Guriev on the ideology of Putinism. Does Vladimir Putin have an ideology? If so, will this ideology help him retain power in Russia? Maria recently co-authored a report on this same topic, and the paper's findings were the main topic of discussion. Dr. Sergei Guriev is the Provost at Sciences Po in Paris, and a renowned professor of economics. Previously, he led the New Economic School in Moscow from 2004-2013. Additionally, he served as the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 2016-2019.

Learn More:

"The Ideology of Putinism: Is It Sustainable?" by Maria Snegovaya, Michael Kimmage, and Jade McGlynn

"Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century" by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman