The Naked Pravda

Медуза / Meduza

Meduza’s English-language podcast, The Naked Pravda highlights how our top reporting intersects with the wider research and expertise that exists about Russia. The broader context of Meduza’s in-depth, original journalism isn’t always clear, which is where this show comes in. Here you’ll hear from the world’s community of Russia experts, activists, and reporters about issues that are at the heart of Meduza’s stories and crucial to major events in and around Russia.

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20 episodes
Updated February 24
Explicit

Episodes20

Newest first

February 24 · 33 min
Lucian Kim explains how a generational clash over Soviet nostalgia enabled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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.
February 20 · 25 min
Unpacking the economics behind Russia’s military recruitment machine, with researcher Janis Kluge
Economist and Russia expert Janis Kluge unpacks the economics behind Russia’s military recruitment machine.
February 12 · 35 min
Russia has crushed open defiance in occupied Ukraine. Scholar Jade McGlynn explains how the resistance went underground to survive.
King’s College London scholar Jade McGlynn discusses how resistance efforts in occupied Ukraine have adapted to survive life behind the front lines.
February 6 · 29 min
What happens when you drunk-text the FBI about Russian spies and prostitutes at 4 a.m.? The curious case of Nomma Zarubina.
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.”
January 14 · 44 min
Historian William Jay Risch looks back at Euromaidan and Ukraine’s road from ‘revolutionary euphoria to the madness of war’
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.
January 9 · 45 min
Is Trump’s Venezuela operation a ‘gift to Putin,’ and what is the state of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’?
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.
Dec 23, 2025 · 28 min
Moscow Times opinion editor Charlie Hancock discusses the challenges of commissioning commentary on Russia amid the war in Ukraine
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).
Dec 16, 2025 · 35 min
Pavel Durov’s Russian biographer explains the tech-bro feudalism that drives Telegram
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.
Dec 9, 2025 · 35 min
Simon Shuster on the fall of Andriy Yermak
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.
Dec 5, 2025 · 24 min
Andrei Sannikov on Lukashenko’s latest gambit — and why the West keeps taking the bait
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.
Nov 22, 2025 · 31 min
Russia’s elites once dreaded war. Now, they fear peace.
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.
Nov 14, 2025 · 32 min
Elena Kostyuchenko explains why E.U. multiple-entry visas were so crucial for Russian dissidents and journalists
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.
Oct 29, 2025 · 37 min
Julia Ioffe’s ‘Motherland’
Journalist Julia Ioffe returns to The Naked Pravda to discuss her new book, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy.
Oct 9, 2025 · 30 min
Four scenarios for the next chapter in Russia’s war against Ukraine
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.
Sep 24, 2025 · 26 min
Here’s what you do when Russia won’t stay out of your airspace
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.
Jul 2, 2025 · 50 min
Joshua Yaffa explains how Donald Trump got NATO to pay up
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.
Jun 23, 2025 · 53 min
Pulitzer-winner Benjamin Nathans on the Soviet dissident movement’s ‘many lives’
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).
May 28, 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
Everyday politics in Russia with Jeremy Morris
Anthropologist Jeremy Morris joins The Naked Pravda to discuss his latest book, “Everyday Politics in Russia: From Resentment to Resistance” (Bloomsbury, March 2025).
Apr 29, 2025 · 46 min
Jill Dougherty’s Russia
The Naked Pravda interviews journalist and author Jill Dougherty about her new memoir, “My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin.”
Nov 9, 2024 · 34 min
The banking scandal that broke Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition
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.