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Podcast Episode
Carnegie Politika

What Went Wrong in Russia? Russian Imperialism, With Ekaterina Schulmann and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff

Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Ekaterina Schulmann, a non-resident senior fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the German ambassador to Russia, at the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum to discuss the last thirty years of Russian history and how freedom turned into dictatorship and war.

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By Alexander Gabuev, Ekaterina Schulmann, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff
Published on Nov 27, 2025

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Carnegie Politika

Carnegie Politika is a digital publication that features unmatched analysis and insight on Russia, Ukraine and the wider region. For nearly a decade, Carnegie Politika has published contributions from members of Carnegie’s global network of scholars and well-known outside contributors and has helped drive important strategic conversations and policy debates.

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Russia went from a tsarist empire and the totalitarian USSR to the freedom of the 1990s, complete with hopes of becoming a European democracy. Unfortunately, multiple missteps and reckless foreign policy endeavors have resulted in Russia becoming a security threat to Europe and its own neighbors. Two Chechen wars, the invasion of Georgia, and annexation of Crimea paved the way for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. How did it end up this way? Were there signs? What is the current state of Russian society?

Hosted by

Alexander Gabuev
Director, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
Alexander Gabuev

Featuring

Ekaterina Schulmann
Nonresident Scholar, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
Ekaterina Schulmann
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff
Ambassador
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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