Russia’s Victory Day public holiday, celebrated on May 9, has undergone a major transformation in Putin’s Russia. Historically, it was a day of somber commemoration, and its main leitmotif was “Never again.” Under Putin, the holiday has become increasingly militaristic, with the memorial aspect now overshadowed by the far more belligerent slogan “We can do it again.” How did this happen, and what role does Victory Day play in the Putin regime today?
Following Vladimir Putin’s state visit to India, podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Pankaj Saran, former Indian ambassador to Moscow and convenor at NatStrat, to discuss India’s position amid China’s growing influence, U.S. tariffs, and Russian aggression.
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.
Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Elizaveta Fokht, a BBC Russian Service special correspondent, to discuss how Russia tried and failed to win over Trump.
Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Edward Fishman, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, to discuss the new U.S. sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest crude producers.
Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Robert Zoellick, formerly a president of the World Bank, U.S. trade representative, and U.S. deputy secretary of state, to discuss initiatives to seize Russian assets and give them to Ukraine, along with the associated legal hurdles.