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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Russian prisons today
The Naked Pravda
05/20/23 • 43 min
Russia is notorious for its political prisoners, and the authorities have only added to this population by adopting numerous laws since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that outlaw most forms of anti-war self-expression. Figures like journalist Ivan Safronov and opposition politician Alexey Navalny were already locked up before the full-scale invasion, and now they’re joined by politicians like Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza. As relatively unknown activists are dragged into court for minor anti-war actions and the Kremlin takes hostages like American journalist Evan Gershkovich, Russia’s prison system is regularly in the news, but how is it actually built and what’s life like for those inside and their loved ones on the outside?
For answers, Meduza turns to Professor Judith Pallot , the research director of the Gulag Echoes project at the University of Helsinki’s Aleksanteri Institute (you can find the project’s blog here), and journalist Ksenia Mironova, the cohost of the Time No Longer (Времени больше не будет) podcast, where she interviews experts and the friends and relatives of political prisoners. Mironova is also the partner of Ivan Safronov, another journalist now serving a 22-year “treason” sentence in prison.
Timestamps for this episode:
- (1:48) A word from The Beet
- (6:31) How big is Russia’s prison population?
- (11:01) The prison system’s history of “reforms”
- (17:48) Is today’s system reverting to the Gulag?
- (20:00) Conditions behind bars
- (28:19) Comparing the Russian and Ukrainian prison systems and appreciating civil society’s oversight
- (34:05) Ksenia Mironova on the lives of political prisoners and their partners
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
05/20/23 • 43 min
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Revisiting the poisoning of Vladimir Kara-Murza
The Naked Pravda
12/25/20 • 24 min
There have been major breakthroughs in the investigative reporting surrounding the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, whom the Federal Security Service allegedly tried to assassinate in August 2020. As Meduza has reported previously, Navalny’s case is part of a long, grim trend in Russia. In recent weeks, thanks to investigative work by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists Mike Eckel and Carl Schreck, there is also new information available involving another apparent poisoning victim in Russia, the oppositionist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In December 2015, six months after Kara-Murza’s first hospitalization, he filed a police report claiming that someone had tried to kill him using poison. Two years later, after he was hospitalized a second time with another sudden and mysterious illness, the FBI in the United States, where Kara-Murza lives, got involved, but the bloodwork results based on samples provided by Kara-Murza’s family were classified. Kara-Murza is still trying to obtain these records through litigation in America.
To learn more about the case, “The Naked Pravda” asked RFE/RL journalists Mike Eckel and Carl Schreck some burning questions about their investigation.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
12/25/20 • 24 min
Keeping Up With Kyrgyzstan
The Naked Pravda
10/31/20 • 47 min
On October 5, thousands of opposition demonstrators took to the streets of Bishkek to protest the official results of Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections. About a dozen different opposition parties had failed to overcome the seven percent threshold needed to get into parliament and two pro-government parties had won nearly half the seats. The protesters demanded a repeat vote and on October 6 elections officials relented and invalidated the results.
Since then, Kyrgyzstan’s population has seen a lot more turmoil than the opposition protesters bargained for: parliament appointed a new prime minister, the president stepped down, and election officials scheduled a repeat parliamentary vote only to see it postponed indefinitely. Meanwhile, lawmakers have been pushing through legislation on changing the constitution and the country is planning to hold presidential elections in January.
So how did all of this happen in such a short period of time? “The Naked Pravda” invited three experts on the show to speak about the lead up to the vote, the ensuing political crisis, and whether or not Russia has anything to do with it:
- (2:35) Bektour Iskender, journalist and co-founder of Kloop — an independent media organization based in Kyrgyzstan, recalls how the post-election protests escalated into an unexpected political crisis.
- (5:36) Dr. Erica Marat — an associate professor at the National Defense University’s College of International Affairs in Washington D.C., whose research focuses on violence, mobilization, and security institutions in Eurasia — explains why Sadyr Japarov’s lightning-fast rise to power can be considered a coup.
- (15:30) Colleen Wood — a doctoral candidate in political science at Columbia University, who researches civil society and identity in Central Asia — discusses what social media reveals about social and political cleavages in Kyrgyzstan.
- (39:02) All three guests share their take on the Kremlin’s response to Kyrgyzstan’s political upheaval.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
10/31/20 • 47 min
Maia Sandu’s win and what it means for Moldova
The Naked Pravda
11/28/20 • 48 min
On November 15, Moldovan citizens at home and abroad came out in record-breaking numbers to cast their ballots in the run-off vote of the country’s 2020 presidential elections. In the end, former Prime Minister Maia Sandu defeated incumbent President Igor Dodon, becoming Moldova’s very first woman president-elect.
Taking place amid the coronavirus pandemic, the campaign season was plagued by divisive political rhetoric and fake news. Meanwhile, international media framed the race as a battle between a pro-EU, anti-corruption candidate (Sandu) and a corrupt, pro-Russian incumbent (Dodon). But was this election really about the country’s geo-political direction?
To fill in the backstory and find out what we can expect from Maia Sandu during her presidency, “The Naked Pravda” talks to four experts on Moldova about the country’s socio-political landscape, the 2020 vote, and the future of Chisinau’s foreign policy.
- Gina S. Lentine, Senior Program Officer for Europe and Eurasia at Freedom House, on how the pandemic impacted the Moldovan elections.
- Journalist Alina Radu, CEO and co-founder of the independent, investigative weekly Ziarul de Garda, reflects on investigative reporting under lockdown and the fight against fake news.
- Ana Indoitu, Director of the Chisinau-based non-profit INVENTO, discusses the main candidates’ attitudes towards young people and civil society.
- Assistant Professor Ellie Knott from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) argues that geopolitics is often a veil for transnational corruption.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
11/28/20 • 48 min
Is it Putin or is it Russia? The causes of today’s bad vibes between Moscow and the West.
The Naked Pravda
11/21/20 • 39 min
Back in early October, Meduza learned about a whole archive of transcripts between members of the Clinton administration and Vladimir Putin, dated between 1999 and 2001 — records that were first declassified and published by the Clinton Digital Library in August 2019. We wrote three feature stories based on these archives, highlighting and contextualizing some of the more memorable exchanges between Moscow and Washington. Comparing these conversations to the rhetoric that’s common now, the radically different flavor of today’s diplomacy is apparent.
For a better understanding of how this relationship soured so dramatically, “The Naked Pravda” turns to three experts on Russian foreign policy and international relations:
- (3:13) Stanford University political scientist and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul describes meeting Vladimir Putin almost 30 years ago and watching his ideology evolve over the decades.
- (9:58) Cardiff University International Relations Professor Sergey Radchenko argues that there’s more continuity between the Yeltsin and Putin administrations than some scholars like to admit.
- (15:39) Dr. Carol Saivetz, a senior advisor in the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes how Putin lost faith in the West and democracy itself by trying and failing to get the partnership he expected.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
11/21/20 • 39 min
The Nagorno-Karabakh truce: What to expect in the years that follow a bloody six-week war
The Naked Pravda
11/14/20 • 28 min
A six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh has ended disastrously for Armenia. Judging by the map, the situation on the ground will revert mostly to the conditions in place before Yerevan’s 1991 war with Baku, leaving Azerbaijani artillery perched just outside the breakaway republic’s capital city and the 50,000 souls who call it home. The big difference this time around is the presence of Russian peacekeepers — about 2,000 of them — who will be there to monitor a Kremlin-brokered truce. Not formally part of the trilateral settlement but still very much involved in the conflict is Turkey, which is expected to field its own monitors in Azerbaijan, albeit outside the Karabakh region.
For a better understanding of the violence that took place in this area since late September, and to explore what it means to have won or lost in this war, “The Naked Pravda” turned to three experts:
- (3:15) Neil Hauer, a Canadian journalist based in the Caucasus who's reported extensively on conflicts in Georgia, Syria, and Nagorno-Karabakh, describes the mood now in Armenia and Yerevan’s plans for Karabakh’s future.
- (8:31) Richard Giragosian, the director of the Regional Studies Center (an independent think tank based in Armenia), argues that everyone involved in the six-week war has emerged a loser, in at least some respects.
- (16:31) Rob Lee, a former Marine engineer officer and a current doctoral student at King’s College London, explains how drones made all the difference in the latest clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
11/14/20 • 28 min
12/12/20 • 26 min
Even if you follow news in Russia regularly, you might be unaware or only vaguely aware that Russia’s Central Bank printed an enormous sum of money over the past decade in a sweeping campaign to restructure the country’s major banks and liquidate smaller failing financial institutions. In a recent joint investigative report, Meduza and its media partners spoke to sources and obtained testimony from witnesses who described major abuses of authority by banking executives and senior regulatory officials.
For further discussion about these events, and for more background and context about Russian monetary policy, “The Naked Pravda” turns to two experts: Tom Adshead, the director of research at Macro-Advisory Ltd. (an independent strategic advisory and macro analytics firm), and Stephanie Petrella, the editor-in-chief of BMB Russia and Ukraine and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia program.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
12/12/20 • 26 min
10/24/20 • 19 min
In April 2020, Russia shipped 45 ventilator machines to New York City as part of what became a humanitarian exchange with America at the height of the Big Apple’s initial coronavirus outbreak. But what should have been a heartwarming display of cooperation in challenging times quickly became a political boondoggle. American hospitals were unable to use the lifesaving machines due to a lack of adapters to convert their required electrical voltage. Subsequently, a few weeks after the Aventa-M ventilators were delivered, several of the same models reportedly burst into flames at two hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg, killing six people and raising concerns about the devices’ safety.
The ventilators also became politically toxic in the United States after U.S. officials completed the equipment exchange with Russia by shipping medical supplies worth several times more than what Moscow sent to New York. Additionally, the Russian machinery’s manufacturer, “Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies” (a Rostec subsidiary), is currently under U.S. sanctions imposed against Moscow (though White House officials say the sanctions don’t apply to medical supplies).
Just a few days ago, on October 19, BuzzFeed News correspondent Chris Miller reported that the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency “essentially tossed [the Russian ventilators] in the trash.” To find out more about the U.S. government’s decision, “The Naked Pravda” spoke to Chris Miller.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
10/24/20 • 19 min
The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
The Naked Pravda
10/10/20 • 39 min
Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a fragile ceasefire agreement in Moscow on October 10 after nearly a dozen hours in negotiations. The two sides will suspend hostilities so bodies and prisoners of war can be exchanged, while diplomats from Yerevan and Baku debate a more lasting resolution.
Since the late 1980s, the fight for the Nagorno-Karabakh region has killed roughly 20,000 people and made refugees of hundreds of thousands more. Since the most recent escalation that began on September 27, 2020 (already the second resumption of hostilities this year), several hundred soldiers have reportedly died in combat, along with several dozen civilians.
“The Naked Pravda” asked four experts to explain what fuels the longest-running war on former Soviet soil:
- (3:50) Thomas de Waal — a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, the author of “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War” (2003), and more recently the coauthor of “Beyond Frozen Conflict“ (2020) — explains why the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is more dangerous than many people realize.
- (8:19) Jeffrey Mankoff, a distinguished research fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at U.S. National Defense University, discusses what’s happened on the ground Nagorno-Karabakh this September.
- (12:05) Journalist Arzu Geybulla describes growing up in Azerbaijan and falling out of favor with the government.
- (23:07) Kevork Oskanian, an honorary research fellow at the University of Birmingham and the co-author of “Fear, Weakness, and Power in the Post-Soviet South Caucasus” (2013), breaks down the local political pressures in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
10/10/20 • 39 min
01/01/21 • 27 min
Thanks to Russia’s recent constitutional amendments, local self-government has effectively lost its independence. State officials at all levels are now accountable, one way or another, to the president. Dramatic as these changes seem on paper, the reforms, in fact, formally recognize what has long been true in reality: appointed “city managers” have largely replaced the country’s elected mayors. But Russia’s “power vertical” relies on more than just political appointments.
To learn about the other levers at the Kremlin’s disposal, Meduza turned to Yuval Weber, the Bren Chair of Russian Military and Political Strategy at Marine Corps University’s Krulak Center and a Research Assistant Professor at Texas A&M’s Bush School in Washington, DC. Dr. Weber is the author of a forthcoming book, titled “The Russian Economy,” about how economic reform efforts in Russia follow similar trajectories even among different types of government.
“The Naked Pravda” comes out on Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at [email protected] with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
01/01/21 • 27 min
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Naked Pravda have?
The Naked Pravda currently has 134 episodes available.
What topics does The Naked Pravda cover?
The podcast is about News, Russia, Journalism, Podcasts and Politics.
What is the most popular episode on The Naked Pravda?
The episode title 'Russian prisons today' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Naked Pravda?
The average episode length on The Naked Pravda is 33 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Naked Pravda released?
Episodes of The Naked Pravda are typically released every 7 days, 12 hours.
When was the first episode of The Naked Pravda?
The first episode of The Naked Pravda was released on Nov 27, 2019.
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