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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Top 10 The Naked Pravda Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Naked Pravda episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Naked Pravda for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Naked Pravda episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
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
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Telegram and the future of Russian Internet freedom
The Naked Pravda
03/20/22 • 37 min
We’re now more than three weeks deep into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and many are asking the question: What information is still reaching Russians? Unless you’re using a VPN to tunnel beneath the state’s censorship, Instagram is blocked, Facebook is blocked, Twitter is blocked, and YouTube is probably next. The independent news media is in tatters, and it looks like the main social networks left standing will be domestic services like Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte, which enforce the Kremlin’s political censorship — and then there’s Telegram.
For a better understanding of what this means for Russia’s information space — focusing particularly on Russians’ increased reliance on Telegram — The Naked Pravda welcomes back Dr. Tanya Lokot, an associate professor in Digital Media and Society at the School of Communications at Dublin City University in Ireland, and Dr. Mariëlle Wijermars, an assistant professor in Cyber-Security and Politics at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The two scholars recently coauthored an article published in the journal Post-Soviet Affairs, titled, “Is Telegram a ‘Harbinger of Freedom’? The Performance, Practices, and Perception of Platforms as Political Actors in Authoritarian States.”
Timestamps for this episode:
- (4:02) Is Telegram a “harbinger of freedom”?
- (5:05) How does Telegram’s lack of moderation potentially endanger vulnerable groups?
- (8:10) How vulnerable are Telegram users to government snooping?
- (11:06) Why do users stick with Telegram if there are serious security concerns about the service?
- (13:16) On Telegram head Pavel Durov’s mixed messages in Ukraine
- (17:30) Are the U.S. social media giants any better?
- (20:32) Revisiting Telegram during the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests
- (21:11) What content is available on Telegram during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
- (26:36) That year between 2018 and 2019 when Russia “blocked” Telegram
- (31:10) What’s next for the RuNet?
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
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
11/18/22 • 33 min
It’s been more than 266 days since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In more recent few months, the war’s momentum has swung dramatically in Kyiv’s favor amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has Russian troops retreating from areas that Moscow has formally annexed.
To get a grasp on where things stand currently in the war, Meduza spoke to military analyst Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), who’s been meticulously gathering operational data about the conflict since before Russian troops started pouring over the Ukrainian border.
Timestamps for this episode:
- (2:38) What’s so special about HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems?
- (10:22) What other advanced weapons could give Ukraine new advantages in the war?
- (14:57) What’s the military impact of Russia’s airstrikes against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure?
- (18:57) How far might Ukraine’s counteroffensive reach into occupied territory? Will Russian defenses hold at some point?
- (25:19) Is the Russian military regrouping or on the verge of collapse?
- (27:41) What happened with the missile(s) that recently killed two civilians in Poland?
- (30:26) Is Russia going to run out of rockets or ammunition?
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
Putin’s people: Money in the bank and a palace by the sea
The Naked Pravda
01/23/21 • 38 min
In December 2010, a St. Petersburg businessman named Sergey Kolesnikov penned a nifty four-page open letter to then-President Dmitry Medvedev, outlining how a glorious palace built for Vladimir Putin came to be. The details of this seemingly ancient document are now familiar again thanks to a massive investigative report released this week by the opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who survived an attempted assassination last year only to be jailed last weekend after returning home to Moscow.
As Meduza recorded this show, cities across Russia were hours away from planned protests in support of Navalny, who timed his investigation into Putin’s palace to land exactly as the world watches to see how his movement mobilizes against his incarceration.
To learn more about how the Kremlin’s slush funds operate in Russia and abroad, how Vladimir Putin allegedly amassed a fortune in secret, and how the president’s early days in KGB still influence Russian politics, “The Naked Pravda” turned to Catherine Belton, a special correspondent at Reuters and the author of the 2020 book “Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West.”
“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
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
How sanctions against Russia reshape the world
The Naked Pravda
06/03/22 • 27 min
Earlier this week, the European Union passed a landmark agreement banning most Russian oil imports into the region by the end of the year, though the embargo features a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline in order to overcome opposition from landlocked Hungary. In late May, the U.S. Treasury declined to extend a license that allowed Russia to make payment on its sovereign debt to U.S. holders, possibly accelerating the prospect of Russia defaulting on its government debt.
To discuss these major developments and more happening in the sanctions campaign against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, The Naked Pravda welcomed back Dr. Maria Shagina, a political risk analyst and sanctions expert who works as a Diamond-Brown Research Fellow for Economic Sanctions, Standards, and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Timestamps for this episode:
- (1:48) What’s the significance of Russia’s current account surplus?
- (6:15) Has Western unity on economic sanctions against Russia peaked, or is the EU and U.S. capable of more?
- (7:52) What determines the divisions inside the European Union when it comes to confronting Russian aggression?
- (11:11) What are the main drivers of a potential global food crisis?
- (12:28) Does the West risk alienating large parts of the world by forcing higher energy costs on the Global South?
- (19:05) How have the sanctions against Russia affected the push for greener energy sources?
- (23:25) Have economic realities now put Russia definitively on an eastward trajectory? How fundamental is this to the country’s future development?
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
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
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
Why hasn’t the West seized Russia’s frozen sovereign assets?
The Naked Pravda
01/21/24 • 48 min
The U.S. government is reportedly becoming more “assertive” about backing the confiscation of roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets to provide an alternative funding stream for Kyiv. The news comes amid faltering efforts in Europe and Washington to approve the budgetary allocations needed to sustain aid for Ukraine, which presumably makes it even more attractive to force Russia to foot the bill. Kyiv’s most ardent supporters in the West say the seizure of the immobilized Russian state assets is long overdue. In fact, that the seizure hasn’t happened already is both alarming and confounding to many people.
To understand what’s keeping the West from grabbing this Russian money and what it will take for the confiscation to go ahead, Meduza spoke to journalist, economist, and political analyst Alexander Kolyandr and welcomed back Maximilian Hess, the founder of Enmetena Advisory and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the author of “Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West.”
Timestamps for this episode
- (4:33) What and where are these frozen Russian assets?
- (8:46) Confiscation’s potential impact on the world economy
- (12:41) Implications for Western countries
- (14:55) Understanding the resistance to confiscation
- (36:09) Barriers to asset confiscation
Как поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Naked Pravda have?
The Naked Pravda currently has 170 episodes available.
What topics does The Naked Pravda cover?
The podcast is about News, Russia, Journalism, Ukraine, Podcasts, Books, Economics, War 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 34 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Naked Pravda released?
Episodes of The Naked Pravda are typically released every 7 days, 9 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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