Wow if you’re a member, you can preorder our book about US/Russian authoritarianism as part of Barnes and Noble preorder campaign. The joy! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-sur...

My latest for @thenation.com where I explain how DC misunderstands Russia and why it’s so dangerous www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Just listened to @storyevtime.bsky.social & Maria Kuznetsova talking to @onthemedia.bsky.social about their book! Sharp analysis of how authoritarian practices can seep into a democracy so quickly that people lack the language to describe what's happening. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

A cottage industry of articles and even books predicting Russia's collapse has sprung from a lack of imagination and expertise made worse by a cocktail of bad incentives, dwindling funding and restricted access to Russia itself, argues argues Dan Storyev.

Opinion: Victory Day has been so thoroughly taken over by the Kremlin that it is hard to find anything genuine in its symbols. But when all is said and done, this day is still about a memory of a real, tangible and traumatic event, writes @storyevtime.bsky.social.

(1/4) #CentralAsia is among the world's most vulnerable regions to #climatechange. And while some countries are heavily reliant on #fossilfuels, there is potential for #renewables across this entire part of the world. Let's take a closer look...

The jailing of Alexei Navalny’s lawyers did not come out of nowhere. But it does represent a turning point in the Kremlin’s program to destroy civil society, @storyevtime.bsky.social writes.

(1/3) What is the role of #criticalrawmaterials for the energy transition and why are the EU and other global actors so keen on getting them from Central Asian countries such as #Kazakhstan? Is this an economic opportunity? Or can we observe a new, "green" type of #extractivism?

Wrote about Czechia legalising weed and shrooms (next year) www.talkingdrugs.org/new-czech-bi...

Через полчаса на Вот Так буду рассказывать про протесты в LA www.youtube.com/live/vBlGPKJ...

"It's better — believe us — to name what’s happening than to look on, speechless, as your country goes to ruin." Thank you @storyevtime.bsky.social and Maria Kuznetsova for this www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/o...

A glossary of authoritarianism: It’s deeply concerning that these terms can now be applied to political life in America. But it’s better to name what’s happening than to look on, speechless, as your country goes to ruin. (Maria Kuznetsova & @storyevtime.bsky.social) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/o...

Через двадцать минут на белсате буду рассказывать про Трампа, Маска и протесты в Калифорнии www.youtube.com/live/YA9ukP4...

Nightmare blunt rotation

>coastal elite liberal arts hippie >mom is a CIA deputy director >becomes an antifa eco-activist >pro-palestine, deported by Israel >does humanitarian relief in Turkey >gets a bit too into multipolarity >joins the Russian army, makes Nepalese & Chinese friends >dies

Worked together with our brilliant analyst Denis Shedov to write this, a comprehensive explainer on Putin’s strangling of Crimea. ovd.info/en/2025/04/1...

Russian authorities continue weaponising cringe. Y’all recall that time Russian soldiers snuck behind Ukrainian lines through a gas pipe? In march they opened an exhibition dedicated to The Pipe in Yekaterinburg, in front of the church built on the Nicholas II execution spot.

both irksome and funny to watch someone, who’d built his career on dehumanizing Russians struggling against authoritarianism as an entirely fascist nation, flee his country at the slightest hint of trouble w/out the sacrifice he and supporters expect from everyone but themselves

My latest for @ForeignPolicy where I draw on @ovdinfo_en expertise to explain how Putin is strengthening his repression.

Действительно, а что случилось-то

Wtf is this show

So when are we going to see various decolonial activists & queer dissidents having to reinvent themselves into fascists as they seek to get funding from whatever Trump replaces radio liberty with?

Iran had mass protests, nearly a revolution, over egg prices increase and Americans are still straight chilling? Which one is the democracy again?

Looks like it’s goodbye to Wilson Center & Kennan Institute. Meaning, the whatever meagre expertise on ex-USSR the US did have is now being burnt to zero. Will whatever is left of area studies field in the US be fully tied to business interests of commercial backers?

At this point we know of at least 3 of our ridl.io authors being prosecuted for working with us under the "undesirable organization" law.

В 17:00 CET буду в эфире Вот Так рассказывать про Америку, Трампа и наш подкаст, не пропустите трансляцию ютубе!

I’ve been covering ex-Soviet countries for a decade & let me tell you: arresting a student, revoking his residency status, refusing to talk to his lawyer — all because he dared to protest a war… yeah this is Kremlin playbook. The US is barreling towards authoritarianism

More book-related stuff - trying to summarise here in very very general terms what the book is about: "What should ordinary people do with their feelings of despair and helplessness in the face of naked power grabs by cynical figures? This is the question many civic-minded Russians face."

OVD-Info now publishes guest analysis in English — happy to say that our inaugural piece is by the inimitable @jeremymorris.bsky.social in which he draws on the lessons from his upcoming book to explain the micropolitics of Russian resistance

Tbf Sikorski was never too shy to thank the USA, even when he wasn’t supposed to (the sc is of soon-deleted tweet celebrating NordStream II explosion)

Vance feigning outrage over pro-Ukrainians allegedly scaring his toddler shows how they’re trying to transform the image of Ukraine protesters into the same niche as Palestine / antifa / etc protesters. No longer white, dignified — now painted as annoying, unreasonable, dangerous

Thanks to Mark for the generous endorsement of my book here - towards the end of this podcast.

Elon Musk, responds to Polish Foreign Affairs Minister with “be quiet, small man”. It’s high time Europeans realize that this is what they are in the eyes of very many Americans — small, irrelevant, expendable. Atlanticist diplomacy and “small state soft power” won’t help

The disgruntled former official who murdered the head of a local district government in Russia's Altai Krai has reportedly died in the hospital. Nikolai Onishchenko was shot on March 4. His killer attempted suicide, but it apparently only took after five days. www.interfax.ru/russia/10127...

Пообщался с @meduzaproject про Америку, Трампа, наш подкаст, марксистские идеи и Михаила Светова

This looks like a meme greentext from 2020 when no one would’ve believed it’s real

Happy International Women’s Day!

America’s Chernobyl Moment is gonna be caused by Elon Musk I stg

Car sales in Russia dropped by 25% in February — industry experts blame customers who are expecting western manufacturers to come back to Russia soon

Imagine if this guy was around to talk to Yeltsin when he visited the US, maybe the USSR would have still been around

Russia’s ruling party gave MEAT GRINDERS to the relatives of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine and then had the bright idea to post it on social media. Sometimes you gotta wonder if apparatchiks are even human

To people who talk about this as if it will prompt some sort of tech boycott & deal a blow to US tech: 1) don’t pretend you didn’t realize the US uses tech for geopolitical domination. You know your phone is spying on you, you still bought it. 2) what’s your alternative? China?

Who are the the scholars / journalists covering Russian policing / security ops in the newly occupied territories in Ukraine? Drop links in comments please

The US deciding to do a Russia speedrun is very karmically ironic

In the latest issue of @ovdinfo_en newsletter I explain the lasting legacy of Boris Nemtsov: he went from being a handpicked heir to Russian presidency to a dissident anti-war politician — shot in front of the Kremlin for his activism. Substack link ⬇️

The lady showed me 500 days of summer last night so tonight I’m showing her starship troopers because these two films are basically identical in the type of art critique they’re making. the perfect double feature

Zelensky may have been ambushed — but it can be argued that the ambush was in many ways set up by the Biden admin — by allowing support to be made into a partisan issue, by not encouraging Ukraine to seek allies outside of the West, by setting unrealistic expectations, etc.

If Solzhenitsyn was alive today he’d be pals with Dugin. Y’all aren’t ready for this conversation

Oxxxymiron — Russia’s star, Oxford-educated, rapper (Russia has a HUGE rap scene) was accused of grooming many underage girls. Potentially explosive for Russian anti-war community, since Oxxxymiron is one of the key anti-war cultural figures

Trump is a Gorbachev-esque figure in some ways. I bet the Soviet withdrawal in the Global South felt v similar to the collapse of USAID. & both were propelled by the sentiment of “enough with feeding the periphery”