Thank you for sharing your expertise and bringing to light the awful inner workings of the Russian society, Mr. Galeotti. Fortunately, we live in free speech societies, and we can exchange ideas unlike inside Russia.
However, the opinions you expressed lately on the peace process are a bit blunt. It’s good to be a realist and understand what’s possible, but at the same time those statements should be qualified with what is right and who has the moral upper ground. At some point Ukraine and Europe might have to accept an unjust peace, but should never stop claiming what is rightfully theirs. You stop short of saying that.
I know you are a Russia expert, not a WWII expert, but saying that Romania and Finland attacked USSR is taken out of context, disingenuous, and aligned with soviet propaganda. When you say “attacked,” it implies unprovoked aggression, which is misleading. Romania and Finland joined Germany’s war against USSR in order to recover territories seized earlier as a result of the Ribentropp-Molotov pact. Their participation was driven by national survival and territorial restoration, not by expansionist or ideological goals.
Romania and Finland were cobelligerents against an imperialist aggressor (the USSR was an empire, not a union). Their actions are best understood within the chain of cause and effect, not as isolated events. USSR gave Romania an ultimatum and threatened the use of force in June 1940 to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina, a territory inhabited by almost 4 million people. It gave Romania 24-48 (!) hours to comply. There were many families that left all their possessions behind and fled to Romania rather than face the soviet scourge. Some of the ones that were late to leave were massacred for trying the leave the “communist paradise (Fantana Alba massacre, 1 April 1941).” The ones that made it to Romania started from zero and were deported to a remote agricultural area by the post WWII communist regime installed through the compelling argument of soviet tanks. What we see now in Ukraine happened there, a script from the tsarist, soviet and post-soviet rule - ethnic cleansing, intimidation, deportations, murders. Some things never change.
And to better understand the Russian and Soviet way of thinking, we should talk about the Romanian National Treasure (93.4 tons of gold) which was sent to Moscow during WWI for “safe keeping” and not returned to this day. Contrast that with the Polish National Treasure (80 tons of gold) entrusted to the Romanian Government during WWII. Romania didn’t take advantage of Poland’s situation and acted as a neutral custodian, returning the assets after WWII. The treasure’s return helped rebuild Poland’s economy after the war. Please mention some of that when you talk about the Russian soul and culture. It helps a lot understanding the Eastern European point of view. Knocked off one star for occasional lack of conciseness and wandering, also a bit biased at times. The podcast should say more about the pain and suffering caused to all nations that lived under the tsarist, soviet, or post-soviet rule.
