Russia Underground

5.0 (3)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED MONTHLY

Russia Underground takes you on a journey to meet the Russians who continue to battle for free speech, artistic freedoms, and basic human rights despite Putin’s brutal wartime crackdown. Made by a team of activists, and journalists. Includes interviews conducted on the ground inside Russia. Supported by EUObserver.

10/29/2024

LGBTQ+ Resistance

Repressive laws and a wartime crackdown have made Russia’s LGBTQ+ community more invisible than ever. But activists continue operating despite the risks, and NGOs have found a way to keep operating on the ground (even if staff are located abroad). We spoke with Max, a trans man in Rostov-on-Don, who opposes the war in Ukraine and has remained involved in political activism since the full-scale invasion. Max rushed into his transition when Russia first announced it was looking to ban people from changing their gender. We also talked to Margarita, a gay woman in Yekaterinburg who runs an underground organization helping the LGBTQ+ community. Despite the safety concerns, they don’t want to stop what they’re doing. Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/RussiaUnderground The identities of some of our interviewees have been disguised for safety reasons. Please leave a comment and rate our podcast! Tell your friends about us and spread the word on social media. Special thanks to Katya Dyba, our scriptwriter, who works closely on every episode with us, helping to make the narrative cohesive and compelling.

31 min
09/12/2024

Journalism Against the Odds

Hosts Howard Amos and Nina Berezner look at the immense challenges facing independent journalism in Russia, which continues to cling on amid censorship and repression. They explore the emergence of what some have called a “new generation” of journalists, which includes Vera, a 21-year-old reporter from Belgorod, who covers the consequences of the war in Ukraine for her hometown despite the growing risks. We speak with journalists who have gone underground, use pseudonyms to evade government scrutiny, and exercise self-censorship to keep working. And we talk to a media manager who set-up a publication called the Prison Bulletin, a journal for those in Russian prisons. Together, they highlight the resilience and adaptability of Russian journalists who chose not to emigrate – and who are trying to navigate the treacherous landscape of wartime censorship and a crackdown on free speech. The identities of some of our interviewees have been disguised for safety reasons. Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/RussiaUnderground Please leave a comment and rate our podcast! Tell your friends about us and spread the word on social media. Special thanks to Katya Dyba, our scriptwriter, who works closely on every episode with us, helping to make the narrative cohesive and compelling.

29 min
05/14/2024

Life on the margins

Our first episode is an introduction to what it means to be ‘underground’ in modern Russia, and the myriad of ways anti-war Russians can – and do – express their opposition to the fighting in Ukraine and the political direction taken by the Kremlin. We meet a documentary filmmaker who has been shooting the reality of wartime Russia, and attend a screening of one of her recent films in Moscow. She is an advocate of so-called ‘partisan filmmaking’, and grapples with issues of risk and self-censorship. And she worries about what will happen if her films are successful and she gains a public profile – could she attract unwanted attention from the authorities? In a city in the Ural Mountains region, we speak to a political activist and organiser who has been questioned by police, and whose events have been raided. And we attend an event in Moscow where people are writing letters to Russia’s political prisoners – an important way of expressing support. The organiser of the event’s own husband is currently in jail (for reading anti-war poems in public), and she talks about the experience of his arrest and trial. The identities of some of our interviewees have been disguised for safety reasons. Great thanks to Katya Dyba, who assembled the episode and has been working on scriptwriting the whole podcast. Leave a comment and rate the podcast!

29 min

3 Episodes

5

out of 5

3 Ratings

Russia Underground takes you on a journey to meet the Russians who continue to battle for free speech, artistic freedoms, and basic human rights despite Putin’s brutal wartime crackdown. Made by a team of activists, and journalists. Includes interviews conducted on the ground inside Russia. Supported by EUObserver.

Creator

Russia Underground
Years Active

2K
Episodes

3
Rating

Clean
Show Website

Russia Underground

Russia Underground

Episodes

LGBTQ+ Resistance

Journalism Against the Odds

Life on the margins

Ratings & Reviews

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