The Week Ahead In Russia RFE/RL

What do visits from Xi Jinping and Bashar al-Assad say about Russia’s clout beyond the former Soviet Union, and how will an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin affect Moscow’s standing? Meanwhile, is Yevgeny Prigozhin losing influence in Russia as the Wagner Group’s losses mount in the bloody battle for Bakhmut? Author and analyst Mark Galeotti joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.

Can the West's "unprecedented unity" in support of Ukraine be sustained? And after Moscow's setbacks and Kyiv's successes in 2022, has the war reached a stalemate? Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.

Is the armistice that brought a halt to fighting on the Korean Peninsula 70 years ago a template for peace in the Ukraine war? Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, thinks it might be. Radchenko joins guest host Mike Eckel to discuss the idea and what to watch for as the war grinds into bitter attrition.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its second year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that it won't end soon and U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to support Kyiv for "as long as it takes." Sam Greene, a professor at the Russia Institute at Kings College London, director of democratic resilience at CEPA, and co-author of the book Putin Vs. The People, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss Putin's speech and what to watch for as the war grinds on.

Days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second year with no end in sight, President Vladimir Putin delivers a state-of-the-nation speech on February 21. Irina Lagunina, associate standards editor and former director of the Russian Service at RFE/RL, joins host Steve Gutterman.

Eighty years after the Soviet Army defeated Hitler’s forces in the Battle of Stalingrad, Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to get the memory of the bloody and pivotal showdown to fit his false narrative of the war in Ukraine. Ian Garner, an author and expert on Russian war propaganda, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.