On today’s episode, we discuss Alexei Navalny’s death, Vladimir Putin, censorship in Russia, and Samizdat Online), an anti-censorship platform that grants users living under authoritarian regimes access to news and other censored content. Yevgeny “Genia” Simkin is the co-founder of Samizdat Online and Stanislav “Stas” Kucher is its chief content officer.
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction 2:25 Alexei Navalny 8:53 The state of Russian opposition 20:48 The origins of Samizdat Online 28:17 How does Samizdat Online circumvent censorship? 35:16 Could Yevgeny Prigozhin have overthrown Putin? 41:03 The progression of Putin’s regime 58:08 How can people help? 59:56 Outro
Show notes
Statement by Russian prison service on Alexei Navalny’s death) The Anti-Corruption Foundation) (nonprofit established by Alexei Navalny) Samizdat Online) “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible)” by Peter Pomerantsev Transcript)
Past related episodes
Ep. 108: A history of (dis)information wars in the Soviet Union and beyond) Ep. 156: What Russians don’t know about the war in Ukraine) Ep. 157: Former BBC bureau chief Konstantin Eggert and what you need to know about censorship in Russia)