Today, in our live chat, Mikhail not only told me what he’s hearing inside Russia and Ukraine after the phone calls between Trump and Putin, and then Trump and Zelensky: he also shared some of his personal journey.
He explains why he knew it was time to leave Russia in February 2022; how the Kremlin tried to break TV Rain, the independent station he worked at years earlier; but he had believed nonetheless that his work was not “in vain”. Until the invasion, when “it became hopeless”.
He also shared some thoughts about his late friend, Alexei Navalny, whom, he reminds us, believed so passionately that there was hope that democracy could live in Russia that he was prepared to die for it. It’s Mikhail’s belief that Navlany’s widow Yulia keeps that torch alight, albeit in exile.
He also refers to an extraordinary tweet from Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s Deputy Security Council Chairman describing the Trump/Putin call:
Below is an overview of the topics discussed and their timestamps
0:13 - What Mikhail is hearing from Russia and Ukraine on Trump’s calls with Putin and Zelensky …“There is no ceasefire and…we don’t have any possibility to expect it”
2:28 - U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff predicts a ceasefire in two weeks…But the Russian propaganda machine is openly skeptical about that
4:10 - However, we are one step forward from where we were, possibly.
6:01 - The end of “energy infrastructure” attacks, hopefully means that Ukrainians in the big cities can sleep at night.
6:58 - What Mikhail is hearing about the exchange of prisoners of war
9:19 - Russia propaganda and chaos after yesterday’s phone call. There’s a lot of chatter about the fact that within one night right after the call with Trump, a sculpture outside the US embassy was moved - and then put back. Coarse language tweeted by Russian official, Dmitri Medvedev, likening European countries as dishes on a menu…and Ukraine as worse.
15:50 - Putin’s fear of the political power of Russian military veterans, especially war heroes (as detailed in Mikhail’s NYT Opinion piece). And the public disagreement by high-profile figure, Artem Zhoga over Putin’s proposed minerals deal
20:04 - Artem Zhoga - who he is; why he matters in Russia, and why his view that the US is evil resonates in Russia still, despite Putin’s efforts to reposition the US under Trump
25:50- Failed attempts to promote pro-war literature in Russia. Instead Russians want to watch fairytales on TV and in the movie theaters.
28:32 - Has Mikhail felt threatened while in the US?
32:07 - His response to the people who ask him when he figured it was the right time to leave Russia
34:01 - How the Russian government nearly succeeded in destroying his independent TV station, TV Rain,
37:11 - Putin has evolved into a bloody dictator. The climate used to be different, which is why Mikhail could report and write - and publish best-selling book, All the Kremlin’s Men in 2014. He could not do that now.
38:41 - Mikhail’s background as an international war correspondent in the Middle East
40:27 - What would Mikhail’s late friend, Alexei Navalny, make of the current state of affairs
44:12 - Is there underground support in Russia for Navalny’s widow, Yulia?
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