Every time I talk to Mikhail Zygar, I feel both enlightened and depressed. Today he gave a foreshadowing of the love-fest that’s likely to happen on the call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, in which Putin will “sell” Trump a hyperbolic narrative about events in Kursk, the Russian territory which Ukraine captured but Russia now appears to be taking back (his story is that the Russians have completely encircled the Ukrainians) - and also he speculates that there is no way Putin is going to give Trump everything he wants - which, at some point will lead to a blow-up. But when?
He says that Putin is thrilled that the West has finally produced a “soulmate” who sees the world as transactionally and cynically as he does. Mikhail walks us through his failed prior attempts to influence Tony Blair and George W. Bush among others. And he explains that most Russians don’t talk about the “war” with Ukraine. The country is in denial. Except, of course, for Putin, who visited the troops in Kursk last week - according to Zygar, for the first time wearing a military-style uniform..
We will be back tomorrow to discuss the call between Trump and Putin - after it has happened.
(And forgive the bad audio at the beginning. Thank you for letting us know so we could fix it…)
Meanwhile:
An overview of the topics discussed and their timestamps:
0:20 - What Mikhail is hearing from Russia about tomorrow’s phone call between Trump and Putin
1:54 - Ukraine as an excuse for Putin to put forth his larger plan of carving up the world
3:55 - Putin’s false narrative of Kursk
4:35 - Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin
5:30 - Putin reinvented himself to cater to George W. Bush and now he’s doing it with Trump…they’re old friends
7:07 - Where is Zelensky in all this? Ukrainians?
10:10 - The Ukrainian Media perspective on the US: they have been betrayed.
13:15 - The Russian Media perspective on the US
14:07 - “Russian society lives in denial” - most people don’t think about
15:10 - Russian praise of Trump
16:27 - Putin’s world view and philosophy…”He thinks that everyone is cynical, that everyone believes in nothing”
19:20 - Putin’s friendship with Tony Blair
23:15 - Rejection of Putin on the international stage…”it’s only hypocrisy”
24:37 - “Putin seeing Trump as his soulmate”
25:44 - The language barrier between Putin and Trump
27:06 - Who will be privy to the call tomorrow? Will Kirill Dmitriev be in the room? Are Russians paying attention?
29:40 - Mainstream Russian society ignores the war
30:56 - What’s actually happening in Kursk
33:00 - Putin is lying to Trump
35:45 - Putin’s attempts to display his emotional and personal investment in the war
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