Video Live Chat at 2pm Today

Mikhail Zygar, the "last Russian journalist"

Mikhail Zygar is, I think, one of the most brilliant and brave men I have ever met. You can see his bio here.

To sum up: a Russian native, he spent a decade as a war correspondent for Russian media, then, in 2010 he founded Russia’s only independent TV station, Rain. He’s the author of five important books, perhaps the most famous one being about Putin’s inner circle, to which he had access: All the Kremlin’s Men (2015). The most recent is War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (2023). When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 he began a Facebook petition against the war, and he left Moscow three days later - and, for obvious reasons, he has never been back. Meanwhile he scored the first - and only - Russian TV interview with Vlodymyr Zelensky. No surprise that Vice TV labelled him and his colleagues at Rain “The Last Russian Journalists.”

He’s also the author of the The Last Pioneer newsletter here on Substack. Yesterday Mikhail wrote about Kirill Dimitriev, Russia’s very own Jared Kushner and the rising “star” in the “peace” talks in Riyadh.

So, of course I wanted to chat to him about all that. But I also want to ask him about how things he said to me over lunch a few weeks ago in New York have come true. He told me then that the “Peace” talks between Putin and Trump would likely happen without Zelensky. And, he said, that all sorts of reasons would be given to delegitimize Zelensky, including the fact that Ukraine was unable to hold an election last May.

He also said he believes that as part of the negotiations, Putin will push for a Yalta 2.0 type scenario, in which he, Trump and the Chinese President Xi, gather in the Crimean Peninsula, alone.

So, without much ado, see you all at 2pm EST for a live video chat in the Substack app. And I’ll post the interview later if you are unable to join live.