Jul 30, 2026 · 45 min · 12 segments
Russia’s relationship with its neighbours has evolved from uneasy dominance into open aggression—but was this outcome inevitable? Russia expert James Nixey explains what meeting Vladimir Putin…
James NixeyGuestJakub PawelczynskiHost
He was a very tightly controlled man, sitting up straight in his chair, body very composed, not just serious, but grave.
And he was beginning to be not just defensive, but whataboutist when asked about increasing controls on the Russian press at that time, as we know.
whereby you have many of the same ideas, but not expressed in quite such a gross and muscular manner.
And that's going to be difficult for everyone concerned, both for Ukrainians and the wider West, to have somebody who doesn't quite have Putin's hard edges, but nonetheless does have many of the same ideas and even policies.
In other words, not a warmonger, not somebody who's taking Russia to war but somebody who does have beliefs which are irredentist and revisionist still.
Hello, and welcome to Ukraine Insights, the podcast about Ukraine's politics, security, and political economy.
My guest is James Nixey, who is one of the leading experts on Russia's relations with Ukraine and other post-Soviet states.
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He was a very tightly controlled man, sitting up straight in his chair, body very composed, not just serious, but grave.
And he was beginning to be not just defensive, but whataboutist when asked about increasing controls on the Russian press at that time, as we know.
whereby you have many of the same ideas, but not expressed in quite such a gross and muscular manner.
And that's going to be difficult for everyone concerned, both for Ukrainians and the wider West, to have somebody who doesn't quite have Putin's hard edges, but nonetheless does have many of the same ideas and even policies.
In other words, not a warmonger, not somebody who's taking Russia to war but somebody who does have beliefs which are irredentist and revisionist still.
Hello, and welcome to Ukraine Insights, the podcast about Ukraine's politics, security, and political economy.
My guest is James Nixey, who is one of the leading experts on Russia's relations with Ukraine and other post-Soviet states.