For the past few weeks, thousands of protesters have filled the streets of Russia's cities in support of Alexei Navalny. It's easy to paint these events as pro-democracy protests, but our guest this week say the picture is a little more complicated. This episode was produced in partnership with Out of Order, the podcast from the German Marshall Fund of the United States and one of our parters in The Democracy Group podcast network.
Alexei Navalny has been a figure in Russian opposition for years, but garnered international attention recently though social media and what's widely believed to be an assassination attempt by the Russian government in the fall. This week, we unpack the complicated nature of Russian democracy and how the U.S. and other countries should respond — or not — to what's happening there now.
Michael Kimmage is a professor of history at the Catholic University of America and a non-resident allow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. From 2014 to 2016, he served on the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, where he held the Russia/Ukraine portfolio. He is the author of two books on American history and culture, and he has published articles and essays on the transatlantic relationship, on U.S.–Russian relations, and on international affairs in The New Republic, The New York Times, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Additional Information
Kimmage's New Republic article on Russian democracy
Kimmage at the German Marshall Fund
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