Russia Decoded cover art

Russia Decoded

Russia Decoded

By: Center for the National Interest
Listen for free

About this listen

Russia Decoded explains how the Kremlin shapes its narrative of current domestic and international events through tightly curated state news broadcasts. Co-hosts Andy Kuchins, a senior fellow at CFTNI and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington, and Chris Monday, a professor of economics at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, are veteran observers of Soviet and Russian media. Kuchins and Monday frame their discussions around the weekly Russian news round-up program Vesti Nedeli (“News of the Week”), broadcast on Russia’s Channel 2 on Sunday evenings. Viewed through the right lens, Vesti Nedeli offers a uniquely revealing perspective on how Vladimir Putin and Russian elites understand the world, and how they seek to influence it.

Center for the National Interest 2026
Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • February 15, 2026: Tough Love in Munich
    Feb 18 2026

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s appearance at the Munich Security Conference offered a polished, "good cop" follow-up to the blunt speech delivered by Vice President J.D. Vance a year prior, confirming a new era of American "tough love" for Europe. While Rubio’s presence suggested diplomatic relief among allies, Russian state media broadcast a narrative of transatlantic divorce. The campaign to discredit any remaining Western unity was bolstered this week by depictions of Italy's Winter Olympics as an embarrassing failure, woven into continuing salacious and conspiracy-laden coverage of the Epstein files, branding Western elites as a "satanic" cult.

    In this episode, Andy Kuchins and Chris Monday unpack how the Kremlin presents its story of imminent collapse of the transatlantic alliance.

    Show More Show Less
    52 mins
  • February 8, 2026: Assassination in Moscow
    Feb 10 2026

    Last week's targeted shooting of General Vladimir Alexeyev in the outskirts of Moscow has stripped the Russian military of one of its most competent strategists. The assassination attempt occurred against the backdrop of growing paranoia reminiscent of the Stalin era, exemplified in a grim new state documentary warning how Ukraine recruits Russian youths as "terrorists" via the popular Telegram messaging app. Meanwhile, to preempt dissatisfaction among national minorities who bear the brunt of war casualties, state media has revived another Stalinist trope of the "friendship of the peoples."

    In this episode, Andy Kuchins and Chris Monday unpack how Russian television projects regime stability by doubling down on a narrative combining theatrical patriotism with a hunt for domestic enemies.

    Show More Show Less
    45 mins
  • February 1, 2026: Holy War in Ukraine
    Feb 3 2026

    Despite suffering over 1.2 million casualties in Ukraine—eclipsing Soviet losses in the Afghan conflict by orders of magnitude—Russian society remains strikingly silent compared to the civil strife that once challenged the Kremlin's authority in the 1980s. This domestic compliance rests, in part, on Russian state media's framing of the Ukraine War as an existential battle for the nation's survival against a decadent West.

    From the systemic branding of political dissent as treasonous to the pageantry of Putin's recent Middle East diplomacy, hosts Andy Kuchins and Chris Monday look at the latest Vesti Nedeli news broadcast and unpack how state media effectively insulates Russia's urban middle class from the grim realities of a grinding war of attrition.

    Show More Show Less
    39 mins
No reviews yet