Andrei Kolesnikov: Putin’s Fragile Compact With the Russian People | Foreign Affairs Interview

Foreign Affairs invites you to listen to its podcast, the Foreign Affairs Interview. This episode with Andrei Kolesnikov was originally published on January 11, 2024.
There’s a growing sense that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in a pretty good position heading into 2024. Certainly that’s what Putin wants the rest of the world to think-that he can outlast Ukraine and its supporters in the West. Yet the situation looks more complicated on the ground in Russia.
And there are few people better positioned to make sense of that reality than Andrei Kolesnikov. Kolesnikov, a journalist and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has been in Moscow since the war began. Over the last two years, he’s written a series of deeply illuminating pieces for Foreign Affairs. In December 2022, the Kremlin listed Kolesnikov as a foreign agent.
Kolesnikov spoke with Foreign Affairs Senior Editor Hugh Eakin on January 8 about Putin’s hold on power and how Russians view their leader and his disastrous war.
Sources:
“Putin’s War Party” by Andrei Kolesnikov
www.foreignaffairs.com/easter...
“The End of the Russian Idea” by Andrei Kolesnikov
www.foreignaffairs.com/russia...
“The Plot Against Russia” by Andrei Kolesnikov
www.foreignaffairs.com/russia...
“Putin’s Second Front” by Andrei Kolesnikov
www.foreignaffairs.com/russia...
“How Russians Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the War” by Andrei Kolesnikov
www.foreignaffairs.com/ukrain...

[@CyberspacedLoner]

Thank you CFR/Foreign Affairs Magazine for making this material available to the public on KZbin

[@TLA725]

A truly courageous man, thank you for hosting Mr. Kolesnilov.

[@Nurj81]

The problem is the Russian mothers and wives are saying return our sons and husbands and let others serve instead. They are not saying stop the war! As long as there is no clear and overwhelming opposition to Putin, there is less hope for effective change in this war.

[@NJ-wb1cz]

The war can be ended in days if Ukriane just accepts the current results, the actual reality as it exists today. Ukraine has a delusional negotiating position that it will only stop the war if some fantasy happens, if this reality gets replaced with a completely different reality, and they are capable of doing so because they don't pay for the war, don't pay for the equipment, and the population wants the war to continue It would've been completely deranged if Russian negotiating position was - we agree to peace if US becomes Russia. If the territory Russia doesn't control Russia somehow starts controlling. But that's essentially what the Ukrainian position is.

[@looinrims]

“Russians support the war so long as they don’t have to fight in it.”

[@happyfelix1440]

@@NJ-wb1czOnly today Medvedev said that Russia will not allow an independet Ukraine

[@john_smith_john]

@@NJ-wb1cz that doesn't end the conflict, it just postpones how long russia takes before its army is recovered and it tries to be aggressive again.

[@clearytheory8826]

Great interview. A wise man. How can he get away with doing this from Russia without getting arrested?

[@colinadevivero]

Excellent work

[@ohms497]

Thank you for this discussion. More dialogue less war.

[@sunshine4sue2]

🗽🇺🇸Stand proud, strong and keep the faith ✝️ 💙💛 🌻🕊️🇺🇦🕊️ 🫂with much Love from Indiana, USA🙏

[@viktorsolovyov5067]

Kolesnikov - one of the best researchers still staying in Russia

[@MonteRosa849]

What an excellent discussion! Thank you so much!

[@shupingwang3392]

Thank you for this interview. Question : What is the relationship between the following : 1) Narrative on the Great Patriotic War and 2) Traumata of Imperial collapses 1917 and 1991 ?

[@Mimi-up5ro]

Oppression will not be considered oppression by Regimes. The provocative party was a good and interesting example for looking at things from different perspectives/angles. ・Provocative = Immoral ・During War time = Immoral What if we add the word "Private", "Choice", "Free-will", and "Freedom" to the equation. Putin wants people to not meddle with politics and what governments do, but the people still pay for the war and what he chooses to do whether it is with their labors, money, lives, or these combined.

[@willdon.1279]

Kudos to the many Brave Russians who DO know right from wrong. I am heartened that they seem more than I feared. And rabid, Right-wing Nationalists, sadly, do exist everywhere. And in the West, support Putin, TFG/GOP very strong.

[@yourbestguess]

If you are saying Russia is a military economy, you also need to say that the USA is a military economy based on Defense spending troop deployments and occupations.