War in Ukraine: Update from Kyiv

128. DEEP DIVE: Jenny Mathers on heroism, gender and war - in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Jenny Mathers, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Aberystwyth University discusses the intersection of gender, heroism, security and war - in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine: types of heroism, different trajectories of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Russian military, and how the war might play out this year. 
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are changing as thousands serve on front lines
Jenny Mathers on Women and the War in Ukraine
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war: why Russian soldiers’ mothers aren’t demonstrating the strong opposition they have in previous conflicts
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war 12 months on: how Volodymyr Zelensky became the nation’s unlikely hero
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war: what the last 12 months has meant for the ordinary Russian soldier
Jenny Mathers and Veronica Kitchen on Heroism and Global Politics 
Jenny Mathers on twitter: @jgmaber
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

127. ANALYSIS: Luca Anceschi on Central Asia and Russia’s invasion - recalibration of relations with Moscow, role of China in the region & view of the invasion from the region

Luca Anceschi, Professor of Central and East European Studies at Glasgow University, discusses the way in which Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the Central Asian region: recalibration of relations with Moscow, how the region will navigate relations with both China and Moscow, and how the invasion is being viewed from the region. 
Luca Anceschi on Russia - Central Asian Relations in the Aftermath of the Invasion of Ukraine
Luca Anceschi on Analysing Kazakhstan's Foreign Policy: Regime Neo-Eurasianism in the Nazarbaev Era 
Luca Anceschi on Turkmenistan and the Virtual Politics of Eurasian Energy 
Luca Anceschi on twitter: @anceschitan 
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer 
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

126. ANALYSIS: Pavel Slunkin on Belarus’ position vis-a-vis Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenka’s relationship to Putin, and whether Belarus would participate in a direct invasion of Ukraine

Pavel Slunkin, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, discusses Belarus' position vis-a-vis Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including what Pavel learnt from being present at the Minsk negotiations summit in February 2015, how Lukashenka's relationship with Putin has changed from Russia's territorial incursions into Ukraine in 2014 to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, how the invasion is viewed from Belarus, and whether Lukashenka would commit Belarus to participate directly in Russia's war in Ukraine.   
More about Pavel Slunkin's work: Pavel Slunkin - European Council on Foreign Relations  
Pavel Slunkin on Why the Belarusian army cannot help Russia in Ukraine 
Pavel Slunkin on Why the Belarusian regime and its people are not one and the same
Pavel Slunkin on Why the West should keep a close eye on Lukashenka
Pavel Slunkin on twitter: @PavelSlunkin
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

125. ANALYSIS: Benjamin Herscovitch on China and Russia - China’s position vis-a-vis Russia’s invasion, how this position might change in 2023 & shape China’s approach to Taiwan

Ben Herscovitch, Research Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance, on China's position vis-a-vis Russia and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, how this position might evolve in 2023, and how lessons China is learning from Russia's invasion of Ukraine are likely to shape its approach towards Taiwan in coming years. 
Ben Herscovitch's substack: Beijing to Canberra and back 
Ben Herscovitch on twitter: @B_Herscovitch
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer

124. ANALYSIS: Catrina Doxsee with a deep dive into Wagner’s relationship to the Russian state, changes in Prigozhin’s behavior and global security implications

Catrina Doxsee, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), outlines the relationship between Wagner and the Russian state, why PMCs are not likely to be legalized in Russia, founding and evolution of Wagner, changes in Prigozhin's behavior, and global security implications of Wagner actiivty beyond Russia. 
'The fact that PMCs are not legal in Russia... gives Putin a tremendous amount of leverage over those PMCs...' 
'You have dissent within the ranks... as [Wagner] brings in populations out of prisons there's an intense social stigma between non-prisoners and prisoners in the ranks - as well as between the prisoners themselves given the very strict hierarchy socially in Russian prisons...' 
Catrina Doxsee on Putin's Proxies: Examining Russia's Use of Private Military Companies
Catrina Doxsee and Jared Thompson on The Wagner Group's Mounting Humanitarian Cost in Mali 
Jared Thompson, Catrina Doxsee and Joseph Bermudez on Tracking the Arrival of Russia's Wagner Group in Mali
More on the Transnational Threats Project
Catrina Doxsee on twitter: @catrinadoxsee
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

123. PERSPECTIVE: Kanykei Tursunbaeva and Mark Neville on operating under conditions of war, photography in conflict zones, and the project ’Stop Tanks with Books’

Kanykei Tursunbaeva, journalist, translator and Research Associate at the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Mark Neville, award-winning photo journalist working in Ukraine since 2015, discuss operating under conditions of war, taking photos in conflict zones, being a 'war artist' and the project Stop Tanks with Books. 
More about the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (EUASU)
Special issue of American Behavioral Scientist with EUASU scholars: Special Issue: War in Ukraine  
EUASU fund to support their work: Keep Scholars and Journalists Safe
Postcode Ukraine Charity - mentioned in the epside: Postcode Ukraine 
More about Mark's work: markneville.com
Kanykei Tursunbaeva on twitter: @k_tursunbaeva
Mark Neville on twitter: @NevilleStudio
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

122. ANALYSIS: Niklas Masuhr on the Wagner group - activities, involvement in Ukraine, military and political implications

Niklas Masuhr, Senior Researcher and Military Analyst at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH Zurich University, discusses activities of the Wagner group; comparison of Russian and Chinese PMC activity; the role of the Wagner group in Ukraine and implications for the Russian domestic context. 
Charlotte Hirsbrunner and Niklas Masuhr on: Russia's Footprint in Africa
Allard Duursma and Niklas Masuhr on: Russia’s return to Africa in a historical and global context: Anti-imperialism, patronage, and opportunism
Julia Friedrich and Niklas Masuhr on: Why is Russia Being So Brutal in Ukraine? 
Niklas Masuhr and Benno Zogg on: The War in Ukraine: First Lessons 
Julia Friedrich and Niklas Masuhr on: Mercenaries in the Service of Authoritarian States
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer

121. ANALYSIS: Bastian Brinkmann on Germany, weapon supplies to Ukraine, and Russia’s invasion

Bastian Brinkmann, journalist and Deputy Head of the Economics Department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) discusses drivers in the Germany domestic political context behind Germany's pattern of deliberation and hesitation in making each new decision regarding supplying weapons to Ukraine, German constituency in favor of supplying all necessary weapons to Ukraine, legacy of Angela Merkel's 16-year tenure as Chancellor, and economic lessons for Germany from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  
Bastian Brinkmann on twitter: @BasBrinkmann
More about Bastian's work: Bastian Brinkmann
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Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
About the host: Jessica Genauer 

120. ANALYSIS: Lucan Way on Revolution and Dictatorship: durablility of the Soviety Union, legacies for Putn’s regime, & trajectory of the war in Ukraine

Lucan Way, Profesor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, discusses his recent book (with Steven Levitsky) Revolution and Dictatorship: The violent origins of durable authoritarianism - implications of violent social revolution for the character of the Soviet Union, legacies for Putin's regime, the distinct trajectories of Russia and Ukraine & Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way: Revolution and Dictatorship: The violent origins of durable authoritarianism
Lucan Way: Pluralism by Default: Weak autocrats and the rise of competitive politics
Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way: Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War
Lucan Way on twitter: @LucanWay
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer 
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

119. ANALYSIS: Keir Giles on Russia’s War on Everybody and the war in Ukraine

Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow at the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia program as well as Director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre discusses his latest book Russia's War on Everybody: And What it Means for You, how the Russian regime wages aggressive campaigns, cyber interference, disinformation, and the war in Ukraine.   
"It’s that grey area between the state and commercial businesses and organised crime and the intelligence agencies, all of which work very closely together in Russia for projecting these effects abroad"
"Putin has not created this idea that Russia is pursuing... he is just enacting it" 
Keir Giles: Russia's War on Everybody: And What it Means for You
Keir Giles: Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West
Keir Giles on twitter: @keirgiles
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer