Audio: Boris Kagarlitsky on the shifting political terrain in Russia | Radhika Desai - TRNN April 16, 2021

With so much disinformation floating around, and with so many media outlets filtering their coverage through the geopolitical interests of the West, it’s often difficult for interested audiences to know just what is going on in Russian politics today. From the COVID-19 pandemic to mass protests and the return of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in January, who suffered a near-fatal poisoning attack this summer, major political and economic shifts are taking place in Russia. Add to that the public outcry against the imprisonment of Navalny, who is now on a hunger strike from his prison cell just outside of Moscow, and the new sanctions against Russia that U.S. President Joe Biden announced this week, challenges to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power are mounting. But what do these developments mean and look like for people on the ground in Russia?

In this special production of The Real News Network, new contributor Radhika Desai helps audiences in the West navigate these and other thorny questions. Radhika directs the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, teaches at the University of Manitoba, and is known for proposing the Geopolitical Economy framework for understanding world affairs. In this important and timely conversation for The Real News, Radhika speaks with world-renowned Russian sociologist and activist Boris Kagarlitsky about Putin’s power system, Navalny’s return, and the coming tectonic shifts in Russian politics.

SEE full Transcript from Real News Network