Putin's big lie and his allies that didn’t last

Today’s guest is a native of Sevastopol: Anton Shekhovtsov, Director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, and author of the book ‘Russia and the Western Far Right’. In this episode, he tells about Russian imperialist mythology and how the insane propaganda of Ukraine’s de-Nazification came about; the new status of Belarus as a mere vassal state; desertion as a political option; and how western elites have abandoned their alliances with Vladimir Putin – with a few notable exceptions. This podcast episode is a condensed and edited version of a longer conversation, which is available in its entirety only to our Patrons, featuring bonus material about the Biden administration’s non-interventionist stance and Donal Trump’s surprising comments on Putin’s tactical genius. You can become a patron by pledging as little as 5 euros a month, or more for even more giveaways and exclusive content on Patreon at patreon.com/eurozine Read more in Eurozine about Ukraine: https://www.eurozine.com/tag/ukraine/ Find Anton Shekhovtsov’s petition to Western universities here: https://www.change.org/p/western-universities-give-preference-to-ukrainian-applicants-to-western-universities-in-the-year-2022 His articles in Eurozine: https://www.eurozine.com/authors/anton-shekhovtsov/ His piece in Falter on Russia’s Big Lie: https://www.falter.at/zeitung/20220227/russlands-grosse-luege And talking to Bloomberg’s Lionel Laurent: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-02-28/putin-had-lots-of-friends-among-europe-s-elite-many-have-now-gone-quiet You can follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/A_SHEKH0VTS0V Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review so more people can find us. You can also subscribe to our weekly newsletter, so you’ll always know what’s worth thinking about: www.eurozine.com/newsletter/