Andrei Soldatov on Russian Intel Ops and Surveillance
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2017
⏱️ 53 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Matters Russia have been prevalent in U.S. politics since news of the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 elections first surfaced. It's time to pay some serious attention to the Russian surveillance apparatus. Andrei Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist and co-author of the book, “The Red Web,” brings a unique interpretation of the Kremlin’s actions as an independent reporter in the very country Americans find so confusing. Special guest host Alina Polyakova, David M. Rubenstein fellow in Brookings’s Foreign Policy Program, interviewed Soldatov last week to discuss Russia’s perspective on the 2016 election meddling, the Kremlin’s surveillance operations, Edward Snowden, and much more. Â
This is the first podcast in a new project between in which Polyakova will shed light on Russian politics and society on the Lawfare Podcast in an effort to understand the Kremlin’s intentions toward and engagement with the West.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | The Kremlin really believe that they are on defensive. |
| 0:37.0 | They believe that they are on the constant attack, |
| 0:41.0 | and that actually explains why Putin was personally involved in many of these stories. |
| 0:47.0 | So, many of these things are seen as a direct attack on him. |
| 0:52.0 | And some things you just cannot do without Putin, |
| 0:57.0 | especially the United States. |
| 0:59.0 | It's a very emotional topic for him from the very beginning. |
| 1:03.0 | And just remember that when he became the president, |
| 1:07.0 | he tried to please George W. Bush for some years. |
| 1:11.0 | He was the very first foreign leader to make a call after 9-11. |
| 1:16.0 | He gave up some military facilities in Cuba and Vietnam to please the United States. |
| 1:22.0 | Because he wanted to be treated as equal to be respected. |
| 1:27.0 | And the moment he understood or he decided that he was betrayed, |
| 1:32.0 | that triggered his emotional reaction. |
| 1:35.0 | All this old conspiracy theories, all these old paranoia, |
| 1:39.0 | just immediately, he felt that finally he had a proof. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.