Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds. This is a download

from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.com.ukuk slash radio three.

Tonight we embark on a search for the soul of modern Russia poised between this and this.

From the Sochi olympics to Pousyriot-Gonzableness, is Russia a strong, self-confident country, forging a path separate to the West with pride?

Or, as neighbouring Ukraine threatens to fracture between a pro-Moscow leadership and demonstrators

hankering for integration with the West, could the Kremlin be losing its grip on its

biggest former satellite state.

Over such questions looms the figure of Vladimir Putin,

the man around whom Russia's of last or power, has revolved ever since he entered the Kremlin in 1999

from a background in the KGB, Russia's secret state.

Yet Mr Putin also has some noisy foes, a non-more colourful than the

art house feminist punk group Pussy Riot. Two of its members have just been released from

jail sentences for high-profile protests, serving time in labour camps and jail conditions reminiscent

of the Soviet era. Two new books are out on Russia's protest movement, so we've brought together their authors. Mashegesen has written Words Will Break Cement, The Passion of Pussy Riot, and in Moscow, Mark Bennett's, whose book, kicking the Kremlin, dissect Russia's opposition. Joining us, too, is the novelist, Grigory Skartisvili, also known by his pen-name Boris Okunin,

a leading figure in the big protests against the re-election of President Putin, which began in 2011.

And we began by asking Grigory Iskartisvili to set the scene for us.

What's his take on the Russian strong man?

Everybody has been talking about Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Putin for so many years now

that all of us Russians have become sort of specialists on his character, his personality.

It is humiliating. It is awful.

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