Hi everybody Aaron Stein here, Chief Content Officer at War on the Rocks.

This is a special sneak preview of the Russia contingency with Mike Kaufman.

On this show, Mike sits down with the eminent historian of both Russian and Soviet history, Stephen Kotkin to talk

about the latest, about the offensive in Ukraine, some reflections about that offensive,

and what it may mean for the future of Russia and international relations.

If you would like to listen to part two and three, head on over to war on the rocks

dot com slash membership and sign up.

And with that, on to the show.

Welcome back to another episode of the Russia Contingency.

I'm Michael Kaufman.

Today I have a good colleague and friend who's back on the podcast.

His name is Steve Kotkin. Steve is a well-known

I think eminent historian particularly of Stalin's regime but not just

of Stalin's regime of Soviet history in general, of Russian history, and we've had a discussion

last year that I thought was a great discussion, I think was almost around Christmas time, and I wanted to reconnect with Steve.

He is currently at Stanford and I wanted to have a conversation at this stage

for about a year and a half into this war and how he sees the war.

Steve has commented and has offered some thoughtful analysis or insights over the course of the past year and a half.

He's had some prominent interviews in places like the New Yorker.

I'm curious, Steve, your understanding of the war, how you see the arc of it.

What do you reflect on in terms of your comments,

which you think you might have gone right, how your views might have changed or evolved

...