Special Operation and Peace (w/ Andrei Soshnikov & Maryan Zeblotzkyy)
Skullduggery
Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti
4 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2022
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Journalist Andrei Soshnikoff, with the help of insider Lyudmila Savchuk, exposed the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm set up by a Russian Oligarch close to Putin. It was a new disturbing phenomenon in the global information wars. This was the moment American's came to know the concept of fake news and disinformation. This came to forefront thanks to the groundbreaking work of the aforementioned Russian investigative journalist Soshnikoff and whistleblower Savchuk. who was disgusted by the murder of Boris Nemtsov. But the ability of Russian journalists to cover the news has now been challenged as never before. In the wake of Putin's latest and more vicious assault on Ukraine, the Kremlin has launched a harsh new crackdown on the press. Threatening journalists with up to fifteen years in prison for spreading "false information" and banning them from even referring to the events in Ukraine as a war. Soshnikoff joins us to discuss the state of Russian media. And also, Maryan Zeblotskyy, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament joins to discuss the latest from Western Ukraine.
GUEST:
- Maryan Zeblotzkyy, Member of Ukrainian Parliament
- Andrei Soshnikoff (@Soshnikoff), Current Time TV, former BBC journalist/Transparency International RU analyst
HOSTS:
- Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff), Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News
- Daniel Klaidman (@dklaidman), Editor in Chief, Yahoo News
- Victoria Bassetti (@VBass), fellow, Brennan Center for Justice (contributing co-host)
RESOURCES:
- Yahoo News' Tom LoBianco's latest piece on Putin - Here.
- Yaoo News' Niamh Cavanagh's latest piece on Zelensky - Here.
Follow us on Twitter: @SkullduggeryPod
Listen and subscribe to "Skullduggery" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us with feedback, questions or tips: [email protected].
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Moscow is in shock today and a sharp chill of fear has ripped across Russia. |
| 0:05.8 | One of Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics, as you say, |
| 0:08.0 | gunned down in broad daylight, four bullets in the back in the very shadow of the Kremlin. |
| 0:13.7 | It was a stunning event, a brazen murder in the heart of Moscow. |
| 0:19.7 | Seven years ago, on the evening of February 27th, 2015, Boris Nebsov, the best known and |
| 0:26.1 | by far the most popular of Russian opposition leaders, was assassinated, crossing a bridge |
| 0:31.2 | with his girlfriend. |
| 0:32.9 | It was the day before Nebsov was to lead a march for peace, opposing Vladimir Putin's |
| 0:37.6 | first war in Ukraine. |
| 0:40.1 | The murder, like many in Russia involving journalists and political opponents of Putin, |
| 0:44.8 | was never solved. |
| 0:46.3 | But the Nebsov assassination had an impact and consequences that few could have foreseen |
| 0:51.1 | at the time. |
| 0:52.5 | And the days after the murder, a young woman working for a shadowy outfit in St. Petersburg, |
| 0:57.7 | known as the Internet Research Agency, was directed to turn out social media posts, |
| 1:03.0 | blaming Nebsov's assassination, not on Putin's agents, as many in the West suspected, |
| 1:09.0 | but on, you guessed it, Ukrainian oligarchs. |
| 1:12.6 | The woman, Lutmela Sapchuk, refused. |
| 1:15.2 | I don't want to do their dirty work, she said. |
| 1:18.0 | Instead, Sapchuk turned whistleblower. |
| 1:20.9 | She reached out to a Russian investigative journalist who had actually gone undercover in an |
| 1:25.3 | effort to figure out what the Internet Research Agency was up to. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Victoria Bassetti and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.