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But of course it is a bit easier to be determined when the alternative is that Stalin's secret police behind the front lines.

Here are your hosts. Hello and I'm Matthew Gull.

If there's one thing that's I'm Jason Fields. And I'm Matthew Gull.

If there's one thing that's always changing, it's history.

And no, we're not talking about the Confederacy here in the United States today.

We're talking about one of our favorite subjects, Russia.

Under the Soviet regime, history was malleable. Events appeared or disappeared like characters in a play.

Stalin was a savior, he in a play.

Stalin was a savior, he was a devil.

He was all in the telling.

But that urge to rewrite history

goes way back in Russia.

And he who controls the past, controls the future, as they say.

Joining us today is friend of the show Mark Aliati.

His new book, A Short History of Russia, From Pagans to Putin, has got it all covered.

Galiotti is an expert on the Russian military, politics, and underworld, the author of many fine books, and an honorary professor at University College London

and a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, which means he's very busy.

So thank you very much for joining us.

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