Conversation with Professor Glenn Diesen, 8 November: The Impact of the Ukraine War on Russian Society

Uncategorized 1 Minute

Conversation with Professor Glenn Diesen, 8 November: The Impact of the Ukraine War on Russian Society

I call this a ‘conversation’ rather than an interview, because Glenn Diesen shares his own views on the issues for discussion quite generously and these should be of special interest to viewers, many of whom are well familiar with mine.

That said, there are in this video issues which I have not addressed elsewhere in writing or in podcasts but which definitely merit examination.  I think in particular of the question of hardliners coming to the fore in Russia under war conditions and Liberals retreating.  What you will find here with respect to the hardliners is a breakdown of that force into at least two very different and mutually hostile groups, which the journalist Piotr Sauer in an article recently called ‘loyalists’ and ‘militarists.’ 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/06/putin-repressive-machinery-turns-inward-target-pro-war-figures?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1

Piotr is the son of the Dutch founder and long-time owner of The Moscow Times, who tragically died in an accident about six months ago. Then, with respect to the Liberals, it is a mistake to think that they have been vanquished. Not in the least. Their highest representative in the land is the head of the Central Bank Nabiullina, who enjoys the full support of Putin even as many influential statesmen, including the Duma deputy Babakov who is deputy chair of the Duma, denounce her regularly on state television for destroying the economy and working against the war effort.

Another point of discussion in this video that is worth the attention of viewers concerns the question whether the recent statements by Putin about successful tests of the newest and most lethal Russian strategic arms systems Burevestnik and Poseidon do anything to restore Russia’s perceived deterrent power in the West.

Enjoy the show!

Unknown's avatar

Published by gilbertdoctorow

Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels.

Published

One thought on “Conversation with Professor Glenn Diesen, 8 November: The Impact of the Ukraine War on Russian Society”

  1. A very helpful and interesting conversation not only for those in the West, but for me also here in Moscow. The view from here is a little different, but not much. I especially agree with you about the totally absurd increase in bureaucracy. The amount of time I had to spend here getting a SNILS number, a gosuslugi account, downloading biometrics, was maddening, just in order to keep my SIM card. You’re absolutely correct. Previous the situation with bureaucracy was moving in the right direction but sadly now is reversing itself.

    >

    Like

Comments are closed.