Here is the link to my latest foray with Voice of Russia.

I was on the programme for a panel discussion with Sarah Lain (RUSI), Martin McCauley (SOAS) in London, and Simon Fentham-Fletcher of RenAsset Management (via feed from Moscow).

The discussion is hosted by Peter Lavelle, an American based in Moscow who takes a rather dim view of US and Western policy.

Peter’s questions are of course designed to ‘frame’ the issues in a way that suits the current Russian official position. So the current government in Kiev is an ‘illegitimate regime’ that is ‘dominated by Fascists’ and so on.

I pushed back against this (as to varying degrees did the other panelists) by pointing out that after the coup in Moscow in 1991 there had been a period of ‘illegitimacy’ and uncertainty, but the West had swung behind Boris Yeltsin and supported free elections. That was the way forward for Ukraine now, and it would be good if Russia in turn threw its weight behind a good elections process.

I also pointed out that claims of massacres and ‘historic divisions’ in Ukraine paled into insignificance when compared to the tens of thousands of Russian citizens killed in Chechnya during Russia’s own civil war. What exactly was the difference between Russian-speaking Ukrainians wanting to break from Ukraine, and Russian-speaking Chechens wanting to break away from Russia? Consternation!

The overall direction of the discussion as led by Peter Lavelle was towards some sort of diplomatic/political outcome rather than further mayhem and a sense of caution on the part of Moscow. So, as such things go, not necessarily unhelpful?

Maybe the fact that the working-class masses of Mariupol are less than enthusiastic about the way things have been going is causing the Kremlin to reassess its position?