NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Russia. Down But Not Out. Part I.” – Foreign Affairs/Maria Lipman, Sergei Guriev, Daniel Treisman, Katie Allawala

Over the past decade and a half, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has been an economic dynamo and a basket case, an imperfect democracy and a tightening tyranny, a constructive diplomatic actor and a serial military aggressor—sometimes all at once. The only constant has been surprise, as the zigging and zagging has left outside observers, and even many Russians, scratching their heads.

So begins the cover package of Foreign Affairs’ next issue, Putin’s Russia: Down But Not Out. Today on the podcast, we’re talking to some of the authors who contributed to that issue. We’ll look at Putin’s strategy of repression, the real state of the Russian economy, and whether Putin really has a clear foreign policy.

Click here for Foreign Affairs: “Putin’s Russia. Down But Not Out.” 

Click here for audio download: foreignaffairs.com/system/files/audio/media/2016/putins_russia_part_1_mixdown.mp3