logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2021
23m 34s

Daily: BACK IN THE USSR? Author Sergei L...

PODMASTERS
About this episode

Novelist Sergei Lebedev writes forensically detailed books which uncover how Soviet history still exerts its power on modern Russians. According to the New York Review of Books he’s “the best of Russia’s younger generation of writers.” He talks to Alex Andreou about his latest novel, the COVID-relevant thriller Untraceable; precarious life in the new Russia; and how the Soviet Union might be dead but it’s never truly buried.  


  • I’m witnessing my country returning to its past. And I wouldn’t want to be a person who does nothing about it”


Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production


See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Today
No Kids On The Block – What collapsing birthrates really mean
What would the world look like if children became scarcer? Birthrates are falling across the world but the main voices trying to turn them around seem to be weird traditionalist “pronatalists”. Is there a way to encourage having more kids while preserving women’s freedom – and wi ... Show More
39m 56s
Yesterday
Is Big Tech starting to lose?
Is Big Tech really as unstoppable as it looks? In recent months US courts and EU regulators have handed out major reverses to tech giants including Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta. Meanwhile Google search is becoming unusable, choked by ads and its own algorithm, and the growth of ... Show More
38m 55s
Jul 7
Can Labour get a second chance? – Start Your Week with Gavin Esler and Ros Taylor
Labour starts Year Two hoping that everyone will forget Year One. Can Starmer restart his premiership, again? Plus lessons of the 7/7 bombings twenty years on, the new Jeremy Corbyn and/or Zarah Sultana party, Reform puts teenagers in charge of council services… and the Wimbledon ... Show More
29m 15s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2018
The Dig: Russia Beyond Caricature
Russia: the more your average American thinks about it, the less they seem to know. National security-state enthused liberals blame Putin and for creating what is an obviously-if-incomprehensibly made-in-America monster. Trump, in turn, cannot seem to contain his giddy enthusiasm ... Show More
1h 50m
Mar 2022
Masha Gessen on Putin’s 'Profoundly Anti-Modern’ Worldview
For Western audiences, the past few weeks have been a torrent of information about what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine. Daily updates of Russian military advances. Horrifying videos of buildings exploding and innocent civilians being killed. Announcements of increasingly sever ... Show More
1h 1m
Feb 2024
Ukraine two years on – Inside Russia’s state of terror
The first of two specials covering Russia’s war on Ukraine two years on. This time: Inside Russia. Avdiivka has fallen, Alexei Navalny is dead, and pro-Russia Republicans are starving Kyiv of ammunition. Putin finally feels the war could turn in his direction. Is he right? And ho ... Show More
51m 5s
Jan 2021
Dostoevsky
From exile in Siberia to the novels which set a template - Rana Mitter and his guests Alex Christofi, Muireann Maguire, Claire Whiteheadand Viv Groskop look at the life and writing of Fyodor Dostoevsky (11 November 1821 – 27 January 1881).Crime and Punishment published in 1886 wa ... Show More
44m 28s
Jul 2022
What do Russians think of the war in Ukraine?
Five months ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, we have heard President Vladimir Putin’s claim on the country and his pledge to fight Nazis there but what do Russians think? We hear from some voices you may not have heard from before: one Russian "Super Putin" fan and creato ... Show More
22m 45s
Mar 2022
159. Young Putin, the KGB and the Soviet Union
[Episode 1 of 4] Welcome to our new four part series on the latter years of the Soviet Union, its fall, Putin's early life and his subsequent rise to power. Today's episode focuses on Brezhnev, Putin's formative years, his early KGB career and Gorbachev's descent into chaos. Was ... Show More
37m 28s
Feb 2024
Alexeï Navalny, de l'opposant numéro un au martyr russe
Le 20 août 2020, Alexeï Navalny échappe de peu à la mort, après avoir été empoisonné par les services de renseignements russes. Après une longue période de convalescence en Allemagne, il revient en Russie le 17 janvier 2021, où il est arrêté dès sa descente de l’avion. Condamné à ... Show More
31m 7s
Feb 2024
Russia takes control in Avdiivka & Navalny’s body ‘hidden from relatives’
All this week, our regular hosts David Knowles, Dominic Nicholls and Francis Dearnley are on the ground in Ukraine, conducting major interviews with senior figures, hearing testimony of Kyiv citizens and reporting on the run-up to the two-year anniversary of the full scale invasi ... Show More
1h 13m
Mar 2022
Russia, Today
Yevgenia Albats is a Russian journalist, and editor-in-chief and CEO of the popular Russian independent magazine The New Times. The magazine has now been blocked by government censors for reporting on the war in Ukraine. Until last week, when the station was taken off the air, Al ... Show More
51m 56s