Historian of the Cold War and after. Rupert Murdoch Distinguished Professor @KissingerCenter @SAISHopkins. Now on Substack profradchenko.substack.com
Washington, Bologna, Nanjing
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I will soon be starting a new academic project: a history of the war between Russia and Ukraine. I am to have the book published by 2032 (10th anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion).
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This is an interesting point by Zelensky, and I tend to agree. What we have learned from the five years of war is that the U.S. was, unsurprisingly, exceptionally worried about being drawn into the conflict with Russia inadvertently (by one of its allies invoking Art. 5).
Zelensky: Wenn die Ukraine der NATO beitritt, wird es für Russland sicherer sein als wenn die Ukraine außerhalb des Bündnisses bleibt.
Er hat es einfach drauf. 🇺🇦💯
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On the Kushner/GRU story. What impresses me are the MIVD. I mean, these are the same guys who, as we have learned from @bopanc's great book, discovered that the Ukrainians were going to blow up Nord Stream months before it actually happened. Badass, you'll have to agree.
The other thing to keep in mind regarding the Kushner story: the GRU isn’t just a spy service. It is a hopelessly corrupt racket and sell its high-value wares on the black market (more on that in due course). I’d put money on MIVD not being the only third party to get their hands on this material.
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Excited to take part in this discussion with @noam_dworman. Russia/Ukraine, Trump, prospects for peace, and lots more. Oh, and Boris Johnson and the persistent myth that he forced Ukraine to continue the war. Also, see my beard? Already gone today. Damn. A week's work.
Has Trump Sold Out Ukraine? ╎With Russia Expert
@DrRadchenko
0:00 Dan's still out; Noam's 2017 Crimea clips: "sanctions till the end of time"
13:40 Sergey Radchenko on Trump's Russian diesel deal and the six requests Zelensky ignored
28:46 Witkoff calls Putin a "great humanitarian": what's the strategy?
36:20 Will Russia roll over Europe? Munich, Kissinger's last word, NATO's empty promise
44:15 Should a victim compromise? Donbas, security guarantees, did the West provoke Crimea
57:40 Why Putin invaded: humiliation, hubris, Obama's Atlantic interview, Afghanistan
1:08:36 The Istanbul talks, the Boris Johnson myth, and the verdict on Trump
1:24:49 Post-game: Dave Smith, the Absolut Pussy ad, Candace Owens, Theo Von
Why did Zelensky ignore six requests from Trump to stop hitting Russian refineries, and does the Russian diesel deal that followed make sense while the Iran war has fuel at crisis prices? What was Steve Witkoff doing calling Putin a "great humanitarian" this week? Did NATO expansion provoke the invasion, or is Putin just a man who can't stand being slighted? Is Russia Hitler's Germany, or is Munich an overused analogy. Is Trump is saving Zelensky from himself?
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I have spent the last year+ researching the origins of the war for a future book. Relatedly, I have co-led a Stanford/Hoover team in interviewing dozens of key decision makers. I can say with a high level of confidence that this take is unmitigated bullshit.
Had it not been for Boris Johnson and Victoria Nuland -- who personally forced Zelensky to reject the deal Ukraine and Russia were about to sign in Istanbul in 2022 -- this horrific war that has killed more than a million and consumed much of Ukraine would have been long over.
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Indeed--grateful to H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for his hospitality. The project continues.
@DrRadchenko and I received a very warm welcome in Ankara from H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Türkiye's Foreign Minister from 2014 to 2023.
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Sergey Radchenko retweeted
The Rise of the Russian Hawks: Ideology and Politics from the Late Soviet Union to Putin's Russia, Juliette Faure | Reviewed by Sergey Radchenko at doi.org/10.1093/psquar/qqag0….
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Reading @simonmontefiore's new book on the Middle East. It's so much fun. Check this out, on Khomeini.
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Sergey Radchenko retweeted
And if you can't get enough Cold War history, I spoke to Zubok and Radchenko about the former's book.
This episode is appropriately titled 'The Owl of Minerva'
history-as-it-happens.simple…
Thank you Sergey! We now know almost everything about that world, but for younger people it is archeology.
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I’ve written a review of Vladislav Zubok’s new book, The World of the Cold War: 1945-1991, which will (eventually) appear in a few months in the Journal of Cold War Studies. In the meantime, I thought I’d put it here. Enjoy! And read the book!
profradchenko.substack.com/p…
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Such a strange idea here from Meloni. The only way to stop provocations is not to go pretend nothing is happening. It is precisely to respond in a way that will deter further provocations. This burying of heads in the sand will only encourage Putin.
Meloni: Moscow is multiplying provocations because Putin needs to shift attention from a war in Ukraine.
It's going differently than he predicted and promised his people.
We must ask who benefits from an escalation.
Responding would serve Moscow more than Europe. 1/
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So, just over a year on. I feel like I know a lot more. Like seriously much more. But still a lot to understand. The aim is to write the first draft of history here. Tough.
I will soon be starting a new academic project: a history of the war between Russia and Ukraine. I am to have the book published by 2032 (10th anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion).
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Exciting!
We are very excited for @DrRadchenko's continued contributions to the @KissingerCenter in his new role as the Rupert Murdoch Distinguished Professor in Washington DC.
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A great piece here by @petermsies for @EngelsbergIdeas. Peter & I have been runnings like hamsters on a wheel collecting evidence on Russia's war in Ukraine by interviewing senior policymakers. Great to see he's found the time to think about deeper questions of grand strategy.
Germany faces a conundrum. On the one hand, the country is under attack, with Russia's sabotage campaign focused on stoking German angst. On the other hand, the far right's recent state-level electoral victory hands ammunition to those who warn of a remilitarising Germany.
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My interview to @repubblica on the state of the game with Russia-Ukraine.
Radchenko: “L’Italia sottovaluta i rischi della guerra ibrida concessi troppi visti ai russi” - la Repubblica repubblica.it/politica/2026/…
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Grateful to @Tsahkna for a fascinating conversation. The @HooverInst Russo-Ukrainian War Oral History Project aims to document senior policy-makers' views on the key turning points of the war. The interviews will eventually be deposited at the @HooverInst Library and Archive.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has reshaped European security and put countering Russian aggression at the centre of Estonia’s foreign policy.
I was glad to welcome @DrRadchenko and Peter Sies in Tallinn today and share Estonia’s perspective for their @HooverInst at Stanford University project documenting the war.
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Now, here's a clever piece on a niche subject: engelsbergideas.com/essays/k….
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On the eve of my visit to the Baltics for interviews for the Hoover/Stanford Russia-Ukraine project, reading this fantastic book by @olivernmoody: amazon.co.uk/Baltic-Future-E….
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