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Olga and Mo are joined by Dr. Benjamin Schmitt to discuss the Kremlin’s weaponization of energy and the proper response from NATO. 

Dr. Benjamin L. Schmitt is a former State Department official, Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), and Research Fellow at Harvard University. For years, Ben has spoken out against Nord Stream 2 (the gas pipeline expansion project from Russia to Germany) and warned of the threat to Europe’s energy security. 

https://twitter.com/BLSchmitt 

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Originally aired September 2nd, 2021

Olga and Mo are joined by Paul Niland and Daria Kaleniuk to continue their exploration of hybrid warfare. They discuss how Ukraine became the testing ground for Putin’s campaign against the west, only to emerge as the standard-bearer in the fight against corruption.  

Daria Kaleniuk is co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a powerful national organization that has shaped Ukraine’s anti-corruption legislation and efforts. Daria’s organization ensured that Ukraine’s newly elected parliament designed strong anti-corruption legislation, including the laws on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the special anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, High Anticorruption Court, open property registers and electronic asset declarations. Daria has also founded critical resources to track money laundering and corruption internationally, specifically first known public register of national politically exposed persons. She is co-founder of international Democracy in Action conference hold annually in Ukraine seeking solutions to global threats to democracy. Twitter: @dkaleniuk 

Paul Niland is a businessman, writer, and political commentator. His passion for Ukraine stems from his involvement in the revolutions of 2004/5 and 2013/4, and his writings about Ukraine are often focused on helping the international community better understand the reasons for and background behind the ongoing war in the Donbas, as well as Ukraine in general. Paul is the Founder at Lifeline Ukraine, the country’s first, national, professional, 24/7 suicide prevention and mental health support service. Initially, Lifeline Ukraine was established to address one of the most serious questions in Ukraine today, the heartbreaking suicide rate in Ukraine’s veterans community.Twitter: @PaulNiland 

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Olga and Mo are joined again by David Kramer as they consider the wider security and humanitarian implications should Russia’s war of aggression continue and expand to other areas of the region, including Moldova, Transnistria, and Georgia. David J. Kramer is the Bradford M. Freeman managing director for global policy at the George W. Bush Institute and served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in the George W. Bush administration.

AG1 Sponsor Promo: https://athleticgreens.com/kremlinfile 

Recommended articles from David Kramer: 

https://www.thebulwark.com/putin-is-failing-in-ukraine-but-winning-in-georgia/ 

https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/ukraine/kramer-never-underestimate-ukrainians.html

https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/defeating-putin-in-ukraine-is-vital-to-the-future-of-democracy/ 

https://thedispatch.com/p/dont-let-lukashenko-off-the-hook?s=r 

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Olga and Mo are joined by retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman to discuss Ukraine as the defenders of democracy and Russia’s failing military strategy.

As a child, Vindman was born to Jewish parents in Ukraine (former Soviet Ukraine) before emigrating to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. The former Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council found himself at the center of a firestorm for his decision to report the infamous phone call that led to President Donald Trump’s impeachment. He was appointed as the Pritzker Military Foundation’s first Pritzker Military Fellow. His memoir “Here, Right Matters: An American Story” is a must read. https://twitter.com/AVindman 

https://alexandervindmanbook.com/ 

Sponsor link: https://athleticgreens.com/kremlinfile 

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Olga and Mo welcome on the pod a leading expert in nuclear conflict resolution, Joseph Cirincione. Most Americans have not thought much about doomsday weapons since the end of the Cold War, but now it’s time we all come to terms with the nuclear risks of Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Joseph Cirincione is a distinguished fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, D.C. He previously served for over 12 years as the president of the Ploughshares Fund with a focus on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution. 

https://twitter.com/Cirincione  

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/jcirincione/

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Olga and Mo are joined by veteran diplomat and former ambassador of Poland, Daniel Fried, who currently serves as a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council.  

In the course of his forty-year Foreign Service career, Ambassador Fried played a key role in designing and implementing American policy in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. As Special Assistant and NSC Senior Director for Presidents Clinton and Bush, Ambassador to Poland, and Assistant Secretary for Europe, he helped craft the policy of NATO enlargement to Central European nations and, in parallel, NATO-Russia relations. Twitter: @AmbDanFried 

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What do Russians think about Putin’s war? Karine Orlova returns to Kremlin File to discuss the sentiment inside Russia against Putin’s latest war crimes campaign. 

Karine Orlova is a Russian journalist in exile, former contributing writer for The American Interest magazine, former correspondent for Echo of Moscow, which was cut off air and shut down after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. 

https://twitter.com/OrlovaKarine

https://substack.com/profile/88924046-karineorlova 

Sponsor Deal: https://athleticgreens.com/kremlinfile

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Olga and Mo are joined by Andrei Soldatov, an investigative journalist and watchdog of the Russian secret services’ activities. With Putin lashing out on the world stage and purging the ranks, Andrei shares his POV on Russia’s failure in Ukraine and who is to blame.

Andrei Soldatov is a Russian investigative journalist, co-founder of Agentura.ru, a watchdog of the Russian secret services’ activities. He’s been covering security services and terrorism since 1999. He is co-author with Irina Borogan of The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB (PublicAffairs, 2010), The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia’s Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries, and most recently, The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia’s Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad. He is also a senior fellow at CEPA and contributes to the Moscow Times and various international publications.

https://twitter.com/andreisoldatov

https://cepa.org/our-people/andrei-soldatov/

https://agentura.ru/

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Inna Sovsun joins Olga and Mo to discuss how she and other MPs and Ukrainian citizens are facing the realities of Russia’s assault and war crimes. Inna is a Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, and she shares a very personal account from a position of leadership in a country under siege. 

Athletic Greens (Promo Link): https://athleticgreens.com/kremlinfile

Guest Twitter: https://twitter.com/InnaSovsun 

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Olga and Mo are joined by Andrea Chalupa – a journalist, filmmaker, and co-host of the excellent podcast GASLIT NATION.

Andrea is also a founder of DigitalMaidan, an online movement that made the Ukrainian protests the #1 trending topic on Twitter worldwide at a time when the mainstream media was obsessing over Justin Bieber’s arrest in Miami. 

https://twitter.com/AndreaChalupa

http://www.andreachalupa.com/

https://twitter.com/Gaslitnation 

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Olga and Mo are joined by Kremlin File producer Jack Bryan to detail how Russia’s recently launched disinformation troll farm is targeting Ukraine and their place in Russian Hybrid warfare.

For further reading, please check out co-host Olga Lautman’s substack article:

https://olgalautman.substack.com/p/operation-cyber-front-z-russia-sets?s=r

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Olga and Mo are joined by Dr. Alina Polyakova of CEPA to discuss how the Transatlantic Alliance is standing up to Putin’s brutal assault on Ukraine.

Dr. Polyakova heads up the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and is a recognized expert on transatlantic relations, European security, Russian foreign policy, digital authoritarianism, and populism in democracies.

https://twitter.com/apolyakova 

https://cepa.org/ 

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Olga and Mo are joined by retired Major General Paul Eaton who discusses Russia’s shift in military tactics as they continue their assault on Ukraine. Russia is taking heavy military losses and are now targeting civilians.

Paul D. Eaton is the Director of VetVoiceFoundation and advisor to VoteVets.

https://twitter.com/PaulDEaton52

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Maria Avdeeva, a Ukrainian disinformation and national security expert, joins us from the ground in Kharkiv where she’s documenting the truth about the Russian invasion.

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv

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