Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

About Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

The Week Ahead In Russia podcast takes a hard look at developments in Russia, its war against Ukraine, and its relations with the rest of the world. It's hosted by Steve Gutterman, author of RFE/RL's The Week In Russia newsletter, and features a rotating panel of guests.

Publisher

RFE/RL

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Oct 2021

Latest episode

25 May 2025

Latest episodes

70 of 302 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   25 May 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Central Asia's New Position In Global Politics

   Host Bruce Pannier interviews Nargis Kassenova, Bakyt Beshimov, and Temur Umarov about Central Asia's evolving geopolitical position as countries seek to consolidate independence amid Russian and Chinese influence in this interview episode.

2. 

   20 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT

   EU Strengthens Ties With Central Asia

   Host Bruce Pannier interviews Terhi Hakala and Samuel Doveri Vesterbye about the EU's strengthened ties with Central Asia following the first-ever EU-Central Asian summit.

3. 

   23 Mar 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Saving The Caspian Sea

   The Caspian Sea is home to many unique marine species and other wildlife. The Caspian Sea Basin is also rich in oil and natural gas. The development of these lucrative hydrocarbon resources is having an adverse effect on the indigenous plant life, and some species are at risk of extinction. At the same time, water levels in the Caspian Sea are dropping, and it is particularly noticeable in the shallow northern section where Kazakhstan’s Caspian ports are located. To look at the ecological challenges and efforts to find an acceptable biological and business balance in the Caspian Sea, host Bruce Pannier is joined by two guests from Kazakhstan: Vadim Ni, a lawyer, environmental activist, and founder of the Save the Caspian Sea movement; and Tatyana Sedova, an expert in extractive industries governance, civic participation and capacity building, who has worked with organizations such as the World Bank and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Inside a recent episode

Central Asia's New Position In Global Politics

Published 25 May 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And they're not competing necessarily with Russia or China. They're actually trying to find the mutual interest. For example, when we speak about the green energy projects that Saudis have in Central Asia, they are actually building them in cooperation with Chinese. Take a look at aquapowers projects in Uzbekistan and wind farms. They are partially funded by Chinese money. And this is also an interesting detail of how those countries actually cooperate with each other. But when we explain what's happening in Central Asia, we tend to ignore the cooperation part between different states and tend to focus mostly on competition or rivalry. […]

Who has been a guest on Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Nargis Kassenova
• Bakyt Beshimov
• Temur Umarov
• Terhi Hakala
• Samuel Doveri Vesterbye

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

552,170,654

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

47 ratings

Spotify

4.2 / 5

73 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 87 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

98

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

94

Contact Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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