Three days have passed since Vladimir Zhirinovsky died. He was the leader of LDPR for 30 years and probably the most charismatic Russian politician throughout all our recent history.

When we, cohosts of this podcast, were just little wee kids - naturally uninterested in politics whatsoever - we were strangely captivated by his bombastic public speeches on TV, fights in gosduma and other thoroughly entertaining performances that this man was constantly pulling off. In teenage years we rebelled against this spectacle but later we have come to appreciate for what it is. Zhirinovsky was a genius. This term gets thrown out a lot but in this case it's true.

He was many things at once. A highly experienced and sly politician, a cryptofascist radical, a half-jewish lawyer, a court jester, a raging misogynist, a shock jock, a luminary of geopolitics, a super-predictor and romantic philosopher. A true Renaissance man.

A year ago we dedicated an episode to Zhirik in which we tried to show our audience what kind of man Vladimir Volfovich really was. Hope it was interesting or at least funny. Have a listen.

upd: note that our editing skills back then were not the best


https://youtu.be/w_6hrKbWT1w

audio: https://www.patreon.com/posts/51330809

Our twitter account got censored.

It was inevitable. The quality of our reporting was too high for this platform. Our translations of primary sources were too inconvenient. Just imagine how bluecheck journos suffered watching us blow up from a small podcast account to a successful independent media outlet in the span of 1 (one) month. With no investors but you, our dear audience. Well, that was just inhumane!

We will continue our work on telegram and other platforms. Now with 120% less self-censorship :)

Banning a twitter account in response to 1026 Ukrainian Marines surrendering in Mariupol - is this what they call "combined arms warfare"

Dmitry Medvedev going mask off:

"Certain freaks calling themselves the 'Ukrainian authorities' report that they want to beat a statement out of Viktor Medvedchuk, then convict him 'quickly and fairly,' and then exchange him for prisoners. These figures should look around carefully and lock their doors tightly at night, lest they themselves end up among those to be exchanged."

https://t.me/medvedev_telegram/44

(Pro-)Ukrainian sources report that there was a heavy battle near Polohy & Ukrainian forces retreated.

Russian flag being raised over Mariupol's city administration. Among those raising the flag was Olga Seletskaya - pro-Russian activist from Donbass who was abducted & tortured by Azov. In 2014, the Antimaidan movement in Mariupol began at this very building.

"Russia considers U.S. and NATO vehicles carrying weapons to Ukraine as legitimate military targets", says Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ryabkov.

"Attempts by the U.S. and Western countries to slow down the Russian special operation in Ukraine will be thwarted" - Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov: "Medvedchuk has never had any behind-the-scenes relations with Russia. Regarding the exchange that figures in Kiev have been talking about so heatedly - he is not a Russian citizen and has nothing to do with the military operation, he is a foreign political figure. We don't know if he even wants Russian participation in resolving this situation."

Also, please be wary of potential imposters. We will not be creating a new Twitter account for now.

Russian Foreign Ministry on Zelensky's proposal to exchange Medvedchuk for Ukrainian POWs: "We consider this trend extremely dangerous, given that there are many opposition politicians in Ukraine."

Yeah, that would be a bad precedent. Zelensky could take as many of his own citizens hostage as he wants if Moscow accepted these terms.