The Power Vertical is a column and podcast by RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore. The first colored revolution was neither rose nor orange — it was red. It didn’t originate in Tbilisi or in Kyiv and it wasn’t planned in Washington or Brussels. In fact, it started in Vladimir Putin’s own hometown. Nearly a century ago, Russia […]
The Power Vertical is hosted by RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore and is syndicated by The Interpreter. What has long been suspected now has official imprimatur. Nine years ago, Russian agents assassinated a U.K. citizen in the heart of London, most likely with the explicit approval of Vladimir Putin. That was the conclusion of a British inquiry […]
The Power Vertical is written by RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore and is syndicated here with permission. In many ways it all began with the assassination of Aleksandr Litvinenko. Not that Vladimir Putin’s Russia was exactly a model global citizen before the November 2006 killing of the former KGB spy who defected to Great Britain. But when […]
The Power Vertical, by RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore, is syndicated with permission by The Interpreter. Ramzan Kadyrov hasn’t gone rogue. Ramzan Kadyrov isn’t off message. Ramzan Kadyrov hasn’t jumped the shark. No, the mercurial Chechen leader is playing his role to a tee. After calling Vladimir Putin’s foes “enemies of the people,” and after the speaker of his rubber-stamp […]
Is Ramzan Kadyrov going rogue? Or is he launching a Kremlin trial balloon by calling for opposition figures to be tried as traitors and enemies of the people? On the new Power Vertical Briefing, I discuss this issue with Pavel Butorin, editor in chief of RFE/RL’s Russian-language television program Current Time. Also on the Briefing, […]
The Power Veritcal podcast is hosted by RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore and is syndicated with permission by The Interpreter. When a Russian leader speaks to a foreign media outlet, it is usually aimed at sending a clear and specific message. But Vladimir Putin’s lengthy, wide-ranging, and often contentious interview with the mass-circulation German tabloid Bild this […]
