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Putin and the past that never went away

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Rosseti CEO and Board Chairman Andrei Ryumin at the Kremin in Moscow, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Rosseti CEO and Board Chairman Andrei Ryumin at the Kremin in Moscow, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Exiled Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar now lives in New York after fleeing Russia in 2022, and has since been sentenced in absentia to prison. He says the Soviet Union’s collapse wasn’t a clean break, but a transformation.

He talks with NPR’s Nick Spicer about his new book, “The Dark Side of the Earth,” which argues that the forces shaping Russian President Vladimir Putin today were never fully dismantled and are still driving global conflict.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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