When Mikhail Gorbachëv introduced perestroika in the mid-1980s, the USSR went through a springtime of growth and change. The Soviet order collapsed in 1991, and Boris Yeltsin initiated a summer of transformation as Russia acquired a market economy and aspired to a new place in the world community. It was a season of achievement but also of disappointment, leading Yeltsin to relinquish the Russian presidency at the end of the century in favour of Vladimir Putin, his young prime minister. Under Putin’s rule, Russia has been locked into a winter of authoritarian rule at home and military adventures abroad. Bringing his expert knowledge of Russia’s history to the fore, Robert Service looks at the seasonal shifts in events since 2012 and those that may be expected in the immediate future.
The moderator is journalist and author David McCullagh, and the episode was recorded at Printworks, Dublin Castle, on 19th October 2019.
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