This week Fresh Air Production, along with GML, launched a new series of the Big Steal, the podcast that told the story of how Vladimir Putin stole Yukos from the shareholders and put the head of the company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in jail on false charges. We then followed Russia as the regime spiralled towards kleptocracy.

One of the key messages from the first series of the Big Steal was that during the early days of post-Soviet Russia, the West had taken eyes off the ball when it came to Russia, and so a world under a global lockdown would seemingly provide a perfect opportunity for the Russian president to exploit the situation.

It became clear early on that this is what Vladimir Putin was doing: he began 2020 by unveiling constitutional reforms that would allow him to stay in power until 2036.

In August he backed his Belarussian neighbour, President Alexander Lukashenko, after a dubious victory leading to a 6th term in office for Europe’s remaining dictator.

And then later that same month came the incident that focussed global attention on Russia: the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

During all of these developments and many other stories that would reach us, Gavin Esler and I would exchange messages of incredulity, as every move and shift in Putin’s policy was aimed at either tightening his grip on power or making himself some more money.

And that is why we wanted to focus our attention once again on the largest country in the world.

Without going over the fall of the Berlin Wall once again, the new nation of Russia had so much promise. The birth of a democracy following decades of communist rule but in the chaos that ensued, it wasn’t to be.

So when we began the second series we had some clear ideas in mind. First of all, what on earth can the West do to solve a problem like Putin? But more compelling for me was that to reflect day to day life of Russians living under the regime. There are over 140 million of them. And for many millions of Russians, it’s not a fun existence. Growth is stagnant and despite his personal riches, Putin’s government has been cutting back on spending. Earlier this year the FT reported that:

In 2020, the average Russian had 11 per cent less to spend than in 2013. Much of that economic pain can be traced back to decisions taken inside the Kremlin. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a failure to tackle longstanding structural problems, such as woefully underfunded hospitals and schools, low pensions and high levels of corruption that typically stops a large proportion of fiscal resources reaching their intended target.

But add to the mix that despite the fact that Communism and the Soviet regime was gone, there are still no free and fair elections, no free discussion, no right to protest and in short, no democracy.

The fact that Russia has a constitution is a massive contradiction and we illustrate this in episode 2:

Olga Misik is a young activist. Two years ago she found herself in the heat of a protest and facing a thick black line of Russian riot police.

Olga was handed a copy of the constitution that she began to read to the police line:

Article 31: "Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings and demonstrations, marches and pickets."

And the police picked her up, off her feet and carried her away. Arrested her on the spot, despite the fact she was quoting their own constitution to them.

I found this baffling. Why did no-one intervene? How can a system be so corrupt that the irony of their activities be totally lost on them? Or maybe that’s the point. Russia is a place where the government does what it wants and you suffer the consequences should you object. Maybe that is why the treatment of Alexei Navalny right now, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky before him – not to mention the endless list of murdered and incarcerated political activists and objectors is so harsh. To show the Russian people what happens if you disagree or try and raise an alternate viewpoint.

Russian journalist Irina Borogan is clear when she says of Russia:
‘A society where one can make money only by not interfering in politics and not criticizing the authorities forces people to give up all options beyond their personal life and work. There is enormous anxiety in Russian society, which is only growing as the coronavirus and economic crises worsen.’

The system in Russia is not fair. And what’s more, that unfairness continues to spill over the borders not just to neighbouring countries like Ukraine, but equally to places like London – the so-called ‘money laundering capital of the world’.

How long will it be before another Putin detractor is murdered on the streets of the UK?

Twice-poisoned opposition politician Vladimir Kara Murza says that:
In 20 years, Vladimir Putin has managed to take Russia from imperfect democracy to perfect authoritarianism at home, and from a respected partner to near-pariah in international affairs.

There are people alive in Russia now that have never experienced anything other than this authoritarian rule, but at least figures like Navalny give them hope.

Is Navalny the leader that Russia needs? Probably not, but he would be a necessary move towards democracy. And once that journey begins, you can be sure that there are people in Russia, right now, who will do their very best to make sure the nation changes for the better and its’ citizens receive the freedom they deserve.

And maybe the President could pay some of his ill-gotten gains back to the state, starting with the Palace on the Black Sea made famous by Alexei Navalny, reckoned to be worth $1.35 billion.

We want to be there to tell that story when it happens.