Radio War Nerd EP #518 — Russia, Ukraine & War Entrepreneurs, feat. Leonid Ragozin
Guest: Leonid Ragozin, journalist
Recorded: April 28, 2025
Emigre journalist Leonid Ragozin returns to RWN to discuss the war in Ukraine, the forces that made the war possible, and his own political awakening about western intentions towards Russia.
Check out RWN EP 306 with Leonid about the looming war fever in late 2021.
Read Leonid's article Darkness on the Edge of Ukraine, and his articles in Al Jazeera.
Follow Leonid on Twitter.
Total time: 1:40:15
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Comments (19)
It sounds like Ragozin is disillusioned about the West. It takes courage to admit such a thing. At the same time he (and Mark) continue to project those illusions onto Russia, hoping for a "more open and less authoritarian" future. I'm curious if they can point to an exaple of such a milk-and-honey state. Is it Germany that jusy declared its most popular party extremist or where you get a steap fine for commenting that "Bearbock took too many hits on her head"? Is it the UK where they've arrested tens of thousands of people for social media posts about Palestine? Is it the US where at least two assassination attempts were committed against the leading presedential candidate, not to mention a number of attemps to put him in jail before the elections? Elections where your voice doesn't mean anything unless you happened to live in one of the 6-8 states that matter. Maybe France? Does Ragozin realize what would have happened to him if instead of BBC he worked for the same length of time for RT or Press TV? He can ask Scott Ritter when he expects his passport to be returned to him.
Russia's invasion was "unforgivable" -- despite the history of invasions of Russia from the west; of the catastrophe of the Yeltsin years; of all the broken promises; of all the apocalyptic anti-Russian propaganda; of the virtually overt ambition in the West to effect regime change in Moscow. Calling it unforgivable simply fascinates me. What exactly was Russia *Supposed* to do, especially following the Maidan "revolution" (aka the Maidan coup) & the whole Minsk-accords charade? Is Leonid saying Putin should have sat on his hands as the military build-up in Ukraine progressed inexorably, as the Kaja Kallases of this world continued their ascendancy? What would have been the result, for Russia, of endless restraint on Putin's part? Real question.
It was still an act of aggression, and therefore a war crime (*the* war crime, by the standards of Nuremberg). And the only reason the Maidan revolution worked, no matter how much foreign interference there was, is because Ukrainians rejected Putin's friend Yanukovych. So yes, Russia must accept the biggest share of responsibility for all those who've died on the battlefield and all the destruction to Ukraine. I don't think that's controversial or hard to understand. I mean, all the crimes and provocations you list of the West against Russia aren't *Ukraine's* fault. Frankly, the collapse of the Soviet Union and all the horror that followed is only the West's fault in that they were accomplices to the real architects of that catastrophe, who were the Russian ruling class. If Russia really wants to reckon with the shameful catastrophe that was Yeltsin, they need to clean their own house first and foremost. Ukraine made some bad decisions, and the United States has played its usual malignant role in the region (I think the Europeans, besides the Brits, really didn't want this conflict; they had a very good deal going with Russia). None of that excuses what Russia has done. What was Russia supposed to do? They could have chosen to do nothing. I think you're forgetting how unhappy Germany was with the U.S.'s actions in Europe up until the war broke out. There was a real fracture growing there, and it was only getting worse the more that America pushed things. If Putin had continued presenting himself as a rational, restrained actor who refused to rise to NATO's provocations, while America looked more and more unhinged trying to start something, it would have alienated Europe from America and NATO. Invading Ukraine was an idiotic, disastrous move, and Putin only did it because he stupidly listened to his generals who were blowing smoke up his ass about how it would be an easy victory and they'd be rolling into Kiev in less than a day, greeted by cheering crowds and rose parades and whatever. And not only was it an utter debacle in military terms, but it rendered pointless all the years Putin spent gritting his teeth and putting in the long hard diplomatic work of easing tensions with his European business partners in the face of constant hysterical American provocations and propaganda. Out of all the possible actions Russia could have taken, invading Ukraine was by far the worst, both morally and in cold realpolitik terms. That's why Ames and Dolan and a lot of other smart people believed it wouldn't, *couldn't* happen, despite all signs to the contrary (it's not like the Russians weren't massing troops on the border under one pretense or another). The *only* reason Putin's regime remains intact and Russia hasn't completely imploded is that the "nuclear" sanctions package implemented by the U.S. and Europe left in critical loopholes that allowed Russia to continue its fossil fuel exports, and the Israeli genocide in Gaza after October 7th drew everyone's attention to an even worse atrocity happening elsewhere in the world which suddenly made the Russian invasion seem not so bad by comparison. If things had gone a little differently, the combination of the colossal failure of the initial Russian assault combined with the massive sanctions might very well have destroyed Russia's economy and forced Putin out of power. It's all well and good to be lucky, but no one should ever let Putin off the hook for how idiotic and horrible his decision to invade Ukraine was. It very easily could have resulted in the destruction of his own country, if events had played out a bit differently. There's no excuse for his regime's actions.
The Russian bourgeoisie, very naively, fully expected to be welcomed back into western imperialism as fully fledged members after their long counterrevolution that started with Trotsky and Bukharin, accelerated with Khrustchev and finally succeeded with Gorbachev. But of course, that is not how capitalism or imperialism work. The western bourgeoisie wanted their Russian counterparts as compradors who sold out their resources, markets and labour cheap, which is what they (try to) subject every country outside the core empire to. Russia was to be a 'gas station masquerading as a country' - the wishful thinking people like McCain held onto till their deaths (and which explains the failure of the sanctions on Russia). Nobody in the western media and political elite had anu problem with authoritarianism in Russia as long as it was the Yeltsin-led comprador faction bombing the Duma to destroy the Russian economy and people through 'shock therapy', and even Putin was welcomed as another comprador initially. It is not until the Putin faction regained control of the resources and economy and refused to play the comprador role that Putin became a 'dictator' and the Russians became 'orcs' to be destroyed, which forced the Russian bourgeoisie, against their will, to join the anti-imperialist camp. Which is why the supposed 'anti-communist' Putin had to rein in the comprador elements of the bourgeoisie and semi-nationalise a lot of the Russian industry, and is now allied with China, Cuba, Iran and the DPRK, with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation becoming more powerful every day.
I think your analysis is messed up. Putin and the Russian nationalists are anti-imperialist? Hell, the Soviet Union was never really anti-imperialist, that's one of the things that sucked about it and caused it to fail. Trotsky and Bukharin were counterrevolutionary? What? The Russian communist party is getting strong?
Aside from the MIC the larger western corporate world also decided they would rather loot Russia than integrate it.
At this point the corporate world is looting *everything,* not just Russia, even though they need the power of nation-states to subjugate the masses. I guess they figure they'll just escape to Mars or the Moon before the mob gets them.
I dont see any reason to be embarrassed about calling the 2022 war wrong. The neocons were right for once, after over 2 decades of being wrong. Law of averages, broken clock, boy who cried wolf, etc etc we have tons of phrases for when assholes get it right at the worst time
“Donald Trump, Not Barack Obama, is Responsible for Ukraine’s Dramatic Military expansion between 2011 and 2021” thought I share this after Mark quoted trump saying that under him the war wouldn’t have taken place: https://sonar21.com/donald-trump-not-barack-obama-is-responsible-for-ukraines-dramatic-military-expansion-between-2011-and-2021/
They both are, and so is Biden. It's imperialist policy. Doesn't matter who the figurehead is, capitalism needs to loot Russia's resources to get out of the terminal crisis it is in since 2008 (in the latest iteration). Just like capitalism only overcame the 1970s and 80s crisis by looting the considerable wealth of the ex-USSR and Eastern Bloc.
Satie Mentioned ™️
The relationship with the west and Russia, and consequently, the transition from any language about the rule of law to the liberal rules-based order is such a striking example of the utter cynicism and wretchedness of Anglo American legalism.
New markets = new suckers
This guest sounds so incredibly naive that it borders on mental retardation. He clearly hates Russia and being Russian so much that he wanted Estonia to conquer Russia. Truly a mental case.
tbf, it would be *very* impressive if Estonia somehow managed to conquer Russia. Nobody would see that coming
Sounds like you ran into some idf war nerds at the laser tag
You-catan? More like the YUCK-atan peninsula with all of that humidity, amirite folks
Mark, I still look at the picture of one of my daughter's birthdays (my oldest's, I think her 8th or 9th) with pride. It was at Build a Bear Workshop at the Mall of America with some food court McDonald's afterwards. But from the parental standpoint, everyone invited showed up, the event happened without any snags, we could afford it, everyone had a smile on her face (I was the only he), the cake didn't get smushed in the activity, and there's a picture of about nine little girls all smiling and acting goofy. It all worked for once. If you're a parent, you treasure those moments.
absolutely, I'm constantly battling sadness-in-advance that they're flying by