Russian Roulette

Max and Maria sit down with Kate Bondar, Senior Fellow at CSIS’s Wadhwani AI Center and expert on autonomous warfare, to discuss the role of drones in combat in Ukraine, including Russia’s innovation tactics and takeaways from the recent increase in strikes on Moscow and Kyiv.  

Mentioned: 


How Russia Is Building a Sovereign Drone Ecosystem for AI-Driven Autonomy | CSIS report by Kate Bondar 


Defining Autonomy: Why Software, Not Drones, Will Decide the Next War | CSIS report by Kate Bondar and Matt Mande 


Russia Is Building Tomorrow’s War Machine | Kate Bondar in The New York Times 

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Listen to our sister podcast, covering all things Europe through a Washington lens: CSIS Podcasts | The Eurofile

Max and Maria sit down with Dr. Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs at the New School and one of the world’s leading experts on Russia, to discuss her new Russian‑language book Nikita Khrushchev: Vozhd vne sistemy (“Nikita Khrushchev: An Outlier of the System”) and her experience as one of the few scholars still traveling to and from Russia. As Nikita Khrushchev’s great‑granddaughter and adoptive granddaughter, she offers a rare, personal view of how Russian culture, politics, and society are evolving.

Mentioned: 


No Exit from Stalin | by Nina L. Khrushcheva in Project Syndicate (April 2026) 


Russia’s Descent Into Tyranny: How Four Years of War Have Remade Society | by Nina L. Khrushcheva in Foreign Affairs (Dec. 2025) 


Nikita Khrushchev: Vozhd vne sistemy (Nikita Khrushchev: An Outlier of the System) | Book by Nina L. Khrushcheva 

Feedback? Suggestions? Ideas to help us improve? Email us at erep@csis.org. 

If you love Russian Roulette, let us know by subscribing and leaving a review wherever you get your podcasts.  

Listen to our sister podcast, covering all things Europe through a Washington lens: CSIS Podcasts | The Eurofile

Max and Maria welcome Sir Lawrence Freedman, historian, author, and Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London, to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine, how he sees the conflict evolving, and what to expect in the critical months ahead.


Is Ukraine winning the drone race? by Sir Lawrence Freedman 


Link to Substack: Comment is Freed  

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Ideas to help us improve? Email us at erep@csis.org. 

If you love Russian Roulette, let us know by subscribing and leaving a review wherever you get your podcasts.  

Listen to our sister podcast, covering all things Europe through a Washington lens: CSIS Podcasts | The Eurofile

Max and Maria welcome back Dr. Sam Greene, professor of Russian Politics at King's College London, to discuss the state of Russian public opinion today, and whether domestic conditions have begun change given the state of the economy, war, and reports of increasing paranoia in the Kremlin.

Max and Maria welcome back Elina Ribakova to discuss her latest piece in Foreign Affairs, exploring the Ukrainian defense industry and its potential capacity to help Europe secure its own defense. 

More from Elina in Foreign Affairs: Europe’s Untapped Arsenal: Ukraine Has Forged the Defense Industry the Continent Desperately Needs