Ruslan Trad: Russia's Black Sea Strategy and Imperialism
Ruslan Trad: Russia’s Black Sea Strategy and Imperialism
Olga and Mo are joined by Ruslan Trad, a Resident Fellow for Security Research at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), who specialises in Eurasia, Syria, conflicts, hybrid warfare, and mercenary groups.
Russia’s war against Ukraine has many facets: the importance of the Black Sea and security in the region, the dark history of the Wagner irregular troops and how they are connected to the Russian Ministry of Defence, and other entities such as the Russian Orthodox Church.
Join us as we chat with Ruslan about these, Russian imperialism, and many other issues regarding hybrid warfare and its development over the course of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
You can listen to the episode here on Megaphone or your preferred podcast platform. Here’s the ad-free audio version of our chat with Ruslan.
Check out our new Kremlin File Podcast YouTube channel for more videos and content.
More about Ruslan Trad
Ruslan Trad is a Resident Fellow for Security Research at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).
Ruslan is interested in Eurasia, Syria, conflicts, hybrid warfare, and mercenary groups. Before joining DFRLab, he worked as a risk analyst, consultant, and freelance journalist. In recent years, he has worked in the field of OSINT investigations and due diligence reports. Ruslan is also author and co-author of three books and a wide range of articles related to the Syrian Civil War, Russian foreign policy, and security.
Ruslan is a member of the Association of European Journalists–Bulgaria and is co-founder of De Re Militari, a Bulgarian online journal for conflict analysis. During his journalism career he was a correspondent in several countries including Lebanon, Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Thailand.
In 2014 Ruslan was awarded Activist of the Year by the Helsinki Committee for his Syria war coverage. Ruslan’s articles can be found in Bellingcat, BBC, Carnegie Middle East Center, New Lines Magazine, Die Presse, European Eye on Radicalization, Vocal Europe, Bild, Vocativ, IB Times, Der Standard, Muftah, Internazionale, Al Jazeera, and others.
Recommended readings
Ruslan Trad is the author of 'The Murder of a Revolution' and co-author of 'The Russian Invisible Armies'. His articles and journalism include:
Russian War Report: Black Sea military operations approach NATO countries’ waters (2023)
Sudan's gold: The precious metal used to fund conflicts (2023)
Russia's return to Africa: France, Mali, and the Wagner factor (2021)
Moscow's mercenaries: How Russia is swelling the global market for private military companies (2021)
The Soviet Origins of Putin’s Mercenaries (2021)
Lounge Members
Every Wednesday at 12pm ET (NYC time) we get together with our Lounge members for a heart-to-heart on the latest news and just about everything.
Sometimes we get comments or questions beforehand, but everyone is encouraged to chip into the convo. Bring your coffee or if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic, an aperitivo!
A shout out to our current members that make the Lounge a lively informal chat! We’d like to thank Lounge members who have come along so far…from the States, Canada, France, Italy and England. We look forward to meeting you all.
Cheers
Olga and Mo