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Sergey Radchenko

@radchenko.bsky.social

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Historian of the Cold War and after. Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor, Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. The author of “To Run the World.”

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Sergey S. Radchenko is a Soviet-born British-Russian historian. He is the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and visiting professor at Cardiff University. He was previously Reader at Aberystwyth University, Lecturer at University of Nottingham Ningbo China, a Global Fellow and a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, and as the Zi Jiang Distinguished Professor at East China Normal University (Shanghai). .. more

Political science 66%

Sociology 23%

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · May 4

I will soon be starting a new academic project: a history of the war between Russia and Ukraine. I am to have the book published by 2032 (10th anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion).

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 3d

This is just gold.

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 3d

Honored to interview President Yushchenko for my forthcoming book on the Russia-Ukraine war. It's important to understand the historical context of the Russian invasion. If we start in 2022, we risk missing out on the essential.

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 4d

Holy smoke. This is something else: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o.... If you read anything today, read this. Just ordered the book.

‘I’m leaving,’ Trump said. ‘There’s no reason to be here any more’: inside the meeting that brought Nato to the brink

Former secretary general Jens Stoltenberg recalls the rollercoaster ride of dealing with Donald Trump – and how close the US president brought the alliance to the point of collapse

www.theguardian.com

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 7d

The collection of interviews will eventually be made available to historians (subject to permissions), though not in any foreseeable future. For now, the wounds are too fresh. But this work must be done, and it is being done.

Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 7d

Together with my brilliant RA Peter Sies (SAIS-2024) (R) had a very candid, interesting meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C). This is all part of my big project on the history of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which will eventually lead to a very big book.

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 10d

And, as a bonus, here is the final paragraph that didn't make it into the oped for reasons of length.

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 10d

I argue, too, that Europe should now step into the shoes vacated by the United States, which means learning to talk to the Russians through back-channels. This is important to avoid miscalculation and inadvertent escalation. During the Cold War, the U.S. did it all the time.

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 10d

I have a new piece with The Guardian where I look into the history of aerial confrontations going back to the Cold War. I argue that intruding Russian aircraft must be shot down as a prophylactic measure. There will not be a nuclear war. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Russia’s provocations are menacing Nato. The cold war shows how it needs to respond | Sergey Radchenko

Despite the cost of shooting down fighter jets and drones, small skirmishes remind both sides of the dangers of escalation, says academic Sergey Radchenko

www.theguardian.com

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Sergey Radchenko @radchenko.bsky.social · 11d

Karaganov on Ukraine. A crazy document from August 1991. Speaking of the long roots of the current conflict. open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

Karaganov on Ukraine.

A long-standing obsession.

open.substack.com

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Substack

Karaganov on Ukraine.

A long-standing obsession. I’ve come across quite a remarkable document signed by Sergei Karaganov who at the time was the Deputy Head of the Europe Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The document, dated August 29, 1991, analyses Soviet policy towards Ukraine, spells out the dangers of Ukraine’s independence for Russia, and proposes a series of measures to keep Ukraine in the Russian sphere of influence. I’ll reproduce the entire thing below, but here are some highlights:

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