Delighted that @edwardlucas.bsky.social has reviewed paperback of The Baton & the Cross today @thetimes.com If you want to know more about why Russian clerics promise eternal life to those who kill Ukrainians, I'm at Stanfords Travel Books in Covent Gdn 19th November.

I was at Sherborne Historical Society this week to talk about the history of the Russian Orthodox Church and why on earth its leader unstintingly supports Putin‘s war. Paperback of The Baton & The Cross out this week @iconbooks #HistoryBooks #UkraineWar #NonfictionReads #PoliticsBooks

Talking to Sergei Medvedev last week about a new report he co authored new report, ‘War with the Anglo-Saxons: How Britain became Russia’s enemy number one’. At least that is how the FSB sees it. More details here: nestcentre.org/war-with-the...

Really enjoyed meeting fellow authors who have written on an astonishing range of topics at last night's event for shortlisted authors for the @britishacademy.bsky.social Book Prize. thanks to everybody who came and bought our books!

Enjoyed meeting @jenstout.bsky.social about The Baton & The Cross at Wigtown Book Festival. We talked about how Patriarch Kirill glorifies Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Now going to hear George Robertson on NATO & future of defence.

The many faces of Tikhon Khrennikov who controlled the Soviet Union of Composers for 42 years. On @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social I map his influence over decades of cultural control. Can music ever be apolitical in a dictatorship? Listen here from Sunday evening: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Great that @thetimes.com selected my edition of In The Studio on BBC world service as a must listen this week: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I am over the moon that my book on the Russian Orthodox Church has found its way onto the Orwell Prize shortlist in the company of some brilliant authors.
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-p...

Why did "a soft, timid intellectual" call for Alexei Navalny’s murder ? What turned many smart, well educated and independent minded journalists of the 90s into Kremlin stooges? Read @andreisoldatov.bsky.social and Irina Borogan's brilliant new book about their former Moscow mates.

Too much English spoken in Berlin so to learn German I went to help out on a farm in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. Listen here to see how I got on: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A glimpse into Putin's Empire State of Mind @thetroubleclub.bsky.social with @gabrielahouston.bsky.social talking about my book on how the Orthodox Church helped to fuel the Ukraine war.
www.iconbooks.com/ib-title/the...