Leonid Ragozin
@leonidragozin.bsky.social
Nationality: journalist. Made in the BBC, now freelancer. Reporting what you need to know, not what you want to hear. Co-author of En Eiropeisk Tragedie, a book about the roots of Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Also, many Lonely Planet titles.
Pinned
Leonid Ragozin
@leonidragozin.bsky.social
· Aug 10
Flights of the Intelligentsia - The Ideas Letter
Ragozin reflects on the contradictions of the Russian intelligentsia, a class he describes as marked by a millenarian and apocalyptic worldview, Western idealism, and self-loathing. Placing Putin’s in...
www.theideasletter.org
A long love and hate letter to my social class that I wrote for the Ideas Letter. Tough love mostly. Russian intelligentsia combines the aspects of perpetual subversiveness and extreme servility.>>
www.theideasletter.org/essay/flight...
www.theideasletter.org/essay/flight...
A long love and hate letter to my social class that I wrote for the Ideas Letter. Tough love mostly. Russian intelligentsia combines the aspects of perpetual subversiveness and extreme servility.>>
www.theideasletter.org/essay/flight...
www.theideasletter.org/essay/flight...
Flights of the Intelligentsia - The Ideas Letter
Ragozin reflects on the contradictions of the Russian intelligentsia, a class he describes as marked by a millenarian and apocalyptic worldview, Western idealism, and self-loathing. Placing Putin’s in...
www.theideasletter.org
August 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
A long love and hate letter to my social class that I wrote for the Ideas Letter. Tough love mostly. Russian intelligentsia combines the aspects of perpetual subversiveness and extreme servility.>>
www.theideasletter.org/essay/flight...
www.theideasletter.org/essay/flight...
Trump has spoken to Putin and he is going to talk to Zelensky. Official statements are almost irrelevant at the moment. We won’t know the nature of the ongoing bargain until it results in a deal or fails. The former is more likely, I think, but maybe not right now.
July 3, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Trump has spoken to Putin and he is going to talk to Zelensky. Official statements are almost irrelevant at the moment. We won’t know the nature of the ongoing bargain until it results in a deal or fails. The former is more likely, I think, but maybe not right now.
Reposted by Leonid Ragozin
Merz's 'dirty work' remark is appalling (as is the apparent quiet approval by other Europeans). It's like people openly admit that this whole 'rules-based thing' is just a pretense.
June 18, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Merz's 'dirty work' remark is appalling (as is the apparent quiet approval by other Europeans). It's like people openly admit that this whole 'rules-based thing' is just a pretense.
How one can be a Putinoid while hating Putin and Russia? Well, the pro-Israeli camp today shows exactly how - by supporting a war of aggression unleashed under a false pretext. By denying what Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch describe as genocide. >>
June 18, 2025 at 11:21 AM
How one can be a Putinoid while hating Putin and Russia? Well, the pro-Israeli camp today shows exactly how - by supporting a war of aggression unleashed under a false pretext. By denying what Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch describe as genocide. >>
Netanyahu says the war will be long. Israeli army’s chief of staff says it won’t be only comprised of victories and that the Iranian response will be unprecedented. The far right coalition in Israel didn’t collapse and secured itself another six months of unchallenged rule. (1)
June 13, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Netanyahu says the war will be long. Israeli army’s chief of staff says it won’t be only comprised of victories and that the Iranian response will be unprecedented. The far right coalition in Israel didn’t collapse and secured itself another six months of unchallenged rule. (1)
Now that Trump is boasting about his China deal, what’s the likelihood of him slapping 500% tariff on China as per Lindsay Graham’s Ukraine bill? The latter has always been a non-starter, but many in Ukraine still believe it’s feasible.
June 11, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Now that Trump is boasting about his China deal, what’s the likelihood of him slapping 500% tariff on China as per Lindsay Graham’s Ukraine bill? The latter has always been a non-starter, but many in Ukraine still believe it’s feasible.
A hilariously biased and openly racist view on Russia, based on a Polish book from the 1930s, which however reflects - to a large extent - the current paradigm adopted by Western mainstream that still fancies itself to be “liberal”. (1)
news.err.ee/1609718379/h...
news.err.ee/1609718379/h...
Harri Tiido: On the nature of Russian power
Harri Tiido takes a look at Wlodzimierz Baczkowski's view of Russia. The Polish author concludes that in order to stop Russia's destructive influence, the country needs to be rendered utterly powerles...
news.err.ee
June 11, 2025 at 12:06 PM
A hilariously biased and openly racist view on Russia, based on a Polish book from the 1930s, which however reflects - to a large extent - the current paradigm adopted by Western mainstream that still fancies itself to be “liberal”. (1)
news.err.ee/1609718379/h...
news.err.ee/1609718379/h...
This is a crazy, dangerous statement and a blatant lie - Russia is not at war with Britain. But having said that, Fiona Hill will have to do everything to prove her words to be true. This is how self-fulfilling prophecies have worked since the start of this conflict in 2014. (1)
June 7, 2025 at 8:09 AM
This is a crazy, dangerous statement and a blatant lie - Russia is not at war with Britain. But having said that, Fiona Hill will have to do everything to prove her words to be true. This is how self-fulfilling prophecies have worked since the start of this conflict in 2014. (1)
Ukrainian milblogger Bohdan Myroshnykov points out that the Russians haven’t waged massive attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure for five months. That was the most tangible result of Trump’s involvement in mediation. (1)
June 6, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Ukrainian milblogger Bohdan Myroshnykov points out that the Russians haven’t waged massive attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure for five months. That was the most tangible result of Trump’s involvement in mediation. (1)
Kellogg says the attack on Russian airbases is a path to escalation. Hegseth chooses not to attend Rammstein meeting, even by videolink.
It doesn’t seem like the Ukranian triple attack on airbases, trains and Kerch bridge is delivering the desired result of swaying Trump’s administration. (1)
It doesn’t seem like the Ukranian triple attack on airbases, trains and Kerch bridge is delivering the desired result of swaying Trump’s administration. (1)
June 4, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Kellogg says the attack on Russian airbases is a path to escalation. Hegseth chooses not to attend Rammstein meeting, even by videolink.
It doesn’t seem like the Ukranian triple attack on airbases, trains and Kerch bridge is delivering the desired result of swaying Trump’s administration. (1)
It doesn’t seem like the Ukranian triple attack on airbases, trains and Kerch bridge is delivering the desired result of swaying Trump’s administration. (1)
Being targeted by the lowlife of psy-ops world is a regular occurrence, but someone claiming that I worked for Channel One’s Vremya (or any Russian government media at all, for that matter) is a new.
Did I also collaborate with Gestapo and crucify Jesus?
What a jerk.
Did I also collaborate with Gestapo and crucify Jesus?
What a jerk.
April 30, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Being targeted by the lowlife of psy-ops world is a regular occurrence, but someone claiming that I worked for Channel One’s Vremya (or any Russian government media at all, for that matter) is a new.
Did I also collaborate with Gestapo and crucify Jesus?
What a jerk.
Did I also collaborate with Gestapo and crucify Jesus?
What a jerk.
When Remchukov writes in the NG that Putin is ready to stop the war on the current frontline, he speaks for himself. It’s not a signal from the Kremlin. He says many out-of-the-box things by the standards of systemic intellectual in today’s Russia. All the time. (1)
April 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
When Remchukov writes in the NG that Putin is ready to stop the war on the current frontline, he speaks for himself. It’s not a signal from the Kremlin. He says many out-of-the-box things by the standards of systemic intellectual in today’s Russia. All the time. (1)
Upbeat about his talks with Putin, Trump’s envoy Witkoff drifts away from his president’s unconditional ceasefire demand towards Putin’s demand of a comprehensive peace based on Istanbul framework plus occupied territory formula. www.foxnews.com/video/637149...
Steve Witkoff details 'compelling' meeting with Putin, advisors in St. Petersburg | Fox News Video
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff tells ‘Hannity’ about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg and the status of US-Iran nuclear talks.
www.foxnews.com
April 15, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Upbeat about his talks with Putin, Trump’s envoy Witkoff drifts away from his president’s unconditional ceasefire demand towards Putin’s demand of a comprehensive peace based on Istanbul framework plus occupied territory formula. www.foxnews.com/video/637149...
Lots of performative stuff in Zelensky’s CBS interview, but at one point he says something of substance - that the conflict will be resolved diplomatically because Ukraine can’t de-occupy the occupied areas. Interestingly, he mentions bilateral - that is unmediated - negotiations as a possibility.
April 14, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Lots of performative stuff in Zelensky’s CBS interview, but at one point he says something of substance - that the conflict will be resolved diplomatically because Ukraine can’t de-occupy the occupied areas. Interestingly, he mentions bilateral - that is unmediated - negotiations as a possibility.
Putin is not fighting for territory (or for erasing Ukraine’s statehood). He is fighting for a thick red line limiting NATO expansion and for Russia’s non-subordinate status in relations with the West. He might be getting what he wants. @al-jazeera-english.bsky.social
aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/…
aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/…
https://aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/…
March 19, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Putin is not fighting for territory (or for erasing Ukraine’s statehood). He is fighting for a thick red line limiting NATO expansion and for Russia’s non-subordinate status in relations with the West. He might be getting what he wants. @al-jazeera-english.bsky.social
aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/…
aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/…
Ukraine’s Supreme Court rules that illegally mobilised men cannot be discharged from service because mobilisation is “irreversible”. t.me/stranaua/189...
March 19, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Ukraine’s Supreme Court rules that illegally mobilised men cannot be discharged from service because mobilisation is “irreversible”. t.me/stranaua/189...
Ukraine’s bridgehead in Kursk region is now encompassing 110 sq. km. That’s almost equal to the Russian bridgehead in Vovchansk (102 sq. km) without the nearby intrusion north of Lyptsy (86 sq. km).
March 17, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Ukraine’s bridgehead in Kursk region is now encompassing 110 sq. km. That’s almost equal to the Russian bridgehead in Vovchansk (102 sq. km) without the nearby intrusion north of Lyptsy (86 sq. km).
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station emerges as a realistically attainable concession the US and Ukraine are trying extract from Putin, judging by Trump’s and Zelensky’s statements. Russian position on that is unclear. (1)
March 17, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station emerges as a realistically attainable concession the US and Ukraine are trying extract from Putin, judging by Trump’s and Zelensky’s statements. Russian position on that is unclear. (1)
The realistically attainable framework of peace agreement in Ukraine is clear to all participants. It will be much harder to sell it to Ukrainians, as well as Western audiences, who have been fed with unrealistic expectations for three years. My latest for BNE: www.bne.eu/ragozin-what...
RAGOZIN: What did we die for?
In the morning on March 11, the Guardian ran an article by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. It stated that a ...
www.bne.eu
March 14, 2025 at 6:31 PM
The realistically attainable framework of peace agreement in Ukraine is clear to all participants. It will be much harder to sell it to Ukrainians, as well as Western audiences, who have been fed with unrealistic expectations for three years. My latest for BNE: www.bne.eu/ragozin-what...
Reposted by Leonid Ragozin
I asked Russia's foreign minister if Moscow still opposes idea of European peacekeepers in Ukraine. Sergei Lavrov replied "We see no room for compromise...this would mean no longer hybrid involvement, but the direct, official, unconcealed participation of Nato countries in war against Russia."
March 6, 2025 at 12:51 PM
I asked Russia's foreign minister if Moscow still opposes idea of European peacekeepers in Ukraine. Sergei Lavrov replied "We see no room for compromise...this would mean no longer hybrid involvement, but the direct, official, unconcealed participation of Nato countries in war against Russia."
What the flurry of diplomatic activity and heated rhetoric over Ukraine conceals is damage control and the ensuing blame game. What else to expect from a political culture, in which messaging trumps substance. My latest for @al-jazeera-english.bsky.social www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
The blame game over the debacle in Ukraine has started
Trump, Zelenskyy and the Europeans are desperately trying to deliver the bitter truth to the public and evade blame.
www.aljazeera.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
What the flurry of diplomatic activity and heated rhetoric over Ukraine conceals is damage control and the ensuing blame game. What else to expect from a political culture, in which messaging trumps substance. My latest for @al-jazeera-english.bsky.social www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
If you are extremely shocked by how the conflict in Ukraine is culminating, then perhaps your echo chamber shields you from crucial facts and creates multiple blind zones. (1)
March 4, 2025 at 10:04 AM
If you are extremely shocked by how the conflict in Ukraine is culminating, then perhaps your echo chamber shields you from crucial facts and creates multiple blind zones. (1)
Other signals, apart from virtue signalling:
“Despite pledges of support for Ukraine, some European leaders have signalled to Kyiv that they would rather see them repair their ties with Washington than move on completely without the US.”
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
“Despite pledges of support for Ukraine, some European leaders have signalled to Kyiv that they would rather see them repair their ties with Washington than move on completely without the US.”
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
Europe inches towards Ukraine peace plan, but only baby steps away from US - Euractiv
Europe “must do the heavy lifting” but the “effort must have strong US backing”, UK's Starmer said.
www.euractiv.com
March 3, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Other signals, apart from virtue signalling:
“Despite pledges of support for Ukraine, some European leaders have signalled to Kyiv that they would rather see them repair their ties with Washington than move on completely without the US.”
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
“Despite pledges of support for Ukraine, some European leaders have signalled to Kyiv that they would rather see them repair their ties with Washington than move on completely without the US.”
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
It didn’t have to end like this for Ukraine. It could have ended with lofty words, shy smiles, pats on the back and gentle nudges towards negotiations table. (1)
March 1, 2025 at 8:55 AM
It didn’t have to end like this for Ukraine. It could have ended with lofty words, shy smiles, pats on the back and gentle nudges towards negotiations table. (1)
Reviving my dormant Substack with this post about Trump’s paradox. What if this perceived political baddie stops a brutal conflict which his supposedly virtuous opponents helped to foment?
Editors wishing me to develop it into a longer piece are welcome. t.co/K9mCxpza6m
Editors wishing me to develop it into a longer piece are welcome. t.co/K9mCxpza6m
February 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reviving my dormant Substack with this post about Trump’s paradox. What if this perceived political baddie stops a brutal conflict which his supposedly virtuous opponents helped to foment?
Editors wishing me to develop it into a longer piece are welcome. t.co/K9mCxpza6m
Editors wishing me to develop it into a longer piece are welcome. t.co/K9mCxpza6m