Ep. 60 – Understanding Russia’s anti-democracy crackdown with Marcus Kolga and Vladimir Ashurkov

Pod Bless Canada

The world has followed closely the attempted assassination via poisoning, recent arrest, and now conviction of Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny. With thousands of Russian citizens having taken to the streets to protest the corrupt and authoritarian rule of President Vladimir Putin, many have asked whether countries like Canada will do anything in response to Russia’s brazen attempts to target, kill, or otherwise stifle the voices of Russian pro-democracy figures. To discuss these recent events and what the world ought to consider doing, MLI Senior Fellow Marcus Kolga spoke with Vladimir Ashurkov, the Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and a close colleague of Alexei Navalny. The two examine how measures like Magnitsky Sanctions could be used to hold corrupt and abusive officials in Russia (and beyond) to account. This episode of Pod Bless Canada is a joint podcast between the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, the University of Toronto’s Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES), and UpNorth Magazine.