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Russia, religion and the Middle East

Cultural discussion programme. Andrew Marr talks about Putin's aims at home and abroad with Masha Gessen, Dominic Rubin, Liwaa Yazji and Roy Allison.

Totalitarianism has reclaimed Russia. So journalist Masha Gessen tells Andrew Marr. Her book 'The Future is History' follows four figures born as the Soviet Union crumbled and whose new-found freedom is being slowly eradicated. The Soviet Union banned religion but ranked citizens by "nationality" - with Jews near the bottom and ethnic Russians at the top. Dominic Rubin explores the country's relationship with religion in 'Russia's Muslim Heartlands', while Oxford professor Roy Allison unpicks Russian involvement in the Arab world. Putin is influential as far away as Libya and Egypt, and is a key ally to the Assad regime in Syria. And just as Putin has mastered the art of propaganda at home, Moscow-born Liwaa Yazji looks at the role of propaganda in the Syrian civil war through her new play 'Goats'.

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43 minutes

Last on

Mon 4 Dec 2017 21:30

Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is an award-winning Russian-American journalist. She is a staff writer on The New Yorker and a visiting professor at Amherst College.Β 

The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia is published by Penguin Random House

Dominic Rubin

Dominic Rubin is a professor of Religion and Philosophy at The Higher School of Economics, Moscow. He has lived in Russia for the last eleven years.

Russia’s Muslim Heartlands: Islam in the Putin Era will be published by Hurst in February 2018.

Roy Allison

Professor Roy Allison is Professor of Russian and Eurasian International Relations at Oxford University.

Liwaa Yazji

Liwaa Yazji is a Syrian Playwright, Filmmaker, Screenwriter and Poet.

Goats by Liwaa Yazji, (translated by Katharine Halls) runs in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs until 30th December 2017. Β 

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Andrew Marr
Interviewed Guest Masha Gessen
Interviewed Guest Dominic Rubin
Interviewed Guest Liwaa Yazji
Interviewed Guest Roy Allison

Broadcasts

  • Mon 4 Dec 2017 09:00
  • Mon 4 Dec 2017 21:30

Podcast