The Putin Files: Yekaterina Schulmann 

Непривычно слышать Екатерину Михайловну, говорящую со скоростью обычного человека😊

She is probably the best commentator on Russian events. I wish you could interview her again, commenting on Putin's decision to start a war with a neighbouring country.

You hear Yekaterina in English and you probably like her clear speech filled with precision of thought. Now multiply it by ten when she does this in her native language. That's how good she really is

Ekaterina Michailovna Schulman has her own RU-vid channel where she talks about internal politics (it’s in Russian) and also a Tuesday program on Echo of Moscow (the radio station was shut down a couple of weeks ago). Listening to her is sort of reassuring for people in these times, she explains many things in such a simple yet eloquent way. We really love her and every now and then just hope some day a person like her would be the head of Russia. I personally think that this is a true patriot of our country, not the old f-ing spy with botox cheeks. I’m just happy English speakers can listen to her, even if it’s a small part of what she does and thinks.

Шульмоман найдет и послушает интервью даже на английском))))))

I'm from Russia and I'm so proud of persons like Ekaterina Shulman ,she is incredible, smarties, intelligent, real professional!

I love how she clearly avoids personal statements allthough the interviewer tries several times to ask her about what she feels as a person. It would be great if more political scientist would follow her on that. Отлично!

As a Russian I totally trust Shulmann in representing our country.

I love this woman's commentary. She is no nonsense and 'tell it like it is'. I've watched many other 'Putin Files' on you tube but she is one of my favorites.

She does an excellent job of showing why it's important to study the past in order to understand the present.

As a russian, I would translate our expression for 90s - "Lihii devyanostii" - "Лихие девяностые" - as "Bold nineties". As it contains a meaning of dangerous courage one should have had to overcome those boiling times. Such a joy to see Yekaterina Schulmann expressing her thoughts on a subject, being one of the very few people of today's Russia we are actually proud of. In a country, drunk with propaganda and held in an iron fist, we cherish those who are able to even think clearly, have an opinion and common sense, backed up with research and ability to analyse, and not to mention: express said opinion. Glad that people from other countries could actually see a rare Russian with a human face and brilliant mind. Thank you for who you are, dear Yekaterina Schulmann)

This woman's speech is eloquent., and she's quick to give a pinpoint answer to anything, down to the figurative nanometer, yet each answer has the depth of understanding of an ocean, and she just distills it like she's repeating your coffee order back to you. It's like listening to the sociological version of a master cake decorator.

This is the third interview I have watched in this Putin Files series and they just keep getting better and better. Thank you Frontline. And wow. Ms. Schulmann is clearly a supremely intelligent individual who is very clear about what she feels she can accurately speak to and what she feels is beyond her scope of expertise. The extraordinary thing about this interview for me was the many moments of validation regarding the wanderings of my own mind lately in regard to politics, the current moment, the impact of the Information Age, and the over importance of trying to "read people's minds." Her ability to place Russian political history within the context of political history in general is impressive and most helpful. There is so much worth learning in this one hour it is difficult to select anything as a highlight, but her comparison of the impacts of the Information Age to the impacts of the invention of the printing press felt so illuminating and spot on that for the first time in the past few years I was able to say, "Yessssss, now I get it, all of it."

She’s truly amazing🔥. Intelligent, brave, open minded with a fantastic sense of humor. Literature fan. She analyzes politics in Tolkien universe just for fun 😆 Loving every word she says ♥️

very impressed with her, she makes a lot of sense and does not come across as having political agenda like other Russians interviewed in this fabulous series

One thing I took out of this beautiful interview is; The interviewee is far more intelligent than the interviewer.

From a Greek-American historian who fell in love with St. Petersburg back when it was Leningrad in 1981, and lived in Piter from 1990 to 2005, hats off to you, Ms. Schulmann!! Your insight is wonderful and very rich. Forgive me for writing such a long message, but my Russian wife (a native Petersburger) and I have been shocked by what is going on in Russia. She is currently assisting Ukrainian refugees in a camp in Rafina, a small port 30 kilometers northeast of Athens, Greece, where we live. The other day, while riding my Yamaha, I was pleasantly surprised to see a car with a sign taped to the inside of the rear window that read “Russians against war.” The sign had a Russian and a Ukrainian flag on either side of a heart. I honked my horn and gave them the thumbs up! When the Soviet Union collapsed like a house of cards in 1991, the western establishment’s aim was to render Russia as weak and dependent as possible. Conversely, the Holy Grail for Putin has long been to break up NATO and cast himself as a national hero, a modern-day Alexander Nevsky, Peter the Great and Stalin guarding against foreign enemies. Washington used the lessons it learned from the Vietnam War to trick the Soviet Union into getting bogged down in Afghanistan. Now NATO has managed to lure Vladimir Putin into Ukraine. They did this by constantly expanding eastward and pretending they wanted Ukraine in the organization, when they didn’t. Whatever the outcome of the war on the ground, Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression has guaranteed the end of Vladimir Putin’s kleptocracy that was forged in the nineties when the Mafia and the security services cooperated in looting the Soviet Union’s wealth. Putin’s implicit bargain with the Russian people was that he’d deliver economic growth and they’d let him erode their rights. When the oil-and-gas-fueled expansion ended in 2008, he put everyone on a daily diet of Great Russian chauvinism and imperial revanchism. The efforts bore fruit. Ask the average Russian teenager what they know about the revolution in 1917, and they’ll shrug their shoulders. But like parrots they repeat that Stalin, more than anyone else, saved the planet from fascism in WWII. Never mind that it was the Soviet people who defeated the Nazis, and not Stalin. Consciously or not, the Kremlin uses Hitler to whitewash Stalin. On the morning of February 24, when Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine, he declared on national television that Russia was fighting “drug addicts and neo-Nazis.” Perhaps Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has smoked a joint in his day but as a Jew he’s certainly no neo-Nazi. Putin’s loose use of epithets is reminiscent of Stalin’s during the Great Terror in the thirties. Thousands of people were sent to an early grave for being Hitler’s spies-when many were Jewish. Ironically-and quite tellingly-seven months ago, in July 2021, Putin’s government passed legislation making it a crime to equate Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Over the long years of his rule, many Russians became “Z”ombies, as Putin’s enemies dub them. They believe the Kremlin’s propaganda and support its war in Ukraine. Α month into the hostilities, however, more and more people are turning off the television and switching on their brains. They see their president’s folly and crimes. They see that they are waist-deep in the cesspool Putin dug for them. The refrigerator will beat the television in Mother Russia. So far the anti-war protests are by people with a university education, most of whom are liberal. They are immediately arrested. Interesting, though, the police quickly release most of them. This is weakness masquerading as noblesse oblige. Despite Putin’s Goebbelsian rhetoric about “purifying” Russia of “traitors,” the smarter siloviki, or “strongmen,” that is, members of the military, police and FSB, recognize the dangers of pressuring a discontented people too much. Some analysts argue that if Putin remains in power he’ll have to turn to China as a supplicant. They say Russia will become China’s vassal and that Chinese merchants and peasants will populate Siberia’s endless tracts of fertile, global-warming-thawed land. They believe Orwellian state capitalism will be imposed on Russia and corrupt businesspeople will be executed, as they are in China. With the exception of Chinese migration into Siberia, which is not new, this scenario is highly unlikely. It clashes with the entire dynamic of Russian history. From Byzantine times through Peter the Great and Lenin’s communists, Russia has identified with the West. Even at the peak of the Cold War, the country was never as isolated as it is today. Vladimir Putin has made his people feel like international pariahs. Even if a silovik isn’t found to arrest or kill the Master of the Kremlin, there are two formidable nemeses waiting around the corner for him. Disgruntled workers, many of whom are employed in the country’s large and politically neuralgic public sector, will take to the streets. Russia’s business class is another serious enemy now that the ruble has been destroyed. These people are now sworn foes of Putin’s. Sooner rather than later, the regime in Moscow will be replaced by a Western-looking government that will strive to be as unlike Putin as possible. Looking far down this road, the war in Ukraine may have opened the door for the eventual dismantling or collapse of NATO. The consequences of this war are enormous and reach far beyond Ukraine or Russia. The world middle class will receive its coup de grace and poor countries will suffer terrible privations. There will be anger and polarization everywhere, especially in China and the US, where inequality is extreme. Social stability will be shattered. Rather than a new world war, what we may be witnessing is the stage setting for world turmoil and revolution, with people in the US, China, Europe, India, Iran, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina all synchronously demanding drastic change. Again, apologies for my long-windedness and KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK (so long as you stay safe).

This is a terrific series. One of the many things you can glean from this informative interview is how the American press's shameful obsession with personality prevents them from understanding the big picture, and the deep picture. It's great that Schulmann points out that the Russian govt is not just one man. Also, I love that she refuses to speculate about what is going on in other people's heads. We need more of that.

Yekaterina is brilliant, she is a professor at the university in Moscow, she is super professional and is my favorite speaker who guides my understanding in these terrible times. Thank you!

She looks like a time travelling intellectual from a couple centuries back

There's an Ostrovsky's play called "Storm" which we all know from school since it is a part of the educational program in Russia. So its main character's name is Katerina, she's called "a gleam of light in the dark kingdom". Yekaterina Schlumann's videos are popular in russian RU-vid, and the commentators often call her that🙌🏻❤️ just saying 😅

Pray for this woman and her husband - (for) people who have so much courage!

Schulman for RF President in 2024

She's incredible.

Ms Shulmann is an impressive guest ! Especially how articulate she is in English, covered a lot of territory ! She is a reminder though in the shadows, Russia has huge resource of educated wide awake people. Here’s hoping they find their way out, to replace the madmen ! 🇨🇦🙏🇺🇦

With more people like her Russia can have a great future.

She is absolutely brilliant and has answered so many questions I have had about Russia and how Putin is where he is.

Great interview. Ms. Schulmann is extremely knowledgeable.

This woman needs to be heard out loud in this world.

These "Putin Files" interview should be required viewing for everyone at this point in history.

I love this woman:-) The interviewer is (in all interviews of the series) fishing if it comes to the appartment bombings but never explicitly...and she just asks him...what is your question?

She has intelligent and kind eyes

I really enjoyed this one, i could listen to her for hours. Bravo, Frontline!

"...the period of tectonic change .." How beautifully she handles the language. If only Americans valued education so much that it allows more of them to master their own language with similar ability.

From this whole series of episodes this is the only one (that I watched so far) which is very close to how it actually is because Schulmann is speaking about the facts, not about her own opinion. And I'm interested in others' opinions, the problem is e.g. Albats and Zygar are talking about their own POVs as facts and make too many assumptions.

She is amazing. Love from Finland.

posting these raw interviews provides a invaluable public service. thank you

Such an insightful interview. I love how forthcoming she is.

Dear Ekaterina, thanks a lot for the bringing the light of your knowledge! And also i want to admit, your English is perfect. Thank you for improving my English and extending my English vocabulary.

Давно смотрела интервью, но пришла почитать восторженные комментарии. Судя по всему, Екатерина Михайловна производит на всех такое впечатление))

Очень интересное интервью. Катерина, мне так кажется, по английски я вас понимаю лучше чем по русски. Вы говорите медленнее, мысли выражены точнее. так мне кажется)

I have listened her in Russian many times and I am really surprised how good is her English.

One of the outstanding Russian women!

Brilliant woman, brilliant analyse and brilliant responses!! Not so much the tv interviewer I must say, he is not at the same level as her

This lady does not tolerate fools gladly. I like her. 👍

What a clever perceptive woman- I can watch her interview again and again; also the intrviewers probing questions stimulated her reflections so well. Bravo!

Thank you a lot!!!!

The Russian interviewees in this series were outstanding. Superb. I feel elevated, hopeful and chastened.

Thanks God for giving us Ekaterina Shulman ❤️

She is brilliant. Thank you, Yekaterina for your intelligent insights and calm delivery. Она великолепна. Спасибо, Екатерина, за умные мысли и спокойное изложение. (I'm trusting google translate here. Я доверяю гугл-переводчику здесь )

Love these ladies from the other side in this series. They're so direct & literal & specific.

What a beautiful mind. She seems to have a unique perspective on everything discussed.

Thank you both very much for sharing your comments!

I love Ekatarina Michailovna. Listening to her on her RU-vid channel is a challenge for non native speakers. She speaks so fast.But it is worth the efford. She's just brilliant.

That bit about the external locus of control being a sort of psychological disorder... that alone was so important and prescient. It was toward the end of the first half of her interview

An intellectual. Truth Sayer👏👏👏

she is amazing! really interesting what she says. now she is declared a "foreign agent". what a shame. keep going ekaterina !

In fact internal and external locus of control happen simultaneously or successively in a kind of dynamic like the slide that controls bass and treble.

She’s amazing, always love her analysis

Brilliant interview. Thank you

Yekaterina is a ray of bright intelligent guiding light for all of us, people, who need to see through the dark today.

Вижу Екатерину Михайловну ставлю лайк 👍🏻

Excellent! A pleasure to hear.

Amazing interview ✨

Yekaterina Shulman one of the bravest women in Russia. Love her Екатерина Шульман прекрасна. Она говорит правду

Wow, the interview happened 4 years ago, and I caught it only today... Ekaterina speaks English with same clearness as she does it in Russian. Extraordinary Russian woman!

This was perfect thank you

Thankyou PBS, just wonderful material, I particularly love the lenght of it, very thorough, I love it.

Какая умница. My best analyst

I have to be honest here, some interview-documentaries are boring because there is nothing entertaining. anyways, as I go along listening to Ekaterina, you will never get bored, the way she express factual events and its rhetoric is very good to the ears, very intelligent presentation and explanation , and later yes, her beauty will make you mesmerize (haha). This 5yr.old interview feels politically like a current-date interview. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Amazing Interview. Amazing Insight, Excellent Questions... thank you both ..

Damn she's smart.

Ради таким моментов стоит учить английский

what a brilliant person!

So far this looks like the only person on the list who breaks down the unbelievable prejudice of American journalists with intelligent, rational, realistic argument.

So smart. Brave.

I love her way with words.... So honest.

Yekaterina Schulmann is brilliant 👍.

Of all the Russia 'experts' I've seen in this series of interview, her and the other Russian journalist Albats seem the best informed.

The take on post-truth and informational/media revolution feels almost as if it is ahead of its time I am surprised they've touched it 5 years ago, and in my opinion their assessment is on point

We love Ekaterina!!!

I find it illuminating to hear history from a Russian point of view. Thank you.

Wow! So on point! Excellent interviewee!

To get the full extend of Shulman’s “machine gun fire” style of delivery, switch to 1,25 (for the first time viewer) playblack speed. Her brain functions at 1,5 times of speed of a normal human.

45:14 on post-truth, hierarchies of truth, consumers/producers of content, Gutenberg press... brilliant.

Thank you so much!

Interview Yekaterina again please!

I couldn't help but replace Russia with United States in most everything she said. Who will get the oligarchs to respect the law?

Exquisite interview(ee)

I love to hear her talk. She is very sharp.

I appreciate the emphasis on material conditions influencing events and the de-emphasis of "great man" narratives.

Very cogent analysis.

The Goddess will bless RU-vid algorithms for Yekaterina Mikhailovna in such an unexpected place She is wonderful

WHAT A LECTURE!

Really interesting

Very smart. An actually smart person.

Made rus subtitles please

This woman is killing the vocabulary game, in what I assume is her second language. Also, the ‘lesser demons’ comment made me giggle 🤣

Fantastic!~ Thank you!

Good point " external locus of control. " or internal locus of control is equally delusional.