During the interview, Batsman and Belkovsky discussed, in particular:
- criminal case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov;
- death of businessman and former senator Umar Dzhabrailov;
- detention in Russia of former First Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan Tsalikov;
- can Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán seek military assistance from illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin if he loses the election;
- how the liquidation of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei affected Putin;
- when presidential elections can take place in Ukraine, and who can win them.
Belkovsky was born in 1971 in Moscow. Graduated from the Faculty of Economic Cybernetics of the Moscow Institute of Management. He worked as a programmer for some time, then took up political consulting. Over the years, he collaborated with such politicians as Boris Berezovsky, Irina Khakamada, Konstantin Borovoy.
In 2002, he founded the organization “Council for National Strategy,” which brought together a group of 23 Russian experts, and was its leader for several years. In April 2004, he created and headed the Institute of National Strategy organization, but five years later he announced his resignation from its membership. In 2003, he prepared several high-profile reports, including “Putin’s Loneliness” and “State and Oligarchy.” He hosted his own program on the radio station “Echo of Moscow”.
The political scientist often comments on what is happening in Ukraine and Russia and criticizes Putin’s policies.
In March 2022, after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, he left Russia, where he was recognized as a “foreign agent.”
