Tag: interview

#60. A New Beginning in Russia: Why Olga Petersen Left Germany

Interview
Published: August 27, 2026
By: Patrik Baab

Olga Petersen

In this interview, Olga Petersen, a former AfD member of the Hamburg Parliament, recounts her escape from Germany to Russia. The focus is on how a democratically elected representative was forced by political pressure, media smear campaigns, and the manipulation of state institutions such as the youth welfare office to flee her homeland with her four children and a dog.

The interview with Olga Petersen covers:
– The clandestine escape: Why Olga Petersen left Germany under the pretext of a vacation and how she only revealed the truth to her children upon arrival in Russia.
– Political pressure in parliament: The consequences of her refusal to give a Ukrainian delegation a standing ovation and how a “damaged image” in the media triggered a wave of reprisals.
– Election observation in Moscow: Her experiences during the 2024 presidential election and why her fact-based reporting was considered high treason against the German government’s narrative in Germany.
– Collective punishment and indoctrination: How schools and youth welfare offices were instrumentalized to exert pressure on their children – from gender ideology to direct threats against the family.
– Transhumanism and control regimes: An analysis of the attempt to erode human identity and the foundation of the family through pseudosciences such as gender theory.
– Educational comparison: Germany vs. Russia: Why her children in Russia now have to master a significantly more demanding curriculum and why the German education system is knowingly heading towards a “new illiteracy.”

“As soon as you’re not against Russia, you’re the enemy of democracy.”

Olga Petersen, who has now found new security for her family in Russia, advocates a return to German interests and a sovereign foreign policy. She sees the current developments as a dangerous dead end in which young people are being instrumentalized for foreign interests.
A discussion about the anatomy of political persecution in modern Germany, the courage to resist, and the vision of a new, honest partnership between Germany and Russia.

Timestamps

  1. Introduction: The Escape from Germany – 00:00
  2. The First Year in Russia: Arriving and Realizing – 01:40
  3. The Scandal in the Civic Assembly: Refusal to Applaud Ukraine – 06:10
  4. War in Donbas: The Suppressed Prehistory – 09:40
  5. Arms Mania: When Only the Weapons Industry Flourishes – 12:50
  6. Reprisals and Threats: Everyday Life as an Opposition Member – 14:40
  7. Election Observation 2024: Why Facts Became a Danger – 17:00
  8. “Men in Civilian Clothes”: Intelligence Service Pressure Upon Return – 21:20
  9. Gender Madness in Schools: The Indoctrination of Children – 24:00
  10. Collective Punishment: When the Youth Welfare Office Is Politically Instrumentalized – 26:30
  11. The AfD in Conflict: Transatlanticists vs. Realpolitikers – 29:40
  12. The Logic of Capital: Ideologies as Playthings of the Powerful – 33:20
  13. Transsexualism as a Health Insurance Benefit: The Government’s Priorities – 37:10
  14. Dehumanization: The Path to Transhumanism – 41:10
  15. Education Check: Why Russia Is Leaving Germany Behind – 44:50
  16. Values ​​and Homeland: The Significance of Anthem and Tradition – 48:20
  17. Patriotism vs. Nationalism: The Love for Two Countries – 50:40
  18. BlackRock and the Interests of the Globalists – 53:50
  19. The Last World War? The Danger of Nuclear Escalation – 55:40
  20. Outlook: Perspectives for a Sovereign Future – 57:30

#59. La Stampa (Italy) Interviews Ivan Katchanovski: Russia-Ukraine War and Peace

La Stampa 1 (Italy) Interview Concerning the Russia-Ukraine War and Peace
Published version in La Stampa (In Italian), July 28, 2026
Published English version: August 25, 2026
On: Substack
By: Ivan Katchanovski

Orlando Trinchi: Trump-Zelensky meeting: what do you expect?

Professor Ivan Katchanovski: Trump can be often unexpected and often changes his public views, in particular, concerning the Russia-Ukraine war and its peaceful resolution. I do not expect any viable peace agreement as a result of his meeting with Zelensky. Russia repeatedly stated that they would not accept any ceasefire unless Zelensky would agree to withdrawal of the Ukrainian forces from the remaining part of Donbas.

Orlando Trinchi: In your opinion, will new negotiations open to finally end the conflict in Ukraine?

Professor Ivan Katchanovski: The chances of ending the war in Ukraine via a peace deal are less than the chances of the continuation of the war until at least the end of this year. Putin and other Russian officials state that Russia can end the war on the terms of the informal peace agreement between Trump and Putin at the Anchorage summit. Withdrawal of the Ukrainian forces from all of Donbas and no NATO membership of Ukraine are key parts that reflect Russian demands. However, Zelensky and leaders of the UK, France, Germany and other European countries refused to accept it and proposed a peace deal on their terms, which are unacceptable to Russia. Marco Rubio-led Neocon faction of the Trump administration basically did the same and apparently persuaded Trump, at least for now, to do the same.

Orlando Trinchi: Donald Trump has guaranteed that Kiev will be granted a license to produce Patriot missiles. Do you think the US stance toward Ukraine has become more accommodating?

Professor Ivan Katchanovski: The Trump decision actually means refusal to sell the Patriot missiles to Ukraine via the NATO countries. The licensing of the Patriot missiles is unlikely to produce such missiles in Ukraine for a year or more. But Trump became more accommodating to Zelensky. He refused to use the leverage that the US has over Zelensky and Ukraine to compel them to accept the peace deal on the terms that were informally agreed by Trump and Putin in Anchorage. Trump also authorized the CIA to provide US intelligence and guidance for the Ukrainian long-range drone and missile strikes targeting the Russian oil refineries and Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Orlando Trinchi: There has been a change in military leadership, with Fedorov and Syrsky replaced, but the protests aren’t calming down. What do you think?

Professor Ivan Katchanovski: These relatively small protests demand that Zelensky reinstated Fedorov as the minister of defence. Zelensky is unlikely to do this because he sacked the entire cabinet to get rid of Fedorov, his long-term associate whom he now regards as his potential rival for presidency. Zelensky wants to eliminate any potential challengers for his rule Ukraine.

Orlando Trinchi: How do you assess the course of the conflict for the parties involved?

Professor Ivan Katchanovski: The Ukrainian forces this year launched a limited counteroffensive and were able to recapture some territory. Russian territorial advanced slowed down considerably this year compared to the previous one. But Russia still advances and captures more territory, in particular, Kostiantynivka, and approaches Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in Donbas. The Ukrainian drone strikes damaged significant number of Russian oil facilities. But they could not halt Russian oil production, refinement, and export. Russian oil revenues, including taxes from the oil extraction, increased significantly because of the oil prices jump as result of the US and Israel’s’ war with Iran and blocking of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran in response.

The claims and limited Ukrainian advances and long-range strikes are used to create the alternative reality in Ukraine and the West that Ukraine turned the tide of the war and winning the war. This this done to propagate the continuation of the unwinnable war for Ukraine.

Russia by all measures is winning the war with Ukraine, which is also a proxy war with NATO. It controls close to 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine and has escalation dominance. As my open access book “The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins” shows, the war is likely to end with a partial defeat of Ukraine.

Ukraine has advantage of using NATO countries as its weapons production, supply, and repair base, which is safe, at least for now, from the Russian strikes. Russia is likely again to target power plants and powers substations when the winter approaches. Russia will try to achieve its major war goal of capturing the territory of the entire Donbas.

But the size of the territory captured is not an accurate measure of the state of war of attrition. Relative military casualties are more important. My new in press book 2 estimates that at least 230,000 Russian and Donbas separatist forces members and around 250,000 Ukrainian forces members were killed during the Russia-Ukraine war. This estimate is based on killed and missing in action individuals identified by name by BBC Russian and Mediazona and the Ualosses site and adjusted for undercounting gaps to make them more comparable. The Zelensky government relies on forced mobilization. Thousands of videos posted by Ukrainians on the social media show use of force by military draft officers to mobilize men in by snatching them on the streets, in stores, buses, parks, homes, workplaces, etc.

Substack

Footnotes

  1. La Stampa (lit. ’The Press’) is an Italian daily newspaper. Headquartered in Turin and owned by the Agnelli family, La Stampa is one of Italy’s oldest and most prominent national newspapers. (Wikipedia) ↩︎
  2. An earlier version (2013) was published in ResearchGate ↩︎

#55. A Big Interview with Yulia Latynina

“They Left Us No Choice.”
Latynina on the Maidan, the war,
and how the West “divorced” both Ukraine and Russia.

Published: July 12, 2026
By: Панченко LIVE 1
On: YouTube

Yulia Latynina [Source – CC BY-SA 4.0]

Today, our guest is Yulia Latynina—one of Russia’s most famous journalists, the former voice of Ekho Moskvy 2 and Novaya Gazeta 3, a person considered for years a symbol of the liberal opposition 4 and an unconditional supporter of the Western agenda.
But in this conversation, you’ll see a very different Latynina 5.

Who, in her opinion, fired shots on the Maidan? Why were Russian-speaking Ukrainians turned into strangers in their own country? How did the West exploit Ukraine in its own grand game? Why did a conflict they promised to prevent ultimately lead to Russians and Ukrainians finding themselves on opposite sides of the front?

After this interview, some will say that Latynina betrayed her own people. Others say she said for the first time what many were afraid to say out loud.

Timecodes:
01. Introduction — 00:00
02. Introduction and why Latynina watches Panchenko’s channel — 00:41
03. Russian language in Ukraine: what Russian liberals 6 overlooked — 02:09
04. How to admit your mistakes and not fear “cancellation” — 03:33
05. Accusations of a “new trough”: grants and USAID 7 , 8 — 05:32
06. Maidan 2014 through Panchenko’s eyes: “black sheep” in their own country — 07:06
07. “Three types of Ukrainians” — 09:59
08. Sternenko, the “Russo-cutter,” and the murder charge — 11:15
09. Who really shot on the Maidan? 9 , 10 — 15:32
10. Korsun, Anti-Maidan Buses, and Right-Wing Activists — 20:47
11. Odessa, May 2: Trade Union House — 22:12
12.The First Night of Maidan: Provocateurs, Inter, Lyovochkin — 24:00
13. A Pre-Planned Scenario and Yanukovych’s Flight — 28:20
14. Maidan Money: Oligarchs, USAID 11, Jeffrey Sachs 12, 13 — 34:03
15. Russia and Ukraine as “Western Colonies” — 38:42
16. 1991 and the Rosy Picture of the West — 42:24
17. What is “Victory” for Russian Liberals? 14 — 45:04
18. Soft Power: Activists as a “Second State” — 46:22
19. Zelensky, Paris, and 70 NGOs against Peace — 47:03
20. Do You Trust Putin Today? — 51:24
21. February 24, 2022: Elite Shock and a “Stream of Shit” Addressed to Russians — 52:16
22. The Victim Has the Right to Everything 15 — 55:52
23. Zelensky’s Team Euphoria and London 2020 — 1:04:06
24. Who’s Winning and Whom Latynina Is Rooting for — 1:06:38
25. Istanbul, Trump, and the Game Against China — 1:08:26
26. Who Benefits from War: The US, Europe, and the Thucydides Trap — 1:10:30
27. Balance of Power: Russia vs. Europe — 1:14:33
28. Does Latynina Want to Return to Russia? — 1:19:06
29. Would They Head an RT Analogue? — 1:23:39
30. Panchenko’s Personal Story: Losing Friends and Returning People — 1:25:08
31. The Idea of ​​a Great Debate: Solovyov, Korchinsky, and Others — 1:26:07
32. Can Russians and Ukrainians Fight Together Against the West? — 1:27:31
33. Are Russians Fighting Russians? — 1:31:13
34. Why Was the Russian Press Silent? — 1:35:14
35. Will Russia Become “Fashionable” Again? The Dud Phenomenon — 1:37:02
36. Poland’s U-Turn and Karaganov’s Signals — 1:38:21
37. Sacralization of Death and the Seizure of Churches in Ukraine — 1:42:11
38. “Ukrainians Are the Most Unfree People” — 1:44:00
39. Finale and Acknowledgments — 1:45:29

Footnotes

  1. Панченко LIVE: owner is Diana Panchenko, born 21 May 1988, Nikolayev(Lviv region), Ukrainian SSR, USSR. In August 2025, Panchenko’s YouTube channel, which had 1.8 million subscribers and millions of views as of September 2024, was deleted following a request from Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation. ↩︎
  2. Wikipedia English: Echo of Moscow; Wikipedia Russian: Эхо Москвы ↩︎
  3. Website: Novaya Gazeta / Wikipedia English: Novaya Gazeta / Wikipedia Russian: Новая газета ↩︎
  4. Liberal opposition: see also the post: 53. Yulia Latynina: the Russian opposition journalist ↩︎
  5. Read also the post: 53. Yulia Latynina: the Russian opposition journalist ↩︎
  6. The term “liberals” is in Russia used for those who oppose the Putin government. See also 53. Yulia Latynina: the Russian opposition journalis ↩︎
  7. USAID: see also blog post 12. Ukraine and USAID ↩︎
  8. USAID: See also the short video on Panchenko’s YouTube channel about this subject “Bags of money on the Maidan“: “I saw money being handed over on the Maidan myself.”
    Panchenko and Latynina discuss who financed the Maidan: Western money through USAID, oligarchs’ money, and funding of Ukrainian media. And why no “Maidan” is possible without the support of the media and intelligence agencies. ↩︎
  9. Referred to is professor Ivan Katchanovski, who researched the entire “Maidan” revolt and massacre, and this is all collected in the book, available on the website of Springer Link: see The Russia Ukraine War And Its Origins, From the Maidan to the Ukraine War
    NOTE: Please sign 51. An Open Letter in Support of Academic Freedom and Ivan Katchanovski (Published) ↩︎
  10. See also the short video: “The “victim” label justifies everything“: Latynina on one simple question about Maidan 2014: if the shooting took place from the Ukraina Hotel (as Ivan Katchanovsky’s investigation shows), then why hasn’t the authorities found the snipers in over 10 years? Because they didn’t want to. ↩︎
  11. USAID: See also the short video on Panchenko’s YouTube channel about this subject “Bags of money on the Maidan“: “I saw money being handed over on the Maidan myself.”
    Panchenko and Latynina discuss who financed the Maidan: Western money through USAID, oligarchs’ money, and funding of Ukrainian media. And why no “Maidan” is possible without the support of the media and intelligence agencies. ↩︎
  12. Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, website / YouTube ↩︎
  13. See also the short video on Panchenko’s YouTube channel about this subject “Bags of money on the Maidan“: “I saw money being handed over on the Maidan myself.”
    Panchenko and Latynina discuss who financed the Maidan: Western money through USAID, oligarchs’ money, and funding of Ukrainian media. And why no “Maidan” is possible without the support of the media and intelligence agencies. ↩︎
  14. Liberals: see also footnote 6, and the short video: Latynina: Russian liberals are useful idiots. Yulia Latynina, in an interview with Panchenko, discusses how the independent Russian press, in her opinion, was integrated into the vast USAID machine and failed to notice what she saw with her own eyes on the Maidan. ↩︎
  15. See also the short video: “The “victim” label justifies everything“: Latynina on one simple question about Maidan 2014: if the shooting took place from the Ukraina Hotel (as Ivan Katchanovsky’s investigation shows), then why hasn’t the authorities found the snipers in over 10 years? Because they didn’t want to. ↩︎

#54. Yulia Latynina: Being an enemy of the West is dangerous. Being its colony is fatal

Introduction

Being curious about Yulia Latynina’s way of analysing the current situation in Russia “Sustainable Politics” publishes this video, as a following up of the former post: 53. Yulia Latynina: the Russian opposition journalist. It is surprising to hear her mentioning the name Ivan Katchanovski1, and touting his research on the Maidan Massacre.

Video (subtitles available)

“Being an enemy of the West is dangerous. Being its colony is fatal”. Interview with Zhivoy Gvozd
Published: July 15, 2026
By: Yulia Latynina

Timestamps
00:00:00 Start of broadcast
00:00:18 Fuel crisis in Russia and gasoline shortages
00:10:45 Crimea’s status and perception of the North-Eastern Front
00:24:30 Propaganda, public sentiment, and the state of the Russian economy
00:36:20 Konstantinovka and the situation at the front
00:47:40 Donald Trump, sanctions, and Western policy
00:59:30 What could change the situation in Russia
01:07:10 Answers to viewers’ questions
01:11:30 End of broadcast

  1. Professor Ivan Katchanovski: The Russia Ukraine War And Its Origins, From the Maidan to the Ukraine War, his work is mentioned in the video, in a chapter that starts at about 9:35 in the video-interview. ↩︎

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