‘I had poked the bear right in the eye’: my fight to renounce my Russian citizenship

About this episode

Sergey Radchenko discusses his personal struggle to renounce his Russian citizenship in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.

When Putin invaded Ukraine, he raised murder to the level of national policy. I felt guilt by association. And I had to act Written and read by Sergey Radchenko. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

People in this episode

Guest: Sergey Radchenko

Topics covered

• Russian citizenship
• Putin
• Ukraine invasion
• guilt by association
• national policy
• personal struggle

Keywords

• Russian citizenship
• Putin
• Ukraine
• guilt
• national policy
• Sergey Radchenko

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Guardian

Places: Russia, Ukraine

More episodes of The Audio Long Read

• ‘Should we leave them to die?’ The battle over how to save orangutans from the curse of palm oil · June 12, 2026 · 42 min
• From the archive: Sold to the Trump family: one of the last undeveloped islands in the Mediterranean · June 10, 2026 · 21 min
• Prisoner number 804: the plot to erase Imran Khan · June 8, 2026 · 48 min
• ‘I couldn’t breathe’: the sinister spread of France’s killer seaweed · June 5, 2026 · 32 min
• Three abandoned children, two missing parents and a 40-year mystery · June 3, 2026 · 48 min
• After a hard-fought victory to legalise medical cannabis in the UK, why is it still so hard to access? · June 1, 2026 · 30 min