About this episode

Marc Bennetts discusses his experiences reporting from Russia and the impact of the Ukraine war on his life and career.

Marc Bennets has been reporting from Russia for over two decades. He’s covered Putin’s rise and consolidation of power, assassinations of oppositionists, mass protests, daily life, and even Russian football. It’s a storied career filled with zipping back and forth between Moscow and its regions. Marc also planted roots. He got married and became a dad. But then everything changed in February 2022 with Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. Should he stay and keep reporting and risk arrest or worse? Or should he pick up his life and family and leave like so many of his colleagues? Marc finally settled on the latter when word came he might be arrested. Now he focuses most of his reporting on the war and Ukraine. How did this all happen? How did Russia descend into madness? Marc’s new book looks to answer that question with personal fire and passion. Is Russia really saturated with Putin? Is there any way back? It’s been a decade since the Eurasian Knot spoke with Marc. So, we caught up and discussed his new book, The Descent: Witnessing Russia's Spiral Into Madness Under Putin, and how the war has irrevocably changed his life, profession, and Russia itself. Guest: Marc Bennetts spent…

People in this episode

Guest: Marc Bennetts

Topics covered

• journalism
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Putin
• war reporting
• personal narrative

Keywords

• Marc Bennetts
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Putin
• journalism
• war
• reporting
• The Descent

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Descent: Witnessing Russia's Spiral Into Madness Under Putin

Places: Russia, Ukraine

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