Today's show welcomes back Anton Barbashin, a political analyst focusing on Russia and the editorial director at Riddle, for a conversation about the different schools of thought and general drift and direction of foreign-policy expertise inside Russia.

Follow Anton on Twitter here and read Ivan Timofeyev's Valdai Club article here (in Russian), which is cited during the interview.

Music and audio for "The Russia Guy":

• Joey Pecoraro, "Russian Dance"
• Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”