One man's fight to renounce his Russian citizenship - the story of historian Dr. Sergey Radchenko

I was honored to have back on the show Dr. Sergey Radchenko - though this time the focus of the conversation was not about history or negotiations, but instead on his own inspiring and thought-provoking personal journey. Recently he published in the British paper The Guardian his personal journey in renouncing his Russian citizenship due to the disgust he felt at being associated as a Russian with the atrocities and war crimes of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In that powerful piece, Dr. Radchenko reflects on his own identity, internal struggle, and sense of collective guilt he felt due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We also had time at the end to discuss the state of affairs of the War in Ukraine and the War in Iran, and Dr. Radchenko's view of negotiations and where they sit in their historical context. Given the lack of progress in talks with Russia, what does Trump not understand about dealing with the Russians? Is the War in Iran as positive for Russia as it seems? Is the War in Iran the US's Suez Crisis (the end of the British empire)? Read the full article in The Guardian here - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/09/i-had-poked-the-bear-right-in-the-eye-my-fight-to-renounce-my-russian-citizenship The Foreign Policy article - https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/30/trump-putin-iran-war-hormuz-oil-israel-sanctions/ About the Guest Dr. Sergey Radchenko is a leading historian of Soviet/Russian foreign policy and Sino-Russian relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). To learn more, visit: https://ubn.network/ To connect and message with Mark on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mcnamee-58950910 Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters: https://missionmatters.com/author/Mark-McNamee/