The Transatlantic

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has also escalated a shadow war against the West. Using cyberattacks, destruction of property, arson, assassinations, and information operations, Russian agents sow chaos and fear, while probing and testing capabilities and responses in the event of a broader full-scale war. In a wide-ranging conversation, host Bakhti Nishanov talks to shadow war and energy expert Benjamin Schmitt about his experiences tracking Russia's sabotage attempts across the globe. They delve into Schmitt's quest to show the world how Russia's actions affect the lives and livelihoods of people throughout the West, a journey that has taken him from Chile to the Arctic to the Baltic Sea and beyond.  Read "Underwater Mayhem: Countering Threats to Energy and Critical Infrastructure Across the NATO Alliance and Beyond," here: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/subsea-sabotage-protecting-energy-infrastructure-from-hostile-aggression/  --- Benjamin L. Schmitt is a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds a joint academic appointment with the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. He is also a senior fellow and the director of the graduate program at Perry World House. At Penn, Schmitt focuses on the project development and field deployment of the Simons Observatory, a new set of experimental cosmology telescopes and energy support infrastructure under construction at a high-altitude site in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. In his joint role at Penn, he also pursues research and teaching with the Kleinman Center related to European energy security, critical infrastructure protection, export controls policies, and modern sanctions regimes. At Perry World House, Schmitt focuses on national security analysis focused on the transatlantic community and the Indo-Pacific, as well as emerging space security challenges. Previously, Schmitt was a research associate and project development scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where he supported the technical design, project management, and deployment of novel instrumentation and infrastructure for next-generation experimental cosmology telescopes at the South Pole. For this work, he traveled to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica in early 2020 and received the U.S. Antarctica Service Medal. Schmitt remains an affiliate of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and is also an associate of the Harvard-Ukrainian Research Institute. Schmitt is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is co-founder of the Duke Space Diplomacy Lab, where he is also a fellow of Duke's Rethinking Diplomacy Program. Schmitt is also a senior fellow for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Previously, Schmitt served as European energy security advisor at the U.S. Department of State, where he advanced diplomatic engagement vital to the energy and national security interests of the transatlantic community, with a focus on supporting the resilience of NATO's eastern flank and Ukraine in the face of Russian malign energy activities. Schmitt has been an invited lecturer on energy, national security, and science policy at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the National Defense University, and more. He also regularly publishes in Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, Newsweek, The Hill, Atlantic Council, and Harvard International Review. Schmitt regularly provides expert commentary for print, television, and radio, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, NPR's Marketplace, BBC World Service, Slate, Vox, The Sunday Telegraph, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Bild Zeitung, Handelsblatt, and the Kyiv Post. Schmitt is a past recipient of the Government of Poland's Amicus Poloniae Award, has been honored as "Ukraine's Friend of the Week" by the Kyiv Post, and has received both Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the U.S. Department of State. Before entering government, Schmitt served as a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow while pursuing doctoral research in experimental cosmology at the University of Pennsylvania. For this work, Schmitt received both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in experimental physics from the University of Pennsylvania. Schmitt has also previously served as a U.S. Fulbright Research Fellow to the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. Schmitt is an Eastman School of Music trained classical vocalist with multiple leading operatic roles and solo concert performances on his resume. He is also a member of the United States Golf Association. Schmitt is a proud native of Rochester, New York. He resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. --- This podcast is hosted by Bakhti Nishanov and produced by Alanna Novetsky, in conjunction with the Senate Recording Studio.

For decades Western policymakers have struggled to understand the mindset of the Russian people and their leaders. This episode of The Transatlantic brings together two Russia experts who provide unique perspectives into the challenges American leaders often face when negotiating with Russian officials. Join James Collins, former Ambassador to Russia, and Wayne Merry, the officer in Embassy Moscow who authored a 1993 dissent cable predicting the adversarial turn of post-Soviet Russia, for a wide-ranging conversation about their combined decades inside Russia, a look inside the Vladimir Putin's world, and their thoughts on what will determine the future of Russia. -- Read E. Wayne Merry's Dissent Cable here: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/32704-document-1-wayne-merry-dissent-channel-cable-american-embassy-moscow -- Ambassador James F. Collins is an expert on the former Soviet Union, its successor states, and the Middle East. Ambassador Collins was the U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation from 1997 to 2001. Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment, he served as senior adviser at the public law and policy practice group Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. Before his appointment as Ambassador to Russia, he served as Ambassador-at-Large and Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the newly independent states in the mid-1990s and as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Moscow from 1990 to 1993. In addition to three diplomatic postings in Moscow, he held positions at the U.S. embassy in Amman, Jordan, and the consulate general in Izmir, Turkey. He is the recipient of the Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service; the Department of State's Distinguished Honor Award; the Secretary of State's Award for Career Achievement; the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service; and the NASA Medal for Distinguished Service. Before joining the State Department, Ambassador Collins taught Russian and European history, American government, and economics at the U.S. Naval Academy. -- E. Wayne Merry is Senior Fellow for Europe and Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. He is widely published and a frequent speaker on topics relating to Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Balkans, European security and trans-Atlantic relations. In twenty-six years in the United States Foreign Service, he worked as a diplomat and political analyst specializing in Soviet and post-Soviet political issues, including six years at the American Embassy in Moscow, where he was in charge of political analysis on the breakup of the Soviet Union and the early years of post-Soviet Russia. He also served at the embassies in Tunis, East Berlin, and Athens and at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York. In Washington he served in the Treasury, State, and Defense Departments. In the Pentagon he served as the Regional Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia during the mid-nineties. He also served at the Headquarters of the US Marine Corps and on Capitol Hill with the staff of the US Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He was later a program director at the Atlantic Council of the United States

In the years since it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has subjected thousands of Ukrainian civilians to tortuous treatment in prison camps across the occupied territories. In this season premiere of the U.S. Helsinki Commission's podcast "The Transatlantic" Russian human rights activist Evgenia Chirikova discusses her experience searching for answers about what happens to those Ukrainians trapped in this system of terror and outlines the type of accountability she believes is necessary to bring the perpetrators of this abuse to justice. Watch Evgenia's two-part documentary investigation here: Prisoners. Part 1: Fates (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHldWCVigHM) Prisoners. Part 2: The System of Terror (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K9Vy2AWGAg&t=2166s) Evgeniya Chirikova is a Russian environmental activist who rose to prominence leading a movement opposing the building of a motorway through Khimki forest near Moscow. She also played a prominent role in the 2011–2012 Russian protests following disputed parliamentary elections in Russia. She is currently based in Estonia. Evgeniya is the co-founder of the organization Support Net, which supports civil activism in Russia, helps Russian activists who face repression, and supports Ukrainian war refugees. Since 2024, she has investigated Russia's systems of terror in the occupied territory of Ukraine and cases of Ukrainian civilian prisoners. On July 1, 2025, she premiered her film, "System of Terror" in the European Parliament. For her active support of Ukraine in resisting the Russian occupation, she has faced five criminal cases in Russia on charges of "terrorism," has been arrested in absentia in Russia twice, was included on Russia's list of "terrorists and extremists," and was recognized by the Russian Federation as a "foreign agent." She has also served as a project coordinator, investigator, and journalist at the Open Estonia Foundation, and written articles for the Washington Post, La Tribune, de Volkskrant, the Atlantic Council, Postimees, and Activatica. Among other awards, she is a recipient of the James Lawson Award, Goldman Environmental Prize, and the Woman of Courage Award, presented to her by then-Vice President Joe Biden. She is a graduate of the Russian Academy of Economy and State Service and Moscow State Aeronautical University. This podcast is hosted by Bakhti Nishanov and produced by Alanna Novetsky, in conjunction with the Senate Recording Studio.

The Helsinki Commission's podcast is back! We are excited to be launching The Transaltantic, a podcast bringing you human stories across oceans, political divides, and intellectual traditions. Join our host Bakhti Nishanov as he talks to people behind the debates and developments shaping the struggle for freedom and security in the United States, Europe, Central Asia, and around the world. 

Transgender journalist Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a U.S. citizen, joins host Alex Tiersky to describe her journey, first to Ukraine as a war correspondent, then her decision to enlist in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a combat medic on the front lines, as well as becoming a high-value target for Russian propaganda, and the importance of pursuing the truth against a regime that thrives on lies.