A Feminist Lens on Russian Autocracy with Julia Ioffe— In Conversation with Yevgenia Albats

We’re thrilled to welcome Julia Ioffe, a prominent American journalist, Russia expert, and author of the new book, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy, for the second installment of the year-long series "Russia and Its Neighbors: In Search of a New Paradigm", hosted by Dr. Yevgenia Albats. The core aim of the series is to understand how Russia moved from a fragile democracy to an aggressive, militarized dictatorship—and what that shift means for the region and the world.

In Motherland, Ioffe explores how women built, bent, and battled the Soviet and post-Soviet system—shaping the course of Russian history from the revolution to Putin’s dictatorship. The book has already made waves, earning Ioffe a place as a finalist for the National Book Award.

Moscow-born and U.S.–raised, Julia Ioffe is a founding partner and correspondent at the Washington, D.C.-based Puck News. A graduate of Princeton University (Class of 2005, Soviet history, mentored by Stephen Kotkin), she won a Fulbright Scholarship and returned to Russia, where she reported as a Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker and Foreign Policy.

Back in the United States, Ioffe became a senior editor at The New Republic and later covered U.S. politics, national security, and foreign policy for The Atlantic. Her bylines have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Forbes, and Politico.

A regular commentator on U.S. television, Ioffe has appeared on HBO (with Bill Maher), MSNBC, CBS, PBS, and other major outlets, bringing sharp analysis and deep expertise on Russia to American audiences.

Timecodes
00:00:04 – 00:07:05 Welcome and Guest Introduction.
00:07:06 – 00:13:01 Why is there little interest in writing about the everyday lives of Soviet women?
00:13:02 – 00:19:52 The Progressive Soviet 'Utopia' That Failed
00:19:53 – 00:26:31 The Legacy of Alexandra Kollontai
00:26:32 – 00:36:20 The "Double Burden": Doctors and Domestic Labor
00:36:21 – 00:40:53 The "Shocking Medical Reality" of Soviet Women's Health and Men as the "Weaker Sex"
00:40:54 – 00:46:05 The Sniper With 309 Kills (And the Sexist Questions She Faced)
00:46:06 – 00:51:37 Engineering a Baby Boom After Losing 27 Million People
00:51:38 – 00:56:12 Why Ioffe Returned to Russia
00:56:13 – 01:00:07 Why Ioffe Left Russia
01:00:08 – 01:05:49 Pseudoscience, "Telegony," and Kidnapping Children
01:05:50 – 01:11:50 Why Putin Embraced "Traditional Values"
01:11:51 – 01:17:44 The Unfair Expectation for Women to Save Russia
01:17:45 – 01:42:41 Q&A: Women in Power, Romantic Love & Russian Contradictions