He has an economics degree from Russia, did post grad work at the U. of Maine. He lived in the US for 9 years, returned to Russia in the 00s, worked as a mid level executive in a company that designed and built power plants. He left Russia in September 2022 when his superiors told him he needed to skedaddle. He and part of his family (wife, youngest child and mother) live in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
If you want to know what's going on in Russia, he's a decent source. He's a news junkie and as a trained economist, knows where to get the facts and figures it is now illegal to publish within Russia.
He's good on economic news, decent on social things, not great on prognostication. For nistance, he thought Putin would have flown out of a window by now, while I know there will be a power vacuum in Russia that will make the 90s look well organized, so anyone who wants to give him a shove is biding his time.
There are few sources in English for this stuff. He's worth listening to, along with Vlad Vexler.
(I discovered him when he was still doing travelogues in Rostov on Don and Moscow)
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