What does the Russian Empire have in common with other Eurasian empires — the Ottoman, Persian, Mughal, Chinese, and others? What are the roots of Russia's assimilationist imperialism and its claims to global domination? And why is the Russian political model so deeply rooted in the logic of war and military conquest?

"Thinking in dark times" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine brought to you by Internews Ukraine.

• Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, the editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine.
• Guest: Michael Khodarkovsky, an American historian of Ukrainian origin and one of the leading scholars of Russian and Eurasian history.

We talk about his new book, The Steppe and Its Empires: The Russian Empire and Its Eurasian Counterparts, published by Yale University Press in 2026. In this book, Khodarkovsky looks at Russia not so much through its relationship with Europe, but by comparing it with the empires of Eurasia — the Ottoman, Persian, Mughal, and Chinese empires.

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

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