When Christian Neef went to Moscow as a young radio correspondent, the Soviet Union still existed.
The longtime leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had just died.
The most powerful man in the Eastern Bloc was Leonid Brezhnev.
The GDR still existed and the Cold War dominated world politics.
Neef later switched to SPIEGEL.
As a correspondent, he observed the fall of the Soviet empire and the rise of Putin.
Today, Christian Neef is considered one of the most renowned connoisseurs of Russian politics.
In the new episode of SPIEGEL Daily, host Juan Moreno talks to Neef about Russia's President Vladimir Putin and the fascination he has exerted on a whole host of German politicians.
“They kept going to Russia, sometimes allowing themselves to be insulted – and they got absolutely nothing out of it.
Putin only understands one message: Toughness.«
More about the podcast.
SPIEGEL Daily appears every morning on SPIEGEL+ and on Audible.
As a SPIEGEL+ subscriber, you can hear the latest episodes from 6 a.m. on weekdays.
We're also rounding up the best moments from past episodes for the weekend.
Listen to this episode with our audio player at the top of the article.
All episodes of this podcast that have already been released can also be found on Audible.
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