Episode Details

Putin’s Survival Machine | Sean Wiswesser

Season 1 Episode 55 Published 2 months, 4 weeks ago

Description

Every few months, a rumor or prediction suggests Vladimir Putin is finally cornered — a purge, a battlefield setback, a grim Victory Day parade. Former senior CIA officer Sean Wiswesser, author of Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks, says the West keeps mistaking Russia's elite infighting for weakness. Drawing on his recent Foreign Policy and Cipher Brief essays, he joins Matt to map the authoritarian machine Putin built to survive exactly these moments — the layered security state, the loyalty he fosters rather than assumes, and why the 2023 Wagner mutiny revealed his regime's strength rather than its cracks. Then the question the survival playbook never answers: what happens the morning Putin is gone, and why the West is watching the wrong people.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Order Sean’s book, Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin’s Secret War: https://www.amazon.com/Tradecraft-Tactics-Dirty-Tricks Intelligence/dp/1682476014/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0

Follow Sean on X/Twitter: https://x.com/Wiswesser

Connect with Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-wiswesser

Read Sean’s writing on Putin’s regime

"Don’t Fall for Rumors of Putin’s Weakness" in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/05/12/russia-putin-opposition-war-ukraine-fsb-security-services-dissidents-dissent-dictator-authoritarianism/

"After the War and After Putin: Three Potential Succession Scenarios for Russia’s Modern Tsar" in The Cipher Brief: https://www.thecipherbrief.com/after-the-war-after-putin

"Confronting Putin's continual escalation — between deterrence now or greater conflict later" in Tomorrow's Affairs: https://tomorrowsaffairs.com/confronting-putins-continual-escalation-between-deterrence-now-or-greater-conflict-later

Please share this episode using these links

Apple Podcasts: shorturl.at/MI1gL

Spotify: shorturl.at/6LVXJ

Amazon Music: shorturl.at/pAWDz

YouTube: shorturl.at/WPvUQ

Take our audience survey: https://forms.gle/eFx59XntNtiKzNQa8

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg