It’s the football and international relations podcast you’ve been waiting for. With the World Cup kicking off this weekend, we bring together three Russia experts to commentate on the world game, Putin and politics.Elizabeth Buchanan, Matthew Sussex, and Olga Krasnyak chat to Policy Forum’s Maya Bhandari about reputation and legitimacy, energy markets and football sponsorships, soft power and Asia-Pacific pivots, and what a post-Putin Russia might look like.Associate Professor Matthew Sussex is the Academic Director at the National Security College. His main research specialisation is on Russian foreign and security policy.Dr Elizabeth Buchanan is a Europa Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, specialising in Russian foreign energy strategy, with a specific research interest in Russian polar strategy.Dr Olga Krasnyak is a lecturer in International Studies at Underwood International College, Yonsei Univesity, Republic of Korea.ShownotesThe following pieces were referred to or informed the discussion in this episode:Russia is flexing its sports sponsorship muscles by Simon ChadwickWill there be a World Cup boycott? by Simon ChadwickFootball, oil, and roads to influence by Simon ChadwickCan China’s companies be World Cup winners? by Simon ChadwickCan FIFA reform itself? by Martin PainterHow to win a presidential election, Russian style by Matthew SussexPutin 4.0 by Matthew SussexPodcast: Who run the world? with NipWijewickrema, Ashleigh Streeter-Jones and Caitlin FigueiredoRapid Round-up: Trump-Kim SummitLove, Canberra Podcast with Evana Ho and Nip WijewickremaPolicy Forum Pod is available on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or find us on Facebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.