It is time for Budapest to move to Russia, with Maria Mikaelyan — architect, activist, and co-founder of the Community of Free Russians in Italy, and one of the voices challenging Vladimir Putin's regime from exile.

We start from a straightforward question: can you fight an autocracy from abroad?

For Maria, the answer came at a personal cost. Supporting Alexei Navalny's movement, opposing the war in Ukraine, and refusing to remain silent gradually transformed her from an ordinary citizen into an enemy of the state. As repression intensified, exile became not a choice but a necessity, also to protect her loved ones.

Keeping in mind the price that individuals pay when authoritarianism turns disagreement into betrayal, we discussed the legacy of the Soviet Union and the resurgence of repression which turned the Russian Federation into a regime of police surveillance.

This is the story of nostalgia for the enduring appeal of empire, which normalised the limitation of the basic rights affecting citizens' daily lives, let alone those of the soldiers sent to fight an unfair, useless war in Ukraine.

Exhaustion is spreading, and economic pressures are mounting. As Maria recalls, the consensus that once appeared solid may be less stable than it seems.

And sometimes, resistance begins simply by refusing to forget.

In this episode:
∙ The loneliness of life in exile
∙ Why Navalny became the symbol of a generation
∙ The nostalgia for the Soviet Union and the myth of empire
∙ How Russia became a police state
∙ Pro-Putin narratives beyond Russia's borders
∙ Surveillance, fear, and everyday life inside the Federation
∙ Ukraine's right to sovereignty and self-determination
∙ Why understanding history matters more than ever

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps:
1:45 – Frontiers are flexible
3:50 – The Armenians no longer trust the Kremlin
8:00 – Navalny's legacy
12:00 – Russians did not have their 1968
15:00 – When protests became dangerous
17:45 – They made an enemy of me
21:20 – The nostalgia for the Soviet Union
25:00 – Moving within Russia: what you need to know
30:45 – The beginning of the police regime
35:00 – The solitude of living in exile
39:00 – The Ukrainian land belongs to Ukrainian people
45:00 – Even war supporters are exhausted
48:00 – The economic struggle is affecting consent
51:40 – Pro-Putin Italians can be nasty
56:55 – First of all, study history

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto
Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano
Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo
Visual identity: Martina Santurri
Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

For this episode of Budapest, I am joined by Sandro Gozi, Member of the European Parliament for Renew Europe, Secretary General of the European Democratic Party, and President of the Union of European Federalists — and one of the most convinced and articulate Europeanists I know.

We begin in Belgrade, where students have taken to the streets against Aleksandar Vučić's increasingly authoritarian rule. It shows how the line between liberal democracy and autocratic drift can be easily crossed when institutions are weakened and dissent is treated as a threat. And the reason why we cannot avert our gaze is that the European Union is not an exclusive club.

From Serbia, the conversation moves to France, where political fragmentation, rising extremism and institutional tensions are reshaping the country's future. But the challenge is not only internal. Russia's threat to European security is real. Donald Trump's return has exposed Europe's strategic vulnerabilities. And when democracies allow those who reject democratic rules to exploit democratic institutions, they risk nurturing their own enemies.

But democracy is not an eternal gift. It survives only if citizens are willing to defend it.

With reason, not rage.

In this episode:

• The Serbian student movement and the challenge to Vučić
• The Western Balkans, between European promises and autocratic drift
• Is Paris burning? Le Pen, Mélenchon and the fragmentation of the French Republic
• The boomerang effect: when democracy tolerates the intolerant
• Europe exposed: from Putin's threats to Trump's strategic blackmail
• Liaisons dangereuses: the unstable axis between Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni
• The rights connected to European citizenship
• The importance of digital sovereignty

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

1:50 – Look at Belgrade

3:20 – Serbia and the Balkans can make the difference for the EU

6:00 – The right as a European citizen that you did not know you had

12:10 – The reasons behind the French instability

20:00 – We already know the outcome of the French elections

27:25 – The Russian threat to our security is a matter of fact

29:30 – The boomerang effect: tolerating the intolerant

36:30 – The EU Commission is not standing up to the Trump administration

40:00 – Money, sovereignty and the need for an EU digital strategy

42:45 – Emmanuel and Giorgia: les liaisons dangereuses

48:25 – Democracy is not an eternal gift

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua

For this episode of Budapest, I am joined by Cas Mudde — distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia and one of the world's foremost scholars of the far right and populism, whose work spans European politics, the radical right, and the unexpected connection between soccer and politics.

Budapest, as he reminds us, is not just a city: it is in ourselves. The line between liberal and illiberal democracy is not as sharp as we would like to believe — and that is precisely what makes it so dangerous. For decades, he argues, the Left misdiagnosed the far right, focusing on the actors rather than the policies. Meanwhile the far right radicalised, and the centre shifted to the right.

From Germany's "militant democracy" to the health of US democracy, we trace the return of ideology within the three-dimensional politics of today. Because politics, as Mudde insists, is not just about solving problems — it is about deciding what counts as a problem in the first place.

In this episode:

• How the left misdiagnosed the far right
• The surveillance state
• Germany's militant democracy
• The Biden lesson on accountability
• Rural provinces and the geography of US politics
• Plutocracy and the far right: a relationship we need to address
• The return of ideology in three-dimensional politics
• Mamdani, Sanders, and the class argument

With reason, not rage.

Timestamps

1:21 – Georgia is like Budapest

2:40 – We live in a surveillance state

4:45 – The example of the German "militant" democracy

8:40 – The left has misdiagnosed the far right

13:03 – Is the EU a happy island?

17:00 – Hungary is a unique case — and the Meloni model is spreading

19:15 – The far right doesn't moderate: it's the mainstream that radicalises

23:00 – There is always someone to your right

26:30 – Orbán accepted defeat. Trump did not.

35:00 – You need to be in the rural provinces to win US elections

38:50 – There is no single way out of the far right backlash

43:40 – Plutocracy and the far right: the relationship we need to address

47:00 – The class argument

50:00 – What is the centre in today's three-dimensional politics?

54:00 – We should not fear ideology

58:00 – Biden's lesson on accountability

1:05:00 – Have awkward conversations with people who are close to you

Author and host: Ivan Scalfarotto

Editor and social media: Ludovica Taurisano

Graphic designer: Paola De Bartolo

Visual identity: Martina Santurri

Sound designer: Enrico Cabua