Five years ago this month, three women were arrested in Moscow, kicking off a crackdown on dissent that continues to this day.

This week, a man walked free from a Siberian prison camp after alleging systematic torture and sparking a national scandal.

From Pussy Riot to Ildar Dadin.

For the past half-decade, the Kremlin has waged a far-ranging war on dissent, cracking down on NGOs, strictly policing the Internet, prosecuting people for comments on social media, expanding the legal definition of extremism, and outlawing things like blasphemy.

It's been dizzying and it appears to have been effective. But has it?

On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we'll look at the state of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia, five years after Pussy Riot.

Joining me is co-host Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the blog In Moscow's Shadows; and journalist Marc Bennetts, author of the book I'm Going To Ruin Their Lives: Inside Putin's War On Russia's Opposition.

Enjoy...

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