Report from Russia

Eight Days that Defeated Russophobia. Thanks to the National Unity Club and Alexandra Madornaya. But most importantly, thanks to the generous contributions from this audience.

The Author on Red Square

I have just returned from Russia, where I spent eight days engaged in some of the most intensive citizens diplomacy I have ever undertaken. According to my hosts at the National Unity Club, our work set off an “information atomic bomb” in Russia, with the videos of the some 30-plus interviews I conducted getting millions of views and generating positive feedback from all those who watched them.

The visit coincided with President Trump’s historic Alaska Summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I had planned my visit well before President Trump dispatched his special envoy, Steve Wickoff, to Moscow, and thus it was pure serendipity which found me ensconced in the Russian capital for the week leading up to the meeting between the US and Russia leaders.

The success of this trip was a vindication of not only the critical importance of citizen-to-citizen diplomacy in breaking through the wall of mistrust that has been constructed through the Russophobic policies that have defined US-Russian relations over the years, but also the tools I have chosen to employ in my ongoing effort at providing an antidote to the intellectual poison of Russophobia, and in particular the podcast The Russia House with Scott Ritter that I have been publishing on a Telegram channel dedicated to the project, and on my Substack page.

The National Unity Club and Team Ritter outside the Genatsvali Restaurant in Moscow

The Russia House with Scott Ritter is a collaborative effort between me and Alexandra Madornaya, my Moscow-based partner/producer. The objective of The Russia House was to provide a forum where I interview leading Russian thinkers to present the Russian reality to a western audience. Early on in my discussions with the National Unity Club about the nature of our joint work during my visit to Russia, I proposed that we use The Russia House as the theme for the interviews they were proposing, and they agreed.

The Russia House played host to the interviews organized by the National Unity Club and was critical in opening a window into the fascinating complexity of modern Russia. The interviews were streamed live to a Russian audience using Russia’s YouTube and Facebook analogs (RuTube and VKontact, respectively), as well as my X channel. The recordings are currently being prepared for an English-speaking audience and will be released on my SubStack over the course of the coming days.

The author interviews Lieutenant General Apti Aloudinov

The involvement of both the National Unity Club and Alexandra were essential to the success of this trip. But the reality is that this trip could not have taken place without the support of those who contributed so generously to the Waging Peace and Project 38 projects. This trip to Moscow was a continuation of the Waging Peace effort that first began back in 2023, when I first travelled to Russia. Although put on hold when my passport was seized and the FBI raided my home last year, the change in policy priorities that occurred when Donald Trump won the November 2024 Presidential election created the conditions where I was able to obtain a new passport and travel to Russia without fear of governmental intervention. The costs associated with the visit I just made are considerable, and as such well beyond my independent capacity to underwrite. The donations made by those people who support the goals and objectives of both the Waging Peace and Project 38 efforts, enabling The Russia House to capture so many distinctive Russian voices and make them available to a broader American audience, and by making citizens diplomacy resonate with the Russian leadership, opening up doors that could very lead to future actions that support the arms control objectives of Project 38.

I have been invited back to Russia in November of this year, where I anticipate a similar level of activity as occurred this past week, only at a higher level of participation—in short, transitioning from the advisory level of policy making into that of the principal decision makers. I have also been asked by the National Unity Club to help them unite with American podcasters who have embraced the notion of the “family of podcasts” which has allowed my ideas and those of others to resonate with audiences that rival and/or surpass those of the mainstream media.

Author addressing the Festival of New Media outside Moscow

Journalistic integrity and independence are greatly enhanced when one can demonstrate financial independence. This is what the generous donations of supporters has enabled with this recent trip. I am hopeful that this generosity will continue so that the planned trip to Russia in November becomes reality, furthering both the Waging Peace and Project 38 efforts.

We are turning the corner on Russophobia, and as such creating the potential for a future where Americans can live their lives free from the fear of their demise at the hand of nuclear weapons. Tune into The Russia House with Scott Ritter on Telegram and X and empower yourself with knowledge about the reality of Russia today. And continue supporting the furtherance of this mission of peace through your kind donations.

Thank you. We are making a difference.