Brest to Grozny: History, Music, and the Unfinished Divorce of the Post-Soviet World Across Belarus, Georgia, Chechnya, and Russia

International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better · May 12, 2026 · 1h 27m · transcript

In this cultural edition of International Flavor, Samuel Trapp moves from Brest Fortress in Belarus to Georgia, Vladikavkaz, Grozny, Chechnya, and the wider post-Soviet world. Mixing travel memories, Russian music, Soviet war memory, Sergei Bodrov, Katyusha, Lyubov Uspenskaya, and reflections on history versus diplomacy, the episode argues that today’s conflicts cannot be understood by starting the clock in 2022. These are old borderlands, shaped by empire, religion, language, war, memory, and the long unfinished divorce of the Soviet Union.

International Flavor with Samuel Trapp

Where the…