At this year's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Vladimir Putin delivered a resounding "nyet" to Volodymyr Zelensky's open letter proposing a face-to-face meeting, even as Ukrainian drones struck mere kilometers from the conference. SPIEF 2026 was equal parts economic summit and political theater, with Putin exuding confidence before an eclectic cast of foreign guests. But why refuse to negotiate now, and what does the refusal reveal about how the Kremlin reads the battlefield, the Russian economy, and the political clock ticking in Washington? Is Putin's "nyet" a door slammed shut, or a calculated bet that time is on Russia's side? And what should we make of the faces Russian television chooses to show, to sideline, or to blur out entirely?

In this episode, Andy Kuchins and Chris Monday unpack how Vladimir Putin and Russ ...