In Moscow's Shadows 232: the Black Priest vs the Death Cult

A tabloid brands Zelensky’s Christmas address a “black mass,” complete with glassy eyes, hidden codes, and a trance to “hack the noosphere” to cast a death curse on Putin. Huh? What? Why are occult narratives creeping from the fringe into Russia’s mainstream? And, for that matter, why are notions such that Russia is now in the grip of a "nihilistic death cult" also warping Western thinking? A trip deep down into a bizarre rabbit-hole. The Moskovsky Komsomolets article I discuss is here . Earlier episodes of this podcast touching on some of these issues are In Moscow's Shadows 41: The Communist Party Embattled...And Occultism and Russian Politics (4 Aug. 2021) and In Moscow's Shadows 186: Why is Putin's Russia so Prone to Conspiracy Theories? (2 Feb. 2025). The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr , which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybrid warfare, counter-terrorism, civil affairs and similar situations. You can also follow my blog, In Moscow's Shadows , and become one of the podcast's supporting Patrons and gain question-asking rights and access to exclusive extra materials including the (almost-) weekly Govorit Moskva news briefing right here . Support the show

You can listen to In Moscow's Shadows 232: the Black Priest vs the Death Cult online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

In Moscow's Shadows 232: the Black Priest vs the Death Cult is an episode from In Moscow's Shadows by Mark Galeotti.

This episode is 45:13 long.

This episode was published on Jan 18, 2026.

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