You Shouldn`t See Russia as a Country. You Should See It as an Organized Crime Family | Jeffrey Trimble
- Суспільство
- 85 хвилин
- 11 лютого 2026
Jeffrey Trimble has worked for more than 35 years as an international journalist, editor, and media manager. Hespecializes in international broadcasting, strategic planning, and countering disinformation. Trimble is fluent in Russian, and among his previous positions was that of Moscow Bureau Chief for U.S. News & World Report during the period of perestroika, in the five years leading up to the collapse of theUSSR. For example, he was in Moscow in 1987, when Donald Trump first visited the Soviet Union. The current U.S. president wanted to do business in the USSR. After returning from that trip, Trump openly stated that NATO was a problem. Therefore, his current anti-NATO rhetoric does not surprise Trimble.
Trimble has little optimism regarding Russia and its trajectory. He believes that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world witnessed a kind of synergy between the KGB, remnants of the Communist Party, and organized crime. It was this interaction that ultimately gave rise to modern Russia. In conversations with friends, the journalist advises viewing Russia not as a conventional state but rather as an organized criminal family. However, American diplomacy continues to see Russia as a center of power with which it is easier to deal, rather than delving into the specific histories and complex development paths of the countries around it. This mindset also affects how the United States seeks to influence thesituation surrounding Russia’s war against Ukraine. At the same time, Trimble offers reassurance: polls in the United States show that a majority of Americans support Ukraine and assistance to it. “I am glad to say that when I look out the window here in St. Louis, Missouri, I see snow. But I also see Ukrainian flags not only in my yard, but in my neighbors’ yards as well.”
Journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk speaks with Jeffrey Trimble about the processes unfolding in modern Russia, his workin the Soviet Union, the Budapest Memorandum, the shaping of a different global perception of Ukraine, the Epstein case, and the Trump administration’s attempts to turn U.S. international broadcasting into a propaganda mouthpiece.
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