journalist masha gessen is a vocal critic of both the kremlin and donald trump. last year, masha was convicted in absentia and sentenced by a moscow court for reporting on the conflict in ukraine, and their recent reporting explores how authoritarianism can take root even in a democracy. arguing in the new york times that, quote, the barrage of trump's ideas is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. masha gessen joined me in new york to put into context this critical moment for the united states and the rest of the world, as well. masha gessen, welcome back to the program. >> it's great to be here. >> i want to ask you, because you have survived and lived through your own autocracy in in russia. so talk to me about what appears to be a 180 in u.s. speak and relations with russia over ukraine and of course, with europe. this week, president trump called zelenskyy the dictator, amongst other kind of putin talking points. what do you see happening? >> i see trump adopting putin's language. i see moscow reeling from, you know, their wildest dreams coming true faster

new york times columnist masha gessen and others talked about society and the state of journalism there. they address independent journalists use of the internet and social media censorship and russia's relationship with the new trump administration. the george washington university eliot school of international affairs hosted the one hour event, oak hello, everyone. welcome. hello, everyone. yes, very thanks for joining us this night. my name is greg. i'm the director of the russia program at the george washington university and it's really great to see so many people here, too, who's interested in understanding russian society and how we can use media to address the contemporary changes that are going on on the regime is probably swift. and so it's something to tell. entering right now. so today i'm pleased to. welcome you to the old school for a talk on the unique insight offered by the russian in the independent media archive, which is a groundbreaking data set that captures the rolling landscape of russia's so far semi-closed society by preserving and then aligning the work, indepe