2025-10-11
43 分钟The Economist In 2023, we released a podcast series called Next Year in Moscow.
It told the story of how Russia changed almost overnight when the war in Ukraine began,
and what that meant for the lives and hopes of the free-thinking Russians who were against the war and opposed Vladimir Putin.
Ever since reporting that series, Arkady Ostrovsky, the economist Russia editor,
has been thinking about a story he heard just as the first episode was going out.
I'm Rosie Bloor, and today on The Weeknd Intelligence,
in a bonus episode of Next Year in Moscow, Arkady is ready to tell Yevgenia's story.
Moscow, December 2020.
Theatres are alive again after lockdown.
In a loft space with exposed brick walls and arches,
a new play is being performed to a small audience.
There is no elevated stage.
Young actresses and stylized Russian folk dresses move freely around the floor,
sharing their stories.
The play is called Finis, The Bright Falcon.
The name comes from a Russian fairy tale, a story about a young woman,
Mariushka, who follows her heart and goes in search of the enchanted prince, Finis.
The script is based on the real life stories of thousands of Russian women who were seduced and manipulated online and went to marry jihadists in Syria.
They were lured by a promise of love and family.
Instead, they were enslaved and abused.