Sergei Guriev talked to N1 Television's Ivana Dragicevic on Thursday about the Ukraine crisis. Guriev commented on the effect that Western sanctions might have for Vladimir Putin's regime and Russians, the likelihood of seeing a rebellion against Putin in Russia, the motives which led the Russian leader to this point in time, the geo-strategic and geo-political implications of the crisis, and whether he thinks Putin is really prepared to use nuclear weapons.

Described as the enfant terrible of Russian economy, Sergei Guriev studied in Moscow, at Princeton, and MIT. Many saw him as destined to take a high-ranking position in Russian politics. He was the chief economic adviser to Dmitry Medvedev, and sat on supervisory boards of many Russian companies and banks, including Sberbank.

But then things took a turn for the bad. Because of his closeness to dissidents Khodorkovsky and Navalny, arrests, searches, threats, soon followed. He left Russia to become the chief economist of the European Bank for Rreconstruction and Development (EBRD), and for years he has been the director of post-graduate economy studies at SciencePo university in Paris.

Next month, he will release a new book which he authored together with the American political scientist, Daniel Treisman, titled “Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century” published by Princeton University Press.

The full conversation can be viewed below.