Cost of war PRO Members Public
Hello! We’ve never had to write a review of the year quite like this one before. For Russia, 2022 was dominated by the aggressive war unleashed by its leaders — a war that will change the country forever. In our first newsletter of 2023, we look back at how Russians
The Kremlin sends a signal – Putin is directly involved with the war like never before PRO Members Public
Last week, Vladimir Putin visited the coordinating headquarters for Russia’s forces in Ukraine and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the deployment of troops in southern Russia. These unexpected events, which were not previously announced, took place against the backdrop of increased Russian missile strikes on Ukraine and warnings from
Putin’s pet liberal enters the power struggle at “Russia’s Google” PRO Members Public
Alexei Kudrin, a former finance minister who then took charge of the state Audit Chamber, was regarded as the biggest liberal in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Now he has officially started working at Yandex, which is known in the West as “Russia’s Google.” However, a power struggle is
Four worrying signs for the Russian economy PRO Members Public
The Russian economy is approaching the end of 2022 in a far better state than many had anticipated in the spring following the invasion of Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions. The fall in GDP has only amounted to about 3% or even less, and the U.S. dollar is still
Four worrying signs for the Russian economy PRO Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is about the main warning signs emerging in Russia’s economy as it ends 2022 on a better-than-expected note. We also look at the power struggle at Russian tech giant Yandex now that former Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin has joined the company and
The ‘merchant of death’ returns to Russia in prisoner swap PRO Members Public
International arms dealer Viktor Bout returned to Russia last week after 14 years in a U.S. jail. Bout has been a star of Russian propaganda throughout his incarceration. And his return home was an excellent illustration of the strange relationship between the Russian authorities, Russian propaganda and the Russians
Russia designates The Bell a ‘foreign agent’ PRO Members Public
We expected it for a long time — and it finally happened. The Ministry of Justice added The Bell on Friday to its register of so-called foreign agents (back in the spring, our founders, journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya and Irina Malkova, were put on the list). * The decision to list The Bell
Independent TV channel Dozhd stripped of broadcasting license in Latvia PRO Members Public
Latvia’s decision last week to take away independent Russian TV channel Dozhd’s permission to broadcast in much of Europe started with a slip of the tongue and quickly escalated into this year’s biggest media scandal. It led to the “cancellation” of a major anti-war Russian media source
The Dozhd conundrum PRO Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is about why Latvia stripped independent media channel Dozhd of its local broadcasting license — and what it means. We also look at The Bell being made a “foreign agent” (finally!) and the return to Russia of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout after he was
On-air blunder causes trouble for Russia’s main independent TV channel PRO Members Public
Alexei Korostelev, a presenter on Russian independent TV channel Dozhd was dismissed last week after he said on-air that “we hope that we were able to help many soldiers, for example with equipment and basic amenities.” That phrase — which some took as an admission Dozhd was sending supplies to Russian
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The Bell was founded in 2017 by journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Irina Malkova and Peter Mironenko as a news outlet independent from the Russian authorities, after its founders have been sacked as top editors at the largest Russian news website RBC because of pressure from the Kremlin.
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