Kudrin & Yandex Paid Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is about former Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin’s role in getting Kremlin approval to break up Yandex — and his decision to take a top role at the company. We also look at the fuss over Immigram when it had a prestigious European prize rescinded
How foreigners are disposing of their Russian assets Paid Members Public
After war broke out, there was a stampede of Western companies out of Russia. But, in early March, the government slowed that process: all transactions between Russian companies and citizens or businesses in countries designated as “unfriendly” must now be approved by a special commission. The Bell looked at how
Russia ignores the killing of an ex-convict turned soldier in Ukraine Paid Members Public
Yevgeny Nuzhin was serving a prison sentence for murder in Russia, but was recruited by Wagner to go and fight in Ukraine. There, Nuzhin was captured. But he was somehow returned to Russia and, soon afterwards, a video was circulated on social media showing him being bludgeoned to death with
Unmasking Russia’s influential pro-war ‘Rybar’ Telegram channel Paid Members Public
The war in Ukraine has created an influential new Russian media space with an audience of tens of millions — channels on messaging app Telegram that specialize in war reporting and analysis. One of the most significant among them is the anonymous channel Rybar with 1.1 million followers. Rybar publishes
Pro-war media Paid Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is an investigation into one of Russia’s biggest pro-war Telegram channels, which has been anonymous until now. We also look at how Russia ignored the extra-judicial killing of an ex-convict recruited to fight in Ukraine and the ways foreign companies are trying to
Kherson retreat Paid Members Public
Hello! This week we devote the whole of our newsletter to the Russian army’s latest defeat in Ukraine: the evacuation of the right bank of the Dnipro River and the abandonment of the city of Kherson, the only regional capital captured by Russia in eight months of war. The
Anti-war tycoon pledges to sue his ex-bank for using his name in branding Paid Members Public
Oleg Tinkov, the former billionaire best known for founding Tinkoff Bank, one of the biggest in Russia, was forced to sell his business to billionaire Vladimir Potanin for just 3% of its market value earlier this year. In an interview published last week with The Bell’s founder, Elizaveta Osetinksaya,
Russian anti-war congress sees more argument than consensus Paid Members Public
The so-called Russian Congress of People’s Deputies opened last week in Poland, bringing together disparate Russian opposition politicians. The congress’s main aim was to establish a basis for rebuilding Russia in the post-Putin era — but it was poorly-attended and more dominated by arguments than constructive suggestions for the
