Rosneft on the rampage PRO Members Public
Hello! This week our main story is Rosneft’s enormous damage claim against business news website RBC that has sent shockwaves through the media industry. We also calculate exactly what Russia’s anti-crisis spending package will cost (spoiler: it’s much less generous than most Western countries), and look at
What’s wrong with Russia’s COVID-19 statistics? PRO Members Public
Low COVID-19 mortality rates in Russia became a major political issue this week. When three Western media outlets reported that COVID-19 deaths have been consistently underestimated, it caused a storm of indignation from Russian officials. The Bell examined official documents that showed Russia compiles its statistics very differently to most
Durov shutters blockchain project TON PRO Members Public
After two and a half years of work and a mountain of court documents, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced Tuesday the end of his ambitious TON blockchain project. He admitted it was a defeat for his plans to revolutionize “how people store and exchange money and information” and blamed U.
5 more years of Igor Sechin PRO Members Public
The influential head of oil giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, generally tries to avoid the limelight, but this week he was barely out of the headlines. First, Sechin asked President Vladimir Putin for oil subsidies somehow — deliberately or accidentally — getting his figures muddled. Next, he took part in a meeting about
A coal billionaire commits suicide, his former partner with criminal ties gets arrested PRO Members Public
As the coronavirus crisis rages, Russians are being distracted by events that seem taken straight from the turbulent 1990s. Billionaire Dmitry Bosov, who owned a stake in Russia’s largest aluminium plant, commited suicide Wednesday. The following day, another of the factory’s co-owners and a legendary figure from the
Putin’s approval rating hits lowest level in 20 years PRO Members Public
Many world leaders have seen a surge in their approval ratings during the coronavirus pandemic as fear drives people to rally around their governments. Russian President Vladimir Putin has experienced the opposite trend. Unable to seize the political initiative, Putin’s approval rating fell to historic lows in March and
Why so few COVID-19 deaths? PRO Members Public
Low COVID-19 mortality rates in Russia became a major political issue this week. When three Western media outlets reported that COVID-19 deaths have been consistently underestimated, it caused a storm of indignation from Russian officials. The Bell examined official documents that showed Russia compiles its statistics very differently to most
A newspaper for an oil baron PRO Members Public
A joint investigation published this week by journalists from The Bell, Meduza, Forbes and Vedomosti revealed how state-owned oil giant Rosneft calls the shots at Vedomosti, the country’s leading business newspaper. Amid a change of ownership earlier this year, there were persistent rumors about Rosneft’s influence at Vedomosti,
Back to the 1990s? PRO Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is on the almost simultaneous suicide of a billionaire and arrest of a mafia leader who were both prominent figures in Russia’s bloody ‘aluminium wars’ of the 1990s. We also look at Russia’s accelerating coronavirus outbreak, and why Putin’s approval ratings
Top liberal journalist embroiled in #MeToo scandal PRO Members Public
The BBC Russian Service published an in-depth profile (Rus) of prominent Russian journalist Alexey Venediktov on Thursday in which two women made allegations of sexual harassment. The editor-in-chief of liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy is the third public figure to face such accusations after top Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky and
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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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