In today's Meduza newsletter, I offer you a tease of an episode in the new season of Russia Underground, an excellent podcast from @howardamos.bsky.social and Nina Berezner. meduza.io/en/brief/202...

Will be quizzed by the ever-forensic @peterleonard1.bsky.social about my book 'Russia Starts Here' at Clifton Literary Festival in Bristol on Nov. 15. Do come along if you're in the area! Tickets here: foccal.com/litfest-even...

The 19th-century opera “Boris Godunov” has become a focal point for diverse interpretations of power, particularly in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, reports @howardamos.bsky.social for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

Excited to announce that the podcast I host - Russia Underground - has just released a new mini-series! We speak to those inside Russia who oppose the regime. Can they resist? What compromises must they make? Please have a listen: russiaunderground.live

NEW: The 19th-century opera “Boris Godunov” has become a focal point for diverse interpretations of power, particularly in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, reports @howardamos.bsky.social for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/review/how-a...

For @newlinesmag.bsky.social, I wrote about Mussorgsky's opera 'Boris Godunov' and how it has been staged in both Russia and the West - and as both pro-Putin and anti-Putin - since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine: newlinesmag.com/review/how-a...

I reviewed @andreisoldatov.bsky.social and Irina Borogan's compelling and insightful new book 'Our Dear Friends in Moscow: The Inside Story of a Broken Generation' for the @thetls.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/politics-by-...

Speaking next Monday (6th October) at King's Russia Institute about 'Russia Starts Here'. Tickets are free. Please come along! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/russia-sta...

Thrilled to see that 'Russia Starts Here' by @howardamos.bsky.social has been longlisted in the debut non-fiction category of The Saltires, Scotland's National Book Awards! 🥳 #booksky #SaltireBookAwards

Big honour that 'Russia Starts Here' has been longlisted for Scotland's National Book Awards 2025

"This observational acuteness brings out for the reader an understanding of why Russians might be supporting Putin, why they so senselessly support the war in Ukraine." fivebooks.com/best-books/r...

Rescuers in Norway resume search for journalist missing in wilderness

Derk Sauer, who died in Amsterdam on Thursday at the age of 72, was a figure of rare consequence in the history of post-Soviet journalism. Leonid Bershidsky, the first editor-in-chief of Sauer's storied Vedomosti newspaper, offers this remembrance. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Pjotr Sauer schrijft een afscheidscolumn voor zijn overleden vader Derk: ‘Ik ga ontelbaar veel dingen aan hem missen’

I will be speaking about my book 'Russia Starts Here' with Joshua Yaffa on Thursday evening in Berlin - do come along! www.shakespeareandsons.com/pages/26-6-m...

"Russia Starts Here reminded me of the surveys of Russian peasants that were written in the late 18th and early 19th centuries... which did so much to change perceptions of ordinary Russians amongst the ruling classes. This book has the potential to do the same for a western audience."

🟥 please welcome the first edition of our new English-language newsletter—your essential guide to Russian politics and economics. this time our main stories are about why Putin picks Trump over Iran and DME airport ownership saga subscribe and spread the word! faridaily.substack.com/p/putin-pick...

Thinking of seizing some frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine? This new Q&A from the @crisisgroup.org team lays out the facts, the arguments and the impediments (legal and otherwise) thoughtfully, concretely, and in detail.

Wrote this on Lana Estemirova’s new book Please Live, about her mother Natalia, the rights activist murdered in Chechnya in 2009, her work and their relationship. It’s a powerful, beautiful read - can’t recommend highly enough. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

NEW: "I hope I’ve done them all justice. They’re incredible books." Political scientist ‪@gulnazsharaf.bsky.social‬ talks us through the shortlist of this year's Pushkin House Book Prize, awarded annually for a nonfiction book about Russia: fivebooks.com/best-books/r...

In this episode of the Russia Underground podcast, the hosts speak to two LGBTQ+ activists in Russia who continue what they are doing despite the risks.

Award-winning photographer Alexander Gronsky on continuing to live and work in Russia amid political repression and growing militarization. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

For BBC Future, I wrote a piece for about the Soviet plan (it never happened) to reverse some of the country's great rivers, diverting them south to Central Asia: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

I'll be in conversation with Tom Parfitt at Pushkin house on June 5th about my book 'Russia Starts Here'. If you're in London do come along! www.pushkinhouse.org/whats-on/eve...

🎙️ Episode 2 of the Russia Underground podcast hears from some of the independent journalists still operating in Russia, evading wartime censorship and trying to avoid jail:

🎙️ Episode 1 of the Russia Underground podcast is an introduction to what it means to be "underground" in modern Russia, and the ways anti-war Russians can — and do — express their opposition. Listen here:

'A remarkable book about a beautiful island.' Happy publication day to the gorgeous paperback edition of Cypria by @christofi.bsky.social! This evocative, lyrical book tells the history of Cyprus from the era of gods and goddesses to the present day.

I've got two events about 'Russia Starts Here' coming up in London: Wednesday 14th May at Kings for the Great Britain-Russia Society (www.gbrussia.org/russia-start...) and Thursday 5th June at Pushkin House (www.pushkinhouse.org/whats-on/eve...). Both are in person & online. Please join!

"A wistful account of the country’s years of dimming hope and gathering darkness"... Surreal to see a review of 'Russia Starts Here' in the TLS alongside reviews of books by authors (Shelia Fitzpatrick & @philippesands.bsky.social) I've admired for many years: www.the-tls.co.uk/history/twen...

Yesterday we published our investigation into torture & death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna. Now, what I & several Guardian colleagues have been working on for past few months: inside one of Russia's worst torture prisons for Ukrainians www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Born and trained in Tbilisi, Tsereteli rose to prominence in the 1960s, designing resort complexes in Soviet Georgia.

Very honoured to be shortlisted for the Pushkin House Book Prize for 'Russia Starts Here'! Along with other amazing authors @lucyaash.bsky.social, @radchenko.bsky.social, @benjaminnathans.bsky.social, Donald Rayfield and even Alexei Navalny: www.pushkinhouse.org/projects/boo...

Ahead of my book on the history of Russia's Illegals programme coming out next week, here's a taste in Guardian Longread form. ‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ap...

Latest Daily on Monocle Radio. @terrystiastny.bsky.social and Andrew Thompson on the day's stuff, plus @howardamos.bsky.social on his fine new book "Russia Starts Here". monocle.com/radio/shows/...

Anti-drone netting draped over apartment blocks in the Russian town of Shebekino on the Ukrainian border: t.me/lookatme1313...

You can now listen to my @theguardian.com long read extract from 'Russia Starts Here' in podcast form, read by Harry Lloyd: www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

In August 2022, I adapted a story by Russian journalist Katia Fomina for OCCRP. It's about as straightforward an investigation into war crimes as you can get. Katia went to Andriivka, a village near Kyiv that spent a month under Russian occupation. www.occrp.org/en/investiga...

"I was reminded of Svetlana Alexievich’s extraordinary Second-Hand Time" - a particularly flattering comparison in a review of 'Russia Starts Here' by @theartsdesk.bsky.social

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. Mediazona is struggling. We’ve tracked 100K Russian casualties in Ukraine. Covered political prisoners repression. We survived Putin’s censors. Our reporters risk prison. Our editors will now work without pay. We need your help: en.zona.media/article/2025...

***cover reveal*** the cover of TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES incorporates a 1755 map of the Amur River basin and a tiger by wildlife artist John Banovich. Out in early November 2025 from @fsgbooks.bsky.social, preorder with abandon from your preferred seller!! 🐅🌍 #booksky us.macmillan.com/.../978037.....

Wonderful to see this fantastic review of the brilliant Russia Starts Here in The Tablet! #BookSky

"It completely changed my view of Russia, as if a black-and-white picture was suddenly infused with colour. I doubt if I will read a better book this year" - an extremely kind review of 'Russia Starts Here' in @thetablet.bsky.social www.thetablet.co.uk/books/lives-...

This is out today!

'At times, Amos’ prose takes on a poetic quality' - a very kind review of 'Russia Starts Here' by Andrei Muchnik in @themoscowtimes.com over the weekend (+ a small extract): www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/03/16/h...

Moving.

"One of Dima’s friends, the journalist Aleksei Pivovarov, who I spoke to in the weeks after Dima’s death, compared Dima to the painter Caravaggio. 'He saw the light inside nondescript people and shone his love onto them. And they become the centre of the universe'.”

In an excerpt from his new book, “Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruins of Empire,” @howardamos.bsky.social traces Dima Markov’s journey from a chaotic childhood to a life spent balancing photography, social work, and self-destruction.

Thanks to @meduza.io and @kevinrothrock.me for publishing an extract from my book, 'Russia Starts Here'. It's from a chapter about photographer Dmitry Markov, who died last year of a heroin overdose: meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Aanrader!

My book 'Russia Starts Here' is also now available in Dutch - published by Nieuw Amsterdam! Available here: nieuwamsterdam.nl/producten/ru.... With thanks to @derksauer.bsky.social for a generous endorsement quote: