My piece on the growing water crisis in occupied eastern Ukraine. Completely man-made and not solvable until the war ends. “Dams have been destroyed, and there is no canal: It’s just not there. You will have to build it all from scratch.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/w...

I got to sit down with the Tikhanovskys in Vilnius last month to talk about the future of Belarus and a stunning role reversal that his couple is now having to navigate. "I’m teaching him to be more careful about the words you say." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/w...

My deep condolences to Derk's family. He was such a towering presence in Russian media - and a helping hand to many newsrooms.

In Russia, the war in Ukraine has claimed an unlikely casualty: mobile internet networks. Piece by me and Alina Lobzina on how Russians from big cities are getting used to navigate a life without apps, online maps and contactless pay. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/w...

“It’s utterly surreal to see adult men with veritable military distinctions give reports to and grovel in front of a child.” There's a looming issue for the Kremlin that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. My piece on succession plans for Chechnya: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/w...

My piece on Kaskad, an obscure Russian army unit that offers officials, pro-Kremlin youth activists and various regime "Mitläufer"s a chance to get the badge of war veteran and come back home safe and sound after a short deployment in Ukraine: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/w...

Landmark case, even by today's Russian standards: Melkonyants is Russia's preeminent election expert and co-chairman of Golos which has provided unrivaled expertise and training to elex monitors who went on to expose widespread fraud. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/w...

"You constantly have to play cat-and-mouse with the school." Grateful to the brave teachers and parents who were willing to share their experience battling propaganda at school: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/w...

Russian independent newsrooms in exile have been essential for our understanding of the Kremlin's crackdown on civil society in Russia: A lot of what we know about the closed-door trial of four journalists in Moscow is thanks to the excellent Mediazona: zona.media/online/2025/...

Strong story by NYT colleagues @paulsonne.bsky.social Alina Lobzina, Milana Mazaeva on what Eastern Europe and Central Asia stand to lose if RFE/RL shuts down following Trump's executive order: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Donald Trump may very well believe Vladimir Putin's word to stick to any peace deal they might negotiate. Hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled the country in the aftermath of the invasion are not that gullible. My Sunday piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/w...

With the war in Ukraine and war-related repression expanding in Russia, it's easy to overlook a major transformation in Russia right now: thanks to a new 'extremism' designation, gay people are virtually outlawed in Russia. My piece with Alina Lobzina: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/w...

Three years into the war and exile, Russian independent media are feeing the squeeze: The editor-in-chief of the excellent @en.zona.media is making an urgent appeal for donations - he has taken himself off the payroll to avoid more cuts. en.zona.media/article/2025...

Curious stats from Russia's Federal Treasury this morning: The federal budget last year sent some $2 billion (176 billion rubles) to Crimea in budget subsidies. Putin claimed in 2014 that the Crimean annexation would be profitable for Russia. www.rbc.ru/economics/04...

LSE researchers have "identified more than 200 Russian court rulings to nationalize private companies since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022," for violating privatization laws, per @nataliyavasilyeva.bsky.social. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/w...

Three years ago today Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine that killed tens of thousands and erased entire cities from the face of the earth. 1/2

My story on the aftermath of the Kerch oil spill: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/w... "Two weeks into the new year, and four weeks after the spill, President Vladimir V. Putin acknowledged the extent of the disaster and dispatched senior officials to deal with Russia’s largest oil spill in years."

This Sunday’s presidential election in Belarus couldn’t be more different from the heady days of the 2020 election campaign. My preview: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/w...

This story took several weeks and over a dozen interviews to report. My deep-dive into the fascinating saga of Wildberries where a battle over a multi-billion business got mixed with a family drama: www.economist.com/1843/2025/01... For @economist.com

This is becoming a sub-genre: a public figure from the West shows up at a neighborhood store in Russia to admire the variety of goods. This time, it's Slovak politician Andrej Danko who is psyched that butter at an Auchan in Moscow costs between 1.30€ and 2,80€ www.instagram.com/p/DExgQv2qsW...

More overtures from Lukashenko to the West. This time, they parade former presidential hopeful Viktor Babaryka who seems to look reasonably well. t.me/sprava_by/12...

My story on the ongoing wave of presidential pardons in Belarus in recent months. “Lukashenko has over the years shown his willingness to release his sworn enemies as long as he saw he was getting something worthy in return." www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/w...

Great digest of Russian state TV's week of turnout in the aftermath of the demise of the Syrian regime (RUS) The current propaganda line: Nothing to see here, we can do without Syria (9 years and billion of rubles worth of military involvement later) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lr1...

Strong words from Alexei Gorinov, a Moscow councillor in prison for an anti-war statement, now on trial for talking against the war in prison: "As a citizen of my country I'm guilty for letting that war happen and failing to stop it. Please make a note of it in your verdict."

Russia's Channel One said in a live broadcast earlier this morning Germany has ordered them to shut down their Berlin bureau and leave the country. No confirmation from Germany yet. Russia's foreign ministry has promised a swift response.

Meanwhile, in Israel:

Больно смотреть как российские СМИ освещают палестино-израильский конфликт. Последняя агитка novayagazeta.eu/articles/202...

Apathy, resignation, gallows humor - and more war-mongering in Russia in the aftermath of Putin’s missile threats: www.nytimes.com/2024/11/23/w... With Valerie Hopkins

Russian media are running a press digest of Putin's missile address (citing frontpage stories in the US, Europe and Latin America) as a top story this morning: It may sound like the whole point of the nuclear threats was to generate headlines.

Interesting to see this pithy piece mocking Russian officials for urging women to have more babies in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia's Kremlin-friendly tabloid, not some opposition-minded rag: www.kp.ru/daily/27663/...

Just getting started on a Turkey list here in case helpful: bsky.app/profile/did:...

How the temp US embassy closure is seen from Kyiv:

I've just tried this migration/scanner tool and it seems to be at least partially functional: It detected 58 people for me.

Currently mourning my Twitter lists for Israel/Gaza and Turkey. Any hacks to move them to here? (For Russia and Ukraine, I never had one and doubt I can make one).