Perilous Passage By Longreads Feature The true story of a Ukrainian father and son who became the first — and only — Soviet defectors to seek freedom in the West by crossing the icy Bering Strait.
The NHL’s Lacrosse Takeover By Sam Riches Feature How two kids from London, Ontario birthed the most unique goal in hockey’s history.
From Russia, With Malice By Krista Stevens Highlight “But there is another reason for the government’s alarmingly inadequate response: a president who sees attempts to counter the Russia threat as a personal affront.”
Did the United States Booby-Trap a Vital Soviet Gas Pipeline? By Krista Stevens Highlight “Weiss…a subtle, under-the-radar bureaucrat who fought his country’s adversaries with red tape and a headful of contrarian ideas. I understood him as a man whose entire life was secrets. “
The Early Years of Elif Batuman’s Interest in Russian Authors By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight How a college student’s scholarly investigation into whether Tolstoy was murdered led to her first book, about the people obsessed with Russian literature.
It Was Putin, on British Soil, Using his Poison Factory By Krista Stevens Highlight Trying to keep a mouthy Russian oligarch safe from Vladimir Putin is harder than it looks. Especially when the oligarch has a penchant for publicly poking the bear.
Olympic Destroyer: The Cyberattack on the 2018 Winter Games By Krista Stevens Highlight It was Russia, in the cybertubes, using stolen passwords, a secret backdoor, and layers upon layers of false flag cloak work meant to stump security analysts.
Why did the FBI Betray Billy Reilly? By Krista Stevens Commentary How FBI silence and stonewalling forced William and Theresa Reilly to travel to Russia to find out what happened to their son.
This Month In Books: ‘You Talk a Lot Don’t You?’ By Dana Snitzky Commentary This month’s books newsletter is pretty chatty for a topic that’s supposedly the pastime of introverts!
Putin’s Rasputin By Longreads Feature Journalist Amos Barshad meets with “Putin whisperer” Aleksandr Dugin to try to understand how a shadowy advisor exerts influence.
Stalin’s Scheherazade By Longreads Feature An opportunistic literary caper became a lifelong con — with no possibility of escape.
Because Chernobyl is Safer Than a War Zone By Krista Stevens Highlight Kovalenko’s choice? Facing mortars on a daily basis or exposing your children to the after-effects of Chernobyl.
Russian Malware Is Really Killin’ It Lately By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight When Russia attacked Ukraine with sophicated malware in 2017, it caused over $10 billion dollars worth of damage and revealed the whole world’s vulnerabilities.
The Dangerous Beauty of Russian By Michelle Weber Highlight “A friend had handed down a beautiful book of Daniil Kharms poems for children… One was a song about a man who went into the forest with a club and a bag, and never returned.”
England Is a Giant Russian Money Washing Machine By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Russian money is parked in English real estate and other assets, but is it too late to purge its influence on Britain?
The Manipulative Power of ‘You Understand’ By Danielle Tcholakian Commentary A reminder, courtesy of Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova.
The Wolves By Aaron Gilbreath Feature A forester’s daughter spends a night in a cabin in Soviet Russia, but it takes decades to discover how much danger she put her family in.
How Russia Has Been Spying in Plain Sight in San Francisco By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight What was going on at Russia’s consulate in San Francisco?
The House Where Revolution Went to Die By Michelle Weber Highlight The House on the Embankment housed hundreds of Soviet leaders. Eventually, it was the former house of hundreds of purge victims.
The Rainbow Railroad to Canada for Gay Chechen Men By Krista Stevens Highlight Canada is taking in gay Chechen men subject to persecution, the risk to Canada-Russia relations be damned.
But His Emails: The Evolving Story of Donald Trump, Jr.’s Russia Meeting By Danielle Tcholakian Commentary A close reading of this whole Don Jr.-Russia situation.
Will Jeff Sessions’ Testimony Delight Us Like James Comey’s Did? By Danielle Tcholakian Commentary Last time Sessions spoke in a public hearing, he lied. This time, the stakes are higher.
For Ordinary Syrians, Is Backing Assad the Only Option? By Krista Stevens Highlight Sometimes the best choice is the devil you know.
Nyet to Harm Reduction: Russia’s HIV Epidemic By Krista Stevens Highlight In Yekaterinburg, the fourth largest city in Russia, one in 50 are HIV positive, half of which are due to intravenous drug use.
Are Regular Russians Ready to Take On Vladimir Putin? By Erin Blakemore Commentary The Russian election is one year away, but taking on a ruthless autocrat may not be welcomed by a generation looking for stability and security.
Why Are the Details of One Russian Diplomat’s Death So Hazy? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight At BuzzFeed, Ali Watkins investigates the way the Russian consulate called Sergei Krivov’s death a heart attack when he seems to have died of blunt force trauma on the floor of New York City’s Russian Consulate building.
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