IStories

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Journalists from six countries have united to investigate the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna. In the summer of 2023, she organized a trip to the occupied territories to locate places where abducted Ukrainians were being held and disappeared herself. A year and a half later, her body was repatriated with signs of torture

29 April

Polina Uzhvak, Irina Dolinina, Rina Nikolaeva

Ghost Detainees. The Story of Viktoriia Roshchyna

How the son of a CIA deputy director set out to backpack around the world and to save the planet — but ended up in the Russian army and died in the war in Ukraine

25 April

Sonya Savina, Egor Feoktistov

“He Was Forging His Own Hero’s Journey When He Was Tragically Killed in Eastern Europe”

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How Russia Imports Foreign Components and Machinery

Belarus-based Izovac captured a fifth of the global market in its field by 2020. We found its other clients as well — Russian military-industrial complex enterprises

24 April

Editors

How an Apple and Samsung Supplier Helps the Russian Military Industry

IStories identified 1,500 of them and found out how the recruitment of foreigners works in Moscow

23 April

Sonya Savina, Egor Feoktistov

Mercenaries From at Least 48 Countries Are Participating in the War on Russia’s Side

The Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has published new data on the number and composition of convicted individuals. The IStories data team explains what has become known from this data

18 April

Sonya Savina, Polina Uzhvak, Rina Nikolaeva, Egor Feoktistov

How and for What Russians Are Judged in 2024

Russian elites are obtaining Serbian passports with visa-free access to the EU during the war. Among them are an FSB special forces member, a friend of Nikolay Patrushev, nuclear weapons manufacturers, a close associate of Ramzan Kadyrov, and dozens of others

16 April

Nikita Kondratyev, Editors

Belgrade Syndicate

The main task of the special services is to intimidate and divide the scientific community. They do not care about anything else

10 April

“We Will Imprison This One and Buy That One.” Why Are Scientists Being Persecuted in Russia

VChK-OGPU, an opposition Telegram channel known for leaks, has been removed from Telegram, the largest platform for uncensored media. The messenger denies involvement, but what happened looks extremely strange and even dangerous

7 April

“To Show That Russian Special Services Have Long Arms Also Regarding Telegram”

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Son of CIA Deputy Director Joined Russian Army and Was Killed in the War in Ukraine

11:07 - 25 April

Son of CIA Deputy Director Joined Russian Army and Was Killed in the War in Ukraine

Exclusive

IStories Identified the Names of 51 Soldiers From China Who Passed Through the Russian Armed Forces Selection Point Over the Course of a Year

Most went to sign a contract immediately after arriving in Russia. Ukrainian authorities believe there are many more

11:00 - 11 April

IStories Identified the Names of 51 Soldiers From China Who Passed Through the Russian Armed Forces Selection Point Over the Course of a Year

The Court Sentenced in Absentia the Publisher of IStories Roman Anin and Journalist Ekaterina Fomina to 8.5 Years in Prison in the Case of Military “Fakes”

The criminal case was based on three IStories videos: two news reviews by Anin and Fomina’s investigation into the killing of civilians in Bucha

13:14 - 31 March

Updated a month ago

The Court Sentenced in Absentia the Publisher of IStories Roman Anin and Journalist Ekaterina Fomina to 8.5 Years in Prison in the Case of Military “Fakes”

Exclusive

Ramzan Kadyrov Has Come Into Conflict with the Kremlin, IStories Sources Say

Moscow is displeased with the Chechen leader’s negotiations with Middle Eastern monarchies regarding his family’s safety

11:52 - 27 March

Ramzan Kadyrov Has Come Into Conflict with the Kremlin, IStories Sources Say

Three Quarters of Russian Military Injuries in Positional Warfare Are From UAVs

18:45 - 25 March

Three Quarters of Russian Military Injuries in Positional Warfare Are From UAVs

The AFU Lost Positions in Kursk Oblast Due to a Lack of Intelligence Data From the U.S.

Without it, Ukrainian forces are unable to identify and attack Russian troops

14:51 - 10 March

The AFU Lost Positions in Kursk Oblast Due to a Lack of Intelligence Data From the U.S.

A Russian vessel delivered over 20,000 tons of wheat to Egypt. The company behind the shipment sells grain from occupied regions

5 February

Selma Mhaoud, Shaya Laughlin, Misha Gagarin

Russia May Have Exported Wheat From Occupied Ukrainian Territories to Egypt

Exclusive

Finland Suspects a Ship From the Russian Shadow Fleet of a New Cable Damage in the Baltic Sea. IStories Found Its Captain

The tanker was near the Estlink 2 power cable when it failed

17:02 - 26 December

Finland Suspects a Ship From the Russian Shadow Fleet of a New Cable Damage in the Baltic Sea. IStories Found Its Captain

Exclusive

Volgoneft Tankers Were Banned From Entering the Kerch Strait in December

One of them sailed for two weeks without valid documents. The vessels violated almost all of the operating restrictions

17:40 - 18 December

Volgoneft Tankers Were Banned From Entering the Kerch Strait in December

Exclusive

Defense Minister Andrei Belousov Said That in 2024, More Than 427 Thousand People Were Recruited for a Contract. Is This True?

IStories explain why this number may be overstated

18:11 - 16 December

Defense Minister Andrei Belousov Said That in 2024, More Than 427 Thousand People Were Recruited for a Contract. Is This True?

Law Enforcement Conducted a Search and Seizure at the Home of IStories Editor-in-Chief’s Parents

A criminal case was opened against Alesya Marokhovskaya under the “foreign agency” article

12:33 - 5 December

Law Enforcement Conducted a Search and Seizure at the Home of IStories Editor-in-Chief’s Parents

A Drone Struck the Barracks of Ramzan Kadyrov’s Regiment Overnight

It is the same location where 13 Chechens were executed extrajudicially in 2017. The building sustained severe damage

14:45 - 4 December

A Drone Struck the Barracks of Ramzan Kadyrov’s Regiment Overnight

Exclusive

The USA Ready to Train and Arm New AFU Soldiers If Ukraine Changes Conscription Policy — US Department of State

Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine has no plans to reduce mobilization age

14:15 - 4 December

The USA Ready to Train and Arm New AFU Soldiers If Ukraine Changes Conscription Policy — US Department of State

NATO Secretary General Estimates the Number of Russian Armed Forces Casualties in Ukraine at 700,000 People

According to a senior alliance official, the average daily Russian casualties have peaked at about 1,500 people

19:43 - 3 December

NATO Secretary General Estimates the Number of Russian Armed Forces Casualties in Ukraine at 700,000 People

Exclusive

A European Partner of Putin’s Friend

How Czech businessman Jan Merka is associated to Russian businessman Gennady Petrov

22:33 - 14 November

A European Partner of Putin’s Friend

Exclusive

Conscripts in Moscow Were Notified They Are Banned From Leaving the Country

They are threatened with criminal liability for failure to report to the military enlistment office

19:45 - 12 November

Conscripts in Moscow Were Notified They Are Banned From Leaving the Country

Exclusive

Judges Versus Migrants

In the first half of 2024, Russian courts fined migrants a record amount and ordered 86,000 foreigners to be expelled from Russia

09:40 - 21 October

Judges Versus Migrants

Exclusive

The Traitors, The Spies, The Terrorists

Russian courts break the record for state treason convictions, and the number of convicted military personnel continues to rise: the IStories data team research on the convictions in Russia for the first half of 2024

07:00 - 18 October

The Traitors, The Spies, The Terrorists

Exclusive

Russian Soldiers Have Become More Likely to Receive Real Sentences as Punishment

Almost half of the convicted servicemen were sentenced to real imprisonment, whereas earlier their share did not exceed one third. The damage caused by military crimes has increased more than 30 times

17:36 - 15 October

Russian Soldiers Have Become More Likely to Receive Real Sentences as Punishment

Exclusive

Russian Authorities Plans to Send 40% of Accused Persons to War

About 20 thousand people may go to the war front from pre-trial detention centers

05:07 - 1 October

Russian Authorities Plans to Send 40% of Accused Persons to War

Meet the bloggers who criticize the West and lure foreigners to Russia — to enjoy “traditional values.” These bloggers are considered independent, but they are paid by the propaganda channel RT

13 March

Rina Nikolaeva, Anastasia Korotkova, Dmitry Velikovsky

Propaganda for Export

The National Technology Initiative was supposed to give young startups a chance and make Russia a global technology leader. Now, the companies it sponsors are working for the war effort and complaining that there is no other market in Russia

19 March

Kirill Aruzov

Who and How Involves Russian Startups in Defense Order Work

Here are three signs of such preparation

14 March

Roman Katin

Russia is Preparing to Restore the Nord Stream Gas Pipeline, IStories Source Reports

Moscow, Berlin, and Washington are discussing the resumption of raw material supplies to Germany at Rosneft’s refineries. This could be an argument for a ceasefire with Ukraine

13 March

Marcus Bensmann, Alexej Hock, David Schraven, Nikita Kondratyev

“Russians and Americans Are Clapping Their Hands”

The Charon Project. IStories Has Launched a Database of Deceased and Missing Russian Soldiers Based on Neural Networks

The database includes a search for individuals, casualty estimates by region, age, places of death and disappearance, and much more information

14:14 - 24 February

The Charon Project. IStories Has Launched a Database of Deceased and Missing Russian Soldiers Based on Neural Networks

Who is Kirill Dmitriev, the key Russian negotiator with the U.S.?

18 February

Putin’s Man From Stanford

Coal goes to Turkey and other countries, and money goes offshore

4 February

Maria Zholobova

Son of Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych Makes Billions Selling Coal From Occupied Territories

How a financier сlose to Putin’s friends bought an American company with access to the data of millions of air passengers in the US and Europe — and made the son of the FSB’s First Deputy Director a partner in a similar project in Russia

13 January

Roman Katin

American Startup for the FSB General’s Son

Founder of IStories, Roman Anin, assesses the chances of candidates to succeed the Russian dictator

4 February

Who is Putin’s Successor and What Will Happen to Russia?

How a well-known Russian “human rights activist” Maria Chashchilova falsified her biography and gained access to information that posed a threat to people persecuted by Russian authorities

31 January

“I Admit That I Deceived You”

They offloaded hundreds of thousands of tons of petroleum products onto vessels involved in exporting from Russia in circumvention of sanctions

28 January

At Least 11 Volgoneft Type Tankers Went to Sea With the Same Violations as Those That Sank in December

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The Case of Children Deportation from Ukraine to Russia

The story of the life and death of Oleksandr Yakushchenko, a teenager who was taken from Ukraine to Russia and committed suicide in his foster home

24 December

Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

“He Was Buried in a Day Like a Dog”

Leaked data on Dubai property owners shows that Ramzan Kadyrov’s cousin, Chechen official Shahruddi Edilgiriev, has become the owner of 4 luxury mansions worth more than $20 million

30 January

Graham Stack, Editors

Chechnya’s Unofficial Embassy in the UAE

IStories gained access to port data for Russian shadow fleet vessels that have fallen under sanctions

22 January

Egor Feoktistov

New U.S. Sanctions Affected Vessels That Transported a Fifth of Russia’s Oil Exports in 2024

Attitudes towards the war have not сhanged even among those fighting for the return of their loved ones

16 January

Public Sociology Laboratory

“War Is Fine, as Long as Our Children Aren’t Taken There”

Who controls business in occupied Ukrainian cities

20 December

Ksenia Churmanova

“Almost All of Russia is Here”

In 2022, 74 lieutenants graduated from the Donetsk Higher Combined Arms Command School. At least 17 of them died, more than half of them in the first year of the war

5 December

Aleksandr Atasuntsev

A Deadly Graduation: One in Four Cadets Killed in War

Important Documentaries

A documentary by IStories

21 December

Wives of Mobilized Men on the War, Putin and the Future of Russia

How adoptees and their siblings live separated in Russia and abroad

15 June

“Detective Found My Family”

Stories of those missing in action and survivors’ accounts

18 January

Irina Dolinina, Rina Nikolaeva

Hell for the Mobilized Near Svatove

IStories looked into the life stories of the convicted criminals who died in Ukraine and were recruited by Russia’s infamous paramilitary organization Wagner PMC, talked to the victims of their crimes, relatives and friends

3 May

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Ekaterina Fomina

Faces of Wagner

True crime from modern-day Russia

21 October

“Putin Pardoned the Murderers of Our Children.” A Film by IStories

IStories found military officers who fled Russia — they told us about the war crimes they have witnessed and why it is almost impossible to leave the Russian army

15 August

Ekaterina Fomina

How the Russian Servicemen Are Deserting and Escaping Russia so as Not to Kill in the War

How the kidnapping, torture and terror is organized in the center of Ukrainian guerrilla resistance — Russian-occupied Melitopol

3 October

Polina Uzhvak, Rina Nikolaeva

“You Will Die and No One Will Know”

Buryatia’s losses in the war — what will the mobilization result in? A documentary by IStories

24 September

“Guys Die for Nothing”

The phone of a local resident who survived a mass shooting was found in Bucha. The occupiers used this phone to call home. IStories found them

27 June

Ekaterina Fomina

Eight Pskov Paratroopers in Bucha

How they lose, escape, and help during the war

27 May

Irina Dolinina, Ekaterina Fomina

Refugees 2022. A Documentary by IStories

The month of Putin’s war in Ukraine is being told by the voices of people on both front lines in the IStories’ film

29 March

The Voices of the War in Ukraine

20 million Russians may not be able to wait for an ambulance to arrive when their lives are at stake. A research and reportage by IStories

26 July

Sonya Savina, Editors

“They Have Been Re-optimized to the Point That Soon No One Will Be Able to Get Sick at All”

In Russia, one baby dies during labour or pregnancy every minute — an IStories investigation

1 June

Sonya Savina, Editors

“I’m Never Going Back to That Hell. I Don’t Want to Give Birth in This Country Anymore”

A documentary by IStories

2 November

What the Post-war Future Holds for Russia: Drawing on the Case of Post-nazi Germany

Journalists from IStories and Meduza found more than 140 “regular” witnesses who testified in Moscow courts in the so called “drug” trials. They are the acquaintances of the policemen or those who are dependent from them. Despite gross violations of the law, the judges sent hundreds of people to jail

18 February

Alesya Marokhovskaya

“I’m a Witness!” Who Helps the Police to Fabricate Drug Related Cases

Thousands of emails sent and received by Kirill Shamalov — Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law — showcase the fantastic wealth and personal power that come with access to Russia’s first family

7 December

Roman Anin, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Irina Dolinina, Dmitry Velikovsky, Sonya Savina, Editors

Love, Offshores, and Administrative Resources: How Marrying Putin’s Daughter Gave Kirill Shamalov a World of Opportunity

Leonid Popov was kidnapped, tortured and held for a year and a half without charges. Now he faces up to 20 years in prison. He disappeared in April 2023, all this time the law enforcers denied that they were holding him

29 November

Rina Nikolaeva, Polina Uzhvak

The FSB Accused a Resident of Melitopol with Severe Mental Disorders of Espionage

Ephrem Yalike was a member of an organization to spread disinformation in Central African Republic. He managed to flee his country and tell the inside story of Russia’s campaign to influence public opinion in Africa

21 November

Irina Dolinina, Léa Peruchon

Former Wagner Group Employee Exposes Russian Propaganda Work in CAR

More than a thousand Russian servicemen of the 20th Motorized Rifle Division went AWOL, IStories found out. What happened to them?

19 November

Irina Dolinina, Polina Uzhvak

A Runaway Regiment

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The Case of Children Deportation from Ukraine to Russia

Oleshky Specialized Boarding School was one of the best institutions in Ukraine for children with special needs. It is still unknown what happened to some of its residents.

23 October

Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

How the War Destroyed the Orphanage in Oleshky

How Russia evades sanctions with a fake transit scheme and why it is difficult to fight it

17 October

Editors

Western Companies Supply Russia with Billions of Dollars Worth of Goods But They Do Not Realize It

The Russian army could recruit one and a half times fewer new contract soldiers than the Defense Ministry claims. Are Russians willingly going to war? A research by IStories and CIT

1 August

Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Sonya Savina

More Soldiers at All Costs

How a “marathons of desire” participant and a Ukrainian physicist from a European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) project assemble drones for the Russian army

17 July

Egor Feoktistov

“Ideologically Powered to Fight for Russia”

The story of one of the most closed officials in Russia — the chief personnel officer of the Russian regime

9 July

Maria Zholobova, Roman Anin

Dmitry Mironov, A Putin’s “Sonny”

An investigation into how presidential administration employee, Sergey Novikov, became the chief censor of Russian culture

8 July

Svetlana Reiter, Maria Zholobova, Kristina Safonova, Andrey Pertsev

From Passion to Persecution: How the Kremlin Chief Censor’s Cultural Dream Became a Russian Nightmare