Stories – IStories

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Stories

The threats’ senders made it clear that they knew the residential addresses of our journalists, were stalking them in Prague, Czech Republic and could even track their flights

19 September

Editors

“May Your Nits Not Sleep in Peace!” Unidentified People Threatening IStories’ Journalists for More than Half a Year

IStories found suppliers of original spare parts for Boeing and Airbus to Russia in the United Arab Emirates, China, Turkey and even in Europe

12 September

Roman Romanovskiy, Lizaveta Tsybulina

Why Russian Airplanes Keep Flying despite the Imposed Sanctions

IStories and Conflict Intelligence Team analyzed the electoral lists of DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya Oblasts and found Kremlin-linked officials, a mobilized soldier, and people involved in war and corruption crimes

28 August

Sonya Savina, Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

Who Is Russia Pushing on Ukraine’s Annexed Territories’ Sham Elections?

IStories talked to the Wagner mercenaries

24 August

Maria Zholobova, Anastasia Korotkova, Polina Uzhvak, Editors, Elizaveta Dobrovinskaya

What Is the Future of Wagner Group after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Death

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

A disabled Ukrainian man was nearly tortured to death in occupied Melitopol. Now he’s back in Russian captivity

14 August

Editors, Polina Uzhvak

“Mom, I Went to Hell”

Her name is Fatima Khazuyeva, first reported by journalists in 2021

4 August

Maria Zholobova

Ramzan Kadyrov Published a Family Photo with His Secret Wife

Oleg Deripaska, Leonid Mikhelson, Gennady Timchenko, and other businessmen recruit volunteers for the war on salaries. In the meantime, their businesses, which is involved in this — Rusal, Novatek, PIK, Mospromstroy — successfully avoid sanctions

1 August

Maria Zholobova, Anastasia Korotkova

How the Russian Billionaires Provide Mercenaries to the Russian Army

Many of them wait for the documents with decision on pardon in usual city hotels in Anapa, Krasnodar Krai

19 July

Editors

Wagner Group Has Released Its Mercenaries of the Former Prisoners Home after the Mutiny

While designer Alexander Zakharov equips the Russian army with Lancets, his son Lavrentiy Zakharov works at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research

19 July

Roman Romanovskiy

The Family of the Russian Suicide Drones’ Creator Owns Real Estate in the “Unfriendly” UK

Where does the Federal State Statistics Service of Russia hide military casualties and how official data differ from reality? Data investigation by IStories

6 July

Editors

At Least 18,000 Russians Died in War in 2022

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The Rotenberg Files

Leaked emails show how a series of lawyers and corporate service providers executed a series of complex schemes to seemingly try to disguise Rotenberg’s connection to the villa. Despite their efforts, the Spanish authorities froze the villa last year.

20 June

Dmitry Velikovsky, Robert Denis, Manuel Rico, Nacho Herrero, Graham Stack

Russian Oligarch Boris Rotenberg Spent Years Trying to Hide His Spanish Villa. The Authorities Froze it Anyway

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The Rotenberg Files

A holiday property in an exclusive skiing destination was frequented by Vladimir Putin’s eldest daughter, locals say. New documents suggest the house was purchased using a loan financed by Arkady Rotenberg, a sanctioned billionaire and childhood friend of the Russian president.

20 June

Dmitry Velikovsky, Graham Stack, Bastian Obermayer, Timo Schober, Fabian Schmid, Maria Retter, Jan Daalder

Documents Suggest Billionaire Oligarch Financed Purchase of Austrian Chalet Used by Putin’s Daughter

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The Rotenberg Files

Boris and Arkady Rotenberg were two of the most prominent Russian oligarchs to be sanctioned after the Kremlin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Never-before-seen insider documents now offer unprecedented insight into how they shielded their fortune — and who helped them do it.

20 June

Maria Zholobova, Roman Anin, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Irina Dolinina, Dmitry Velikovsky, Editors, Daniel Balint-Kurti, Robert Denis, Misha Gagarin, Kevin G. Hall, Ekaterina Selivanova, Graham Stack, Tom Stocks, Julia Wallace, Giacomo Tognini, Ben Cowdock, Abdelhak El Idrissi , Jyri Hänninen, Minna Knus-Galan, Cecilia Anesi, Sanita Jemberga, Holger Roonemaa, Ilya Lozovsky

Leaked Emails Reveal How Putin’s Friends Dodged Sanctions With Help of Western Enablers

Sanctions can’t stop Russia from importing products needed for ZALA Lancet. An investigation by IStories

13 June

Roman Romanovskiy

Who, How and Where Buys Components for the Deadliest Suicide Drones in the Russian Army

IStories found almost 2.5 thousand orphans who may have been forcibly deported from Ukraine to Russia. Here’s how the authorities kidnap Ukrainian children and try to raise them as Russians

31 May

Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

To Kidnap and Russify

Western sanctions are meant to prevent Russia from supplying its military from abroad, but sensitive electronics are still getting through. Reporters traced several of these supply chains through Kazakhstan — and found that they run through companies newly established by Russians.

19 May

Maria Zholobova, Benjamin Bidder, Ilya Lozovsky, Vyacheslav Abramov

Kazakhstan Has Become a Pathway for the Supply of Russia’s War Machine. Here’s How It Works

A Russian military paramedic talks with IStories about poor medical training in the Russian army and what are the most dangerous wounds in the war with Ukraine

12 May

“Better Get a Minor Wound — No One Will Help You”

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

When Western European markets stopped buying Russian timber, Russia’s largest logging company scrapped environmental protections

20 April

Wartime Ecology

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The Case of Russian Censorship

IStories uncovered that Russia’s main censor Roskomnadzor monitors Russian protests every day: in which regions people are protesting, about what issues, and whether these scattered actions may turn into large-scale riots

22 March

Polina Uzhvak, Irina Dolinina

There Are No Protests in Russia? Yet Roskomnadzor Found Them!

Who to blame: search engine recommendations or reading tastes of Russians?

9 March

Anastasia Korotkova

How Google Helps Russian Propaganda

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The Case of Russian Censorship

IStories found out who and why works for Russia’s main censor

2 March

Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Editors

Faces of Censorship

Stories of children from Mariupol “saved” by the Russian army. Two of them lost their mother during the war

24 February

Ekaterina Fomina, Editors

Ukrainian Children Were Brought on the Stage during the Pro-war Concert in Moscow. IStories Found Who They Are

How does Russia keep producing advanced weapons in the face of sanctions? An export control expert from the USA explains

14 February

Maria Zholobova

“It’s Not Hard to Evade Sanctions”

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The Case of Russian Censorship

Who found themselves in Roskomnadzor, the main Russian censor’s, sights, and why: potential “foreign agents”, opinion leaders, the media, tech giants, messaging apps and those close to powerful people. Enemies are blocked, while loyalists are saved from unflattering publications

8 February

Editors, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Irina Dolinina, Sonya Savina, Polina Uzhvak, Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

The All-Seeing State Eye

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The Case of Russian Censorship

Roskomnadzor plans to arrange total surveillance of the entire Russian-speaking internet using artificial intelligence. Is it possible?

8 February

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Irina Dolinina, Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Editors, Polina Uzhvak, Sonya Savina

Inside the Censorship Machine

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The Case of Russian Censorship

Russia’s main censor — Roskomnadzor — secretly monitors publications critical of Russian authorities on the internet. They generate reports that they then send to the security forces. What does it mean for Russian citizens?

8 February

Editors, Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Irina Dolinina, Polina Uzhvak, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Sonya Savina, Anastasia Korotkova

How Roskomnadzor Protects Putin's Power

IStories has made a list of the top 10 participants of Crimea’s privatization: Yuri Kovalchuk, Arkady Rotenberg and Konstantin Malofeev are among them

1 February

Roman Romanovskiy

How Putin’s Friends “Bought Out” Occupied Crimea

IStories recently published a story about how the West supplies components for Russian Orlan drones. Now, we reveal how Rostec purchases Western components for electronic warfare systems that destroy Ukrainian defenses.

25 January

Maria Zholobova

The West Has Banned the Sale of Components for Weapons Production to Russia. But Russia’s Main Weapons Manufacturer, Rostec, Is Still Buying Them