Stories – IStories

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Stories

Russian cadets at military universities and academies say they are being deprived of the right to resign. At the same time, their military contracts are now permanent under Putin’s 2022 mobilization decree

29 October

Irina Dolinina, Aleksandr Atasuntsev

“They Aren’t Letting Us Go.” Russian Cadets Lured into Military Service with No Way Out

What else can we learn from the Russian court rulings data from the first half of 2025?

21 October

Sonya Savina, Rina Nikolaeva, Polina Uzhvak

Russia Breaks “Treason” Sentences Record, Publishes Data on How Many Criminals Escaped Punishment by Going to War

There are deserters who flee the war right from the frontlines. Some of them, like corporal Pavlov, manage to do so twice. He told us his story

15 October

Aleksandr Atasuntsev

“Dumb Way to Fight”

From July to September 2025, courts in Russia’s so-called new territories imposed sentences in this category of cases every three days. Teenagers, pensioners, women, and even entire families have fallen victim to the repression

13 October

Polina Uzhvak, Sonya Savina, Rina Nikolaeva

People Kidnapped and Sentenced with “Espionage” and “Treason” in Occupied Territories of Ukraine

According to the 2026 draft budget data

2 October

Editors, Boris Grozovski

Putin’s War Economy Reaches Limit

A Russian-Spanish wine exporter whose family runs a chic tapas bar is under investigation for shipping sanctioned chemicals to Russia. She also owns a chemical company in Russia whose clients have included major state scientific agencies known for developing chemical weapons. An investigation by OCCRP, All Eyes On Wagner, Slidstvo.Info, Belarusian Investigative Center, and IStories

30 September

Maria Zholobova

Tapas and Toxins

An investigation by The Post and Courier, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and IStories

28 September

Irina Dolinina, John Dell'Osso

Sovcombank Co-owner Sergey Khotimsky Invested Millions of Dollars in U.S. Real Estate, and It Avoided Sanctions

One in four was killed, went missing, or was wounded. IStories analyzed the full list of those mobilized from Tomsk Oblast and reports on what three years of mobilization have looked like through the lens of a single Russian region

19 September

Sonya Savina, Egor Feoktistov, Polina Uzhvak

Three Years of Mobilization: What One Region — and the Whole Russia — Has Endured

Passages through pipes have little impact on the course of combat operations, according to military experts

18 September

Russian Troops Once Again Used an Underground Pipe. Is This Tactic Really Effective?

On the fourth year of Russian “war against the West” the son of the first deputy director of Rostec state corporation was detained in his villa in Spain in a money laundering probe. IStories got the video of his testimonies

17 September

Roman Katin

“My Father is a Highly Respected Person”

Spending on promoting the Russian language abroad has tripled. This is how Moscow seeks to expand its influence and impose a pro-Russian agenda in other countries, while continuing its military aggression

16 September

Kremlin Has Increased Spending on Expanding Its Network of Loyal Young Leaders, Journalists, and Bloggers Abroad by 1.5 Times

Kursk Oblast will soon hold another gubernatorial election, the second in just over a year — the previous governor, Alexey Smirnov, was arrested on suspicion of fraud. Khinshtein has no real competitors; his main task is to get re-elected and not end up in prison himself

10 September

Olga Ivanova

“If You Can Handle It — You Can Handle It, If Not — We’ll Bury You.” How Alexander Khinshtein is Calming Kursk Oblast

There is little equipment left, and it is too vulnerable. Russian army may be stockpiling it for a major offensive, experts say

9 September

The Russian Army is Losing Way Less Equipment Now. What’s the Reason?

How life in Russia will change from September 2025

28 August

Patriotic Talks in Kindergartens, National Messenger on Every Phone, Paramedics Instead of Doctors

How the owner of a modeling agency joined the board of directors of the Russian titanium giant VSMPO-Avisma

20 August

Roman Katin

From Fashion to Titanium

83% of them were enrolled without taking exams or would not have been admitted without a quota because their scores were below the passing threshold

5 August

Polina Uzhvak, Rina Nikolaeva, Sonya Savina

In 2025, Nearly 3,000 Russian Troops Who Had Fought in Ukraine, and Their Children, Were Admitted to Top Russian Universities Through Quotas. That’s One and a Half Times More Than Last Year

Putin’s close friend Timchenko was the biggest Russian oil trader before 2014 sanctions. In 2024, former executives of his companies provided services to more than 300 tankers, at least 170 ships belong to the shadow fleet

1 August

Roman Katin

Gennady Timchenko’s Ex-Managers Provided Services to the Shadow Fleet in the Russian Sea Ports

How former PR man and minor official Vladimir Medinsky gained influence over Vladimir Putin and became the chief negotiator on Ukraine

22 July

Olga Churakova, Holger Roonemaa, Ilya Ber, Olga Ivleva, Anna Mironyuk, Mattias Carlsson

The Chief of the Past

An investigation by IStories

7 July

Roman Katin

A Mysterious Trader of Russian Oil Links Associates of Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s friends

This practice is being implemented in at least one region of Russia. Lawyers say it is illegal

27 June

Polina Uzhvak, Sonya Savina

Prospective Foster Parents Now Required to Provide Certificate of “No Sex Change”

How a network for selling sex with teenagers was built in Russia — and which of its influential clients managed to escape responsibility. An investigation by IStories and Verstka

19 June

Olesya Gerasimenko, Ivan Zhadaev, Rina Richter, Aleksandr Kabanov, Maria Zholobova, Dmitry Velikovsky

“They Told Me: Deripaska Is the Client. Don’t You Want To Sell Your Virginity?”

The technical infrastructure that underpins Telegram is controlled by a man whose companies have collaborated with Russian intelligence services. An investigation by IStories

10 June

Roman Anin, Nikita Kondratyev

Telegram, the FSB, and the Man in the Middle

By the end of the year, the pace of contract enlistment has fallen and continues to decline. A research by IStories

30 May

Sonya Savina, Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

Up to 407 Thousand Russians Signed Contracts with the Defense Ministry in 2024

Vladimir Putin has ordered residents of the occupied territories to legalize their status by September 10, or else they will be deported. In reality, Ukrainians whom the occupation authorities have deemed a “security threat” have long been expelled from their homes and abandoned at the border with Georgia. Here are their stories

23 May

Rina Nikolaeva, Polina Uzhvak, Irina Dolinina

Deportation From the Occupation

They lost both money and fame. The state compensates the money, but not the fame

22 May

Editors

Russian Sports in Their Fourth Year of Isolation — How Has This Hit Athletes?

How many people have deserted the Russian army during the war — an investigation by IStories

20 May

Egor Feoktistov

Under the Weight of Cargo 500

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 territories occupied by Russia 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