Russia
Deporting the Disabled
Over one year, reporters have tracked what happened to the forcibly deported, disabled residents of the Oleshky boarding school. We have followed the desperate attempts to bring them home and identified which Russian officials are responsible for abusing their rights.
Russia’s Left-Wing Shills
A federal indictment recently revealed Russia’s efforts to buy influence on the American right. But Moscow’s links to far-left media like Grayzone run deeper, and a trust deficit created by woeful coverage of Gaza is expanding such outlets’ reach.
Why Niger Left the West and Embraced Russia
Last year’s military coup in Niger changed the country’s trajectory and rocked African geopolitics. After 60 years as a strategic Western partner, political and economic alliances were shattered in a week, and now the newly installed junta has found a friend in Russia.
How Ukraine Caught Putin’s Forces Off Guard in Kursk — And Why
Ukrainian border raids into Russia are nothing new, although none has been undertaken with the type of forethought and ambition shown in the Kursk campaign. In under a week, Ukraine may have taken more of Russia than its adversary took of Ukraine in the entirety of 2024.
Ukrainian Ecologists Document What They Say Is Russian Ecocide
The attack on the Kakhovka Dam by Russian occupying forces sent contaminated floodwaters measuring trillions of gallons into the Black Sea. It was the worst blow yet to the environment in a war that has ravaged Ukraine’s ecology and is considered one of the worst human-caused natural disasters of all time. Since October, a Ukrainian team of prosecutors, ecologists and scientists has been regularly testing the area as part of efforts to build a case against Russia and charge it with ecocide.
Chess Ban Holds Russia in Check
Banning Russia from chess would have been impossible in any earlier era given the grip it has on the game. But now, the scales have tilted. Last month, during the Chess Olympiad in India, a young team from Uzbekistan won the gold; the Indian team took home the bronze.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine Reveals a Network of Russian Torture Chambers
Proof of the horrors local residents were subjected to during more than six months of occupation was revealed on Sept. 19 in a dark and dust-filled basement under the police station in Izium, a strategic city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region that was liberated in its latest offensive. Among the instruments used to terrorize people were Soviet-era gas masks that had been modified to prevent the victim from being able to breathe once it was placed on the face.