Alesya Marokhovskaya - IStories

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Editor

Alesya Marokhovskaya

Editor-in-chief

Investigative and data reports.

You can contact Alesya by mail alesya.marohovskaya@istories.media.

Awards

The Sigma Awards 2022 (Important Stories)

Five-time Redkollegia Award winner (Novaya gazeta 2019, Meduza2019, Important Stories 2021, Important Stories 2021, Important Stories 2023)

The Sigma Awards 2020: Best data-driven reporting (OCCRP)

Winner of the European Press Prize 2021 in the investigation category (Important Stories)

Author materials

Who makes money off videos of brutal war executions published on Telegram channels

17 March

Irina Dolinina, Aleksandr Atasuntsev

The Russian War Snuff Videos Industry: “Welcome to the Real Murders Channel”

Over the past three years, Russia has almost completed the development of a digital registry that can be used for a new and more effective war mobilization campaign, storing data on 25 million citizens who can potentially be drafted. IStories examined the data shared by the hackers who attacked the registry key developer

22 December

Polina Uzhvak, Sonya Savina, Egor Feoktistov, Rina Nikolaeva

What We Learned from a Hacker Attack on the Russian Military Registry Developer

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?”

A letter to our readers from editor-in-chief Alesya Marokhovskaya

30 April

Alesya Marokhovskaya

Five Years of Important Stories

IStories has uncovered which Russian officials, deputies, state company chiefs and criminals have acquired real estate in Dubai. Presenting Dubai Unlocked, a six-month international investigation involving more than 70 media outlets from around the globe.

14 May

Editors, Dmitry Velikovsky, Misha Gagarin, Ekaterina Selivanova, Irina Dolinina, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Sonya Savina, Maria Zholobova, Anastasia Korotkova, Lizaveta Tsybulina

Dubai Unlocked: Secrets and Lies in the UAE

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

Rina Nikolaeva, Alesya Marokhovskaya

At Least 18,000 Russians Died in War in 2022

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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

Irina Dolinina, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Roman Anin, Dmitry Velikovsky, Maxim Solyus, Maria Zholobova, 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

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

Ekaterina Fomina, Alesya Marokhovskaya

Faces of Wagner

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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

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

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

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

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

How Roskomnadzor Protects Putin's Power

What Vladimir Putin wanted when he started the war against Ukraine, and what actually happened

23 May

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Editors

The War Does Not Justify Its Goals

Who teaches what at Russia's three main schools of journalism

22 April

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Sonya Savina, Anastasia Korotkova

“I Don’t Want to Sell My Conscience”

How university freedoms are being eliminated in Russia, rectors are being purged, and higher education is being placed under the control of the security services — an IStories investigation

8 April

Irina Dolinina, Alesya Marokhovskaya

“Before, It Never Occurred to Anyone to Consider Education as a Threat to Security”

IStories and Novaya Gazeta analyzed crime statistics, and also studied with the help of neural networks what pro-state media and media, recognized as foreign agents, write about migrants in order to debunk popular myths about non-residents

23 November

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Katya Bonch-Osmolovskaya

How Propagandists Incite Hatred towards Migrants, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs Accuses “Foreign Agents” of Doing So

On the charts and laws of mathematics we explain why the results of the Duma elections could have been falsified

21 September

Editors, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Roman Romanovskiy

Electronic Ballots of Pamfilova Sharpened “Churov’s Saw”

For five years of work in the State Duma dozens of deputies have never spoken at meetings, and some of them have not introduced a bill. Such passivity does not prevent them from drawing a huge salary and running in the elections again in September.

1 July

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Editors

While Deputy Sleeps, the Duty Goes On

Over the past 14 years, the authorities have prevented 120,000 candidates from participating in elections of various levels, depriving millions of Russian citizens of the right to choose their representatives. An Important Stories investigation.

8 June

Editors, Alesya Marokhovskaya

How Authorities Stripped Russians Of Choice

Why public oversight committees in Russian regions are pushing out human rights lawyers and replacing them with ex-siloviki and businesspeople loyal to prison admin

27 April

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Irina Dolinina

“Much like the Prison Staff, They Think That Inmates Can Be Beaten, Tortured and Humiliated without Consequence”

Former policemen and “regular” attesting witnesses who fabricated drug trafficking cases against 17 people are being tried in Samara. The study performed by Important Stories shows that this is only a small part of a large-scale scheme, designed to fabricate “drug” related cases in the region: 86 fake attesting witnesses who took part in 269 cases were identified

31 March

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Irina Dolinina

Expendables of the “Quota” System

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

On December 17, president Vladimir Putin held his annual “Direct Line,” a live press conference, where the public can submit questions directly to the president. In 2020, it was held remotely over video, and questions could be asked not only by journalists, but also by interested members of the general public. The format of this ‘Direct Line’ to Putin has existed since 2001, during which time he, in the position of both president and prime minister, answered questions from concerned citizens, 18 times

18 December

Alesya Marokhovskaya, Polina Uzhvak, Editors, Sonya Savina, Irina Dolinina

18 “Direct Lines” with Vladimir Putin. The Promises He Broke and the Successes He Exaggerated

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

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

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