Stories – IStories

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Stories

Essentially, only the state-run internet will remain in the whole country

14 April

Editors

New Reforms Will Leave Some Areas of Russia without Internet, Internet Providers Warn

Mathew Dubron wrote a book on the two opposing sides volunteers’ perspectives on war and told IStories about what he saw in both countries

6 April

Sonya Savina, Egor Feoktistov

US Citizen Went to Army Recruitment Offices in Both Moscow and Kyiv

Leaked transaction data reveals how a major refinery in Ireland owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska feeds into the aluminum supply chain of Russia’s weapons manufacturers. An investigation by IStories, OCCRP, The Irish Times, and partners

24 March

Maria Savitskaya, Eli Moskowitz, Misha Gagarin, Ingrid Gercama, Conor Gallagher

From Irish Alumina to Russian Rockets

IStories tells the story of Lana Pozhidaeva — an MGIMO graduate, model, and daughter of career intelligence officers — who for many years was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s network and recruited women for him from the former Soviet Union

21 March

Nikita Kondratyev, Egor Feoktistov

How the Daughter of a Russian Intelligence Officer Became a Recruiter for Epstein’s Trafficking Network

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”

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How Russia Imports Foreign Components and Machinery

Russia has received more than 8 million artillery rounds from the DPRK. An investigation by IStories and the Open Source Centre

16 March

Egor Feoktistov

Inside the Pipeline: How North Korea Armed Russia

What we know about the student recruitment campaign and how to avoid it

3 March

Polina Uzhvak, Lena Lemyasova

Students Recruited to War in Universities and Colleges All Over Russia

A new leak unveils the scale of Wagner Group’s ex-staffers’ work in Africa and Latin America as well as Russian intelligence connections

14 February

“The Central African Republic Supports Trump”

The successor will be the one who can guarantee the Kadyrov family’s security and keep Chechnya under Kremlin control

23 January

Roman Anin, Olga Churakova, Nikita Kondratyev, Editors

How Chechnya and the Kremlin Are Preparing for the Death of Ramzan Kadyrov

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 did a Grozny native whose brother participated in the assassination of Ramzan Kadyrov’s opponent become a prominent figure in the Alternative for Germany party and gather German far-rightists around him?

9 December

Leonid Troevidov

The First Chechen of German Nationalism

Companies in Russia and the United Arab Emirates are involved in secretive exports of oil products to North Korea — in violation of U.N. sanctions that Moscow itself supported.

20 November

Editors

Leaked Russian Records Reveal Obscure Firms Helping Bust North Korean Oil Sanctions

Here is what we know from sources close to the Kremlin and law enforcement agencies.

19 November

Olga Churakova, Roman Anin

How Sergey Kirienko Is Battling the Siloviki

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