Sobchak on the run, Putin’s nuke drills, RT host cancelled
Horrible News with Kirill Martynov
Vladimir Putin has had a busy week. The president oversaw another round of nuclear drills and then made a “historic speech” at the session of the Valdai Discussion Club.
Russian media personality Ksenia Sobchak was forced to flee Russia after searches at her home and the arrest of her commercial director. Propagandist Anton Krasovsky was suspended from his job at Russia Today, while the Russian State Duma approved the first reading of the new “LGBT propaganda” law.
The Moscow State University’s Faculty of Journalism is ready to train new military correspondents in case Russia runs out of them. And Chechnya’s Kadyrov has declared jihad on Ukraine. It was announced a couple of days ago that over 20 fighters associated with Kadyrov were killed in Ukraine’s strike on their base in the occupied Kherson region.
Every Saturday, Kirill Martynov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe, gives his take on what happened in Russia and outside of it over the past week.
Toppling Goliath
Members of Russia’s Finno-Ugric ethnic minorities discuss their reasons for joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine
One man’s terrorist
Multiple Russian teenagers are facing long prison sentences for acts of sabotage carried out to make money
Breaking the waves
The Kremlin’s latest attempt to quash Telegram echoes the Soviet Union’s war on foreign radio broadcasts
Deserting the paper army
How one woman refused to be a cog in Russia’s military machine
Censory overload
As the Kremlin declares war on queer literature, Russians are still finding ways to read and publish transgressive fiction
Violent entrapment
Queer people in Russia are increasingly being catfished by criminal gangs and even the police
A deserter’s desert
Escape routes from the Russian military are narrowing as European attitudes to ex-servicemen harden
Thawing out
How TV smash hit Heated Rivalry has not only melted hearts, but cultural stereotypes about Russia as well
My enemy’s enemy
How Ukrainians and Russia’s ethnic minority groups are making common cause in opposing Russian imperialism
