Nataliya Vasilyeva

My deep condolences to Derk's family. He was such a towering presence in Russian media - and a helping hand to many newsrooms.

Russia Counters Ukrainian Drones by Turning Off Russians’ Mobile Internet

In Russia, the war in Ukraine has claimed an unlikely casualty: mobile internet networks.
Piece by me and Alina Lobzina on how Russians from big cities are getting used to navigate a life without apps, online maps and contactless pay.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/w...

Once Russia’s Most Volatile Region, Chechnya Is Bracing for Succession

“It’s utterly surreal to see adult men with veritable military distinctions give reports to and grovel in front of a child.”
There's a looming issue for the Kremlin that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. My piece on succession plans for Chechnya:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/w...

Дроны повредили дома в Подмосковье. Ответ США Медведеву. Подростков зарезали в Иркутской области YouTube video by Телеканал Дождь

I went on TV Rain this morning to speak about Kaskad:
www.youtube.com/live/X2KagdF...

Восемь участников СВО победили в праймериз для выдвижения в заксобрание Подробнее на сайте

Following up on my earlier reporting:
Kolesnikova that I mentioned in the story has won her nomination for parliament, along with over 800 Ukraine war "veterans" who ran into United Russia's primaries:
www.kommersant.ru/doc/7754392
www.kommersant.ru/doc/7754164

Selfies From the Front: Inside the ‘V.I.P.’ Brigade for Ambitious Russian Officials

My piece on Kaskad, an obscure Russian army unit that offers officials, pro-Kremlin youth activists and various regime "Mitläufer"s a chance to get the badge of war veteran and come back home safe and sound after a short deployment in Ukraine:
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/w...

Russia Sentences Prominent Election Expert to 5 Years in Prison

Landmark case, even by today's Russian standards:
Melkonyants is Russia's preeminent election expert and co-chairman of Golos which has provided unrivaled expertise and training to elex monitors who went on to expose widespread fraud.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/w...

With Acts of Subversion, Some Russians Fight Propaganda in Schools

"You constantly have to play cat-and-mouse with the school."
Grateful to the brave teachers and parents who were willing to share their experience battling propaganda at school:
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/w...

Russia Jails 4 Journalists for Working With Navalny’s Organization The case highlighted the perils of independent journalism amid an intensified Kremlin crackdown on freedom of expression.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Mediazona on the brink. We need 5,000 monthly subscribers to survive Mediazona is running out of money. We’ve had to cut staff and slash salaries. Editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov and editor Dmitry Treshchanin will now be working without pay. If thing...

Colleagues are still crowdfunding to avoid a shutdown:
en.zona.media/article/2025...

Журналистов судят по делу ФБК. Приговор Антонину Фаворскую, Сергея Карелина, Константина Габова и Артема Кригера приговорили к 5,5 годам колонии каждого

Russian independent newsrooms in exile have been essential for our understanding of the Kremlin's crackdown on civil society in Russia: A lot of what we know about the closed-door trial of four journalists in Moscow is thanks to the excellent Mediazona:
zona.media/online/2025/...

Mr. Kuznechyk said he could not understand why Washington would shutter RFE/RL at a time when Belarus and its patron Russia have curtailed freedoms to a degree unseen since the Soviet era.
“Why make this gift” to authoritarians, he asked. “What will the world be like next?”

Its Journalism Challenged Autocrats. Trump Wants to Silence It. Journalists at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who have been imprisoned for their work are dismayed by the effort to close the outlet.

Strong story by NYT colleagues @paulsonne.bsky.social Alina Lobzina, Milana Mazaeva on what Eastern Europe and Central Asia stand to lose if RFE/RL shuts down following Trump's executive order:
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Peace in Ukraine Will Not Mean a Return Home, Russian Émigrés Say Hundreds of thousands fled Russia after the Ukraine invasion, fearing the draft and widening repression. Talks toward a possible truce have done little to allay their fears.

Donald Trump may very well believe Vladimir Putin's word to stick to any peace deal they might negotiate.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled the country in the aftermath of the invasion are not that gullible. My Sunday piece:
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/w...

A Prison Death Highlights Russia’s LGBTQ Crackdown The Russian government has unleashed a wave of repression against L.G.B.T.Q. people, with the police raiding gay night clubs and investigators targeting people they suspect of being gay.

With the war in Ukraine and war-related repression expanding in Russia, it's easy to overlook a major transformation in Russia right now: thanks to a new 'extremism' designation, gay people are virtually outlawed in Russia.
My piece with Alina Lobzina:
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/w...

Mediazona on the brink. We need 5,000 monthly subscribers to survive Mediazona is running out of money. We’ve had to cut staff and slash salaries. Editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov and editor Dmitry Treshchanin will now be working without pay. If thing...

Three years into the war and exile, Russian independent media are feeing the squeeze: The editor-in-chief of the excellent @en.zona.media is making an urgent appeal for donations - he has taken himself off the payroll to avoid more cuts.
en.zona.media/article/2025...

11 years on, Russia is still paying for Crimea in a variety of ways.

Крым вышел на первое место по объему внешней поддержки бюджета Республика Крым по итогам 2024 года заняла первое место по общему объему так называемых безвозмездных перечислений в ее бюджет — из федерального центра и других источников. По этому показателю регион ...

Curious stats from Russia's Federal Treasury this morning:
The federal budget last year sent some $2 billion (176 billion rubles) to Crimea in budget subsidies.
Putin claimed in 2014 that the Crimean annexation would be profitable for Russia.
www.rbc.ru/economics/04...

Emboldened Kremlin Steps Up Efforts to Seize Businesses in Russia The legal onslaught on Moscow’s second-largest airport has been seen as part of the Kremlin’s wartime drive to seize control of key assets still in private hands.

LSE researchers have "identified more than 200 Russian court rulings to nationalize private companies since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022," for violating privatization laws, per
@nataliyavasilyeva.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/w...

Emboldened Kremlin Steps Up Efforts to Seize Businesses in Russia The legal onslaught on Moscow’s second-largest airport has been seen as part of the Kremlin’s wartime drive to seize control of key assets still in private hands.

In Russia, the devastating war has had a profound impact on all spheres of life including business where entire industries saw transformative sell-offs and covert nationalizations. My piece for the NYT:
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/w...
2/2

Three years ago today Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine that killed tens of thousands and erased entire cities from the face of the earth. 1/2

A Storm, a Spill and a Disaster for the Black Sea’s Beaches Vast stretches of Russian coast have been tarred by heavy fuel oil from two freighters that foundered in a storm.

My story on the aftermath of the Kerch oil spill:
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/w...
"Two weeks into the new year, and four weeks after the spill, President Vladimir V. Putin acknowledged the extent of the disaster and dispatched senior officials to deal with Russia’s largest oil spill in years."

His Opponents Sidelined, Lukashenko Is Set for a 7th Term in Belarus President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, has been making signs of reaching out to the West. He is all but certain to win an election on Sunday.

This Sunday’s presidential election in Belarus couldn’t be more different from the heady days of the 2020 election campaign.
My preview:
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/w...

The warlord, the oligarch and the unravelling of Russia’s Amazon.com Before the Ukraine war, Wildberries was a giant of e-commerce. Now it’s caught up in a medieval blood feud

This story took several weeks and over a dozen interviews to report. My deep-dive into the fascinating saga of Wildberries where a battle over a multi-billion business got mixed with a family drama:
www.economist.com/1843/2025/01...
For @economist.com

This is becoming a sub-genre: a public figure from the West shows up at a neighborhood store in Russia to admire the variety of goods.
This time, it's Slovak politician Andrej Danko who is psyched that butter at an Auchan in Moscow costs between 1.30€ and 2,80€
www.instagram.com/p/DExgQv2qsW...

Is a Putin Ally in Eastern Europe Making a Cautious Overture to the West? President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus keeps arresting political opponents, but analysts wonder if a string of unusual pardons is a bid to get sanctions eased.

I wrote last month about Lukashenko's apparent attempts to get Western sanctions lifted
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/w...

SPRAVA || Роман Протасевич

More overtures from Lukashenko to the West. This time, they parade former presidential hopeful Viktor Babaryka who seems to look reasonably well.
t.me/sprava_by/12...

Viasna has tracked the release of 207 prisoners. The group has also tallied 269 people arrested, but says the number could be higher because arrests are difficult to track.

Dmitri Luksha, a journalist who spent 30 months in jail on charges of "organizing riots", was one of those pardoned.
“All I had to do was sign this paper — literally three lines, saying that I am asking for pardon and I promise not to break the law again.”

Is a Putin Ally in Belarus Making a Cautious Overture to the West? President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus keeps arresting political opponents, but analysts wonder if a string of unusual pardons is a bid to get sanctions eased.

My story on the ongoing wave of presidential pardons in Belarus in recent months.
“Lukashenko has over the years shown his willingness to release his sworn enemies as long as he saw he was getting something worthy in return."
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/w...