Emily Hoge

War Comes Home: How Returning Veterans Are Driving a Surge in Violent Crime in Russia A new report by the support group Vyhod suggests that queer Russians over 45 are among the most vulnerable groups in the LGBTQ+ community in Russia. Their vulnerability has its roots in a decades-long...

Daria Talanova:"Data shows that veterans commit an abnormally high number of murders & serious assaults compared to the overall male population. Veterans are prosecuted for murder/attempted murder 2.5 times more often than average men & twice as often for assaults resulting in grievous bodily harm."

📚NEW PUBLICATION📚

Our article on Russian "digital fieldwork" and the role of OSINT in post-2022 Russian studies, co-authored with @kevinlimonier.bsky.social, has just been published in open access in the prestigious journal Communist and Post-Communist Studies!

online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

On Lawfare Daily, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org spoke to @emilyehoge.bsky.social about her articles in Lawfare about Russian mobsters being sent to the war in Ukraine and how it may be altering the Russian social contract.

Lesia Bidochko and Oleksandr Siedin: Homophobia has taken center stage in Russia’s ideological presentation, not for its positive meaning to the regime, but as a moral argument for existential confrontation and escalation with the West.

commons.com.ua/en/gomofobiy...

La Cosa Nostra!

WOW this is wild

an FBI official says the alleged NBA gambling ring involves the "Toronto Rangers" (not a real team), which doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the quality of their investigation

combining my two favorite things in exciting new ways

MAFIA BASKETBALL

Wrote about organized crime and Russia's war in Ukraine for Lawfare!

Revealed: how a Russian fight club expanded into the US with the help of American neo-Nazis Members of white supremacist ‘active clubs’ spearheaded a US expansion of a Russian fighting group that has raised money for the Kremlin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine

Patriot Front and Active Clubs are working with a Russian fight promoter to sell pay-per-view tickets to its fight club events. The article includes previously unidentified PF/AC guys like Thomas Denton a former member of the accelerationist group the Base. 1/4

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

На войне погиб завербованный в колонии кемеровчанин с инвалидностью; он не умел писать и читать Житель Кемерово Семен Карманов, еще в детстве получивший инвалидность третьей группы из-за диагностированной задержки ин...

Semyon Karmanov, the intellectually disabled man recruited into Russia's army from prison through a service contract he couldn't even read, was killed in Ukraine last August. His mother and sister are convinced that he enlisted without understanding what he was signing. zona.media/news/2025/10...

As a historian of masculinities, I can confirm that life truly is mostly about Buffalo Wild Wings

‘Touching stories’ Russians use AI tool to generate ‘farewell videos’ featuring soldiers killed in the war with Ukraine — Meduza An online service that uses AI to generate “farewell videos” of soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine has been gaining popularity among Russian users, the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti…

A service that uses AI to generate “farewell videos” of soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine has been gaining popularity among Russian users. The clips show soldiers embracing their loved ones before ascending towards heaven or turning into birds.
meduza.io/en/feature/2...

In Russia, Pardoned Former Convicts Return Home From War Russia has promised pardons to former convicts who volunteer in the war. Only eventually, some may return home—bringing violence with them.

In its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has so far tried to avoid a general mobilization, turning to convicts to fill its ranks in return for pardons. @emilyehoge.bsky.social evaluates the implications of releasing these individuals back into Russian society.

The Awkward History of Russia’s Recent Recognition of the Taliban A little over three decades after the Soviet Union and the mujahideen fought a long and brutal war, Russia officially recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.

On July 3, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. Emily Hoge explains how Russia's relationship with the Taliban has evolved in the shadow of the Soviet-Afghan war. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...