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

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

New from @istories.bsky.social, @occrp.org and @osc-london.bsky.social

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Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov proposed to Vladimir Putin to approve the immediate start of preparations for full-scale nuclear tests on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in response to possible U.S. tests.

Putin has given his approval.

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According to the figures Russia provided to the UN, almost a thousand women were killed in acts of domestic violence in Russia last year.

This represents 47% of all women intentionally murdered in Russia, which is the highest ratio in the last 15 years.

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Russian cadets at military universities and academies are being deprived of the right to resign, as one of them told IStories. At the same time, their military contracts are now permanent under Putin’s 2022 mobilization decree.

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Support us!

This isn’t the first sentence against an IStories journalist — and likely not the last.

But we’re still here, still reporting — thanks to readers like you. Please help us keep going! → istories.media/en/donations...

🔹 On December 5, 2024, security officers searched her parents’ home. The investigator also tried to persuade her parents that Alesya should return.

In January 2025, authorities placed Marokhovskaya on a wanted list.

🔹 In December 2024, a criminal case was opened. An investigator notified her via Telegram, urged her to return to Russia (promising the case would “likely end with a fine”), and threatened to put her on a wanted list if she refused.

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

Context:

🔹 In August 2021, after our investigation into Katerina Tikhonova (Putin’s daughter) and her first husband, Alesya and five other IStories journalists were added to Russia’s “foreign agents” register.
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IStories Media editor-in-chief Alesia Marokhovskaia was sentenced in absentia to 10 months of corrective labor.

She was convicted of evading “foreign agent” reporting obligations.

In Russia, the number of those sentenced for “treason” and “espionage” doubled, and 350 people avoided criminal punishment by taking part in the war.

IStories data department reports on the Russian court rulings data from the first half of 2025 🔽

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There are deserters who flee the war right from the frontlines. Some of them, like Russian army corporal Pavlov, manage to do so twice. He told us his story 🔽

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People Kidnapped and Sentenced with “Espionage” and “Treason” in Occupied Territories of Ukraine At least 190 kidnapped civilians sentenced, including teenagers, seniors and whole families, 28% are women

The actual figures are higher, as we were only able to examine the publicly available data.

Read the stories of teenagers, pensioners, mothers, and entire families sentenced on fabricated charges on our website 🔽

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6️⃣ At least 654 Ukrainian civilians have been prosecuted in the occupied territories or in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale war.

5️⃣ At least five of the kidnapped have died in captivity.

4️⃣ Kidnapped Ukrainian civilians are almost never exchanged: only one in 24 those exchanged is a civilian (the rest are military POWs).

3️⃣ In the occupied territories, 28% of the sentenced on these charges are women. The average proportion in Russia would be 6%. At least 8 cases of sentenced teenagers are known.

2️⃣ The average sentence is 13.5 years in prison. There are at least two known cases of life imprisonment.

1️⃣ Sentences for “treason”, “espionage” and “confidential cooperation” are being imposed more and more often: from July to September 2025, they were issued once in every three days, meanwhile before the war Russian courts would issue no more than 16 such sentences per year.

Since Russia annexed the so-called DPR, LPR, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Oblasts, courts established by the occupying authorities have issued >190 sentences for “treason,” “espionage,” and “confidential cooperation with foreigners”.

After examining the documents, we've learned that:

in the occupied territories of Ukraine, people are kidnapped and tried as “spies” and “traitors” — with new sentences imposed every 3 days. Teenagers, pensioners, and entire families have fallen victim to the repression.

Here is what we have learned 🔽

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Support us!

Our independent investigations rely only on people like you. If you believe the truth must be told, please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation:
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For the full AMA thread, go here
www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comme...

While working on the story, we found a mobilized martial-arts instructor’s public diary — an illuminating record of one person’s shift from pacifism to support for the war.

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One in four mobilized soldiers died in the war during the first year

The AMA was about our recent investigation of the outcomes of 3 years of Russian mobilization.

Here is the story itself:
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And here is the Charon Project Polina mentioned
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Behind every investigation is not only data and proof, but also journalists.

Polina Uzhvak, one of the team members working on the data-driven investigation about mobilization in Russia, hosted #AskMeAnything on Reddit.

Here are a few highlights from the conversation.

Putin’s wartime economy has reached its limit (this time for real). This is what we learned from 2026 draft federal budget data 🔽

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Tapas and Toxins An investigation by IStories, OCCRP, All Eyes On Wagner, Slidstvo.Info, and Belarusian Investigative Center

How Spanish wine exports to Russia are linked to chemical smuggling and Russian intelligence services — a new investigation by OCCRP, IStories, and partners 🔽

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Sovcombank Co-owner Sergey Khotimsky Invested Millions of Dollars in U.S. Real Estate, and It Evaded Sanctions An investigation by The Post and Courier, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and IStories

Sanctioned Russian Sovcombank co-owner Sergey Khotimsky and his now ex-wife owned real estate in the United States worth about $60 million, and it evaded sanctions — read about it in our investigation with The Post and Courier and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 🔽

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From the IAmA community on Reddit: I’m an independent journalist analyzing Russia’s military losses and investigating war crimes in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. Ask Me Anything. Explore this post and more from the IAmA community

How was this investigation done? How is IStories' Data Department finding data when everything is banned by the Russian government?

Polina Uzvak is hosting #AskMeAnything on Reddit. Join and ask a question! www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comme...