Rob Hastings

🥸 For nearly three years, Joe Augustyn ran the CIA unit that arranges new identities for defectors escaping from Russia, to shield them from attacks.

He spoke to me for @theipaper.com about protecting some of the world's bravest - and most unusual - people:
inews.co.uk/news/world/c...

Epstein abused me aged 16 - I'm disgusted by millionaires who flocked to him Annie Farmer, who gave key evidence at Ghislaine Maxwell's sex-trafficking trial, says survivors have been warning of Jeffrey Epstein's web of power for years

Annie Farmer, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, spoke to me for @theipaper.com - the phrase that stood out was "ubiquitous misogyny”
inews.co.uk/news/crime/e...

Iranians like us have faced deadly threats on UK streets - but we're not afraid After years of plots by Tehran's regime against the British Iranian community, protesters now feel emboldened by demonstrations back home

Iranian dissidents in the UK are often afraid to reveal their names and faces because of regime threats, but now they're coming out of the shadows

Three of them spoke with me for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/iranian...

In a 2024 interview with The i Paper, the former chancellor spoke about his concerns over immigration

After he announced his defection to the Reform Party, take a look back over that interview

trib.al/ncCcMzE

I was the UK's last Soviet Union ambassador - here's how Putin can lose These are dangerous times for Putin, according to Sir Rodric Braithwaite, a former British diplomat who has seen firsthand how Russia can unexpectedly turn on apparently powerful leaders

"I certainly keep open the possibility that Putin could suddenly disappear"

Bit late in posting but was great to interview the UK's last ambassador to the USSR, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, about the risks facing the Kremlin and the chances of peace, for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/u...

I was CIA's top agent in Moscow - Putin has trained to manipulate men like Trump Rob Dannenberg was the US spy chief in Russia early in Vladimir Putin's rule - and believes he understands the dictator better than most

🇷🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 “Putin looks at Trump and sees a weak guy, vain, with huge ego”

I interviewed the CIA's former Moscow chief of station, Rob Dannenberg, for @theipaper.com about how he believes the Russian dictator is manipulating Trump, and risks this poses for Ukraine and the West
inews.co.uk/news/world/i...

It was so interesting to visit the old Cornish clay pit set to become the UK's first lithium mine, reducing reliance on China for the mineral - which is vital to the production of batteries for EVs and tech products

You can read my feature for @theipaper.com here: inews.co.uk/news/busines...

And here is my editor's letter from today's paper:

I helped create Novichok – but I never thought Putin would use it Dr Vil Mirzayanov feels guilty about developing the nerve agent used in Salisbury – but is proud he blew the whistle on Russia's secret chemical weapons

🗣️ You can read my full interview with Dr Vil Mirzayanov - on his extraordinary story of developing Novichok but then revealing its existence to the world after years of guilt, eventually fleeing to the US where he's lived for 30 years - here at @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/h...

🚨 My splash for @theipaper.com today

🧑‍🔬 Based on my interview with Novichok scientist Dr Vil Mirzayanov

🥼 Plus contributions from former UK chemical response chief Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, leading toxicologist Professor Alastair Hay, and SDR co-author General Sir Richard Barrons

Link below...

I helped create Novichok – but I never thought Putin would use it Dr Vil Mirzayanov feels guilty about developing the nerve agent used in Salisbury – but is proud he blew the whistle on Russia's secret chemical weapons

☠️ The extraordinary story of the scientist who helped develop Novichok

🧪 Dr Vil Mirzayanov blew the whistle on Russia's secret chemical weapons programme in the 90s and fled to US

🧑‍🔬 Amazed he's not been poisoned himself, he spoke to me for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/h...

Putin creating chemical weapons ‘worse than Novichok’, experts fear A former Novichok scientist worries Russia may be trying to develop nerve agents that are harder to detect

🧪 Russia may be developing more chemical weapons, experts fear

I spoke to Dr Vil Mirzayanov, a Russian scientist who developed Novichok but became a whistleblower - he thinks a new nerve agent may have killed Alexei Navalny

My exclusive for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/t...

My exclusive splash today for @theipaper.com

Thousands of elderly and vulnerable people are being forced to move out of their care homes every year with just 28 days' notice, often in distressing circumstances, following a big post-pandemic rise, FoI data shows
inews.co.uk/news/health/...

🔴 At least 45 cases of silicosis among workers cutting engineered stone have been recorded in the UK - the average age of those diagnosed just 31

We are launching our Killer Kitchens campaign to force the Government to clamp down on deadly dust: trib.al/0c0I5fe

ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.

He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.

www.wsj.com/world/china/...

The laser weapons developed by Russia that could blind a sniper or kill a drone The laser aimed at an RAF aircraft by a Russian ship may have been a simple handheld pen, but far more advanced devices are in the works

🔦 The laser used by Russian spy ship Yantar on an RAF P-8 patrol aircraft was probably just a cheap handheld device, an expert in military lasers told me for @theipaper.com

😵 But even those can have big impacts on pilots - and bigger laser weapons are being developed:
inews.co.uk/news/laser-w...

Well done to Michael Palin and #Newsnight for covering the importance of hospices and their funding crisis

I visited Marie Curie's site in Bradford earlier this year for @theipaper.com - the care of the staff and volunteers there was so moving:
inews.co.uk/news/health/...

We R Blighty convicted of illegally collecting money - for second time Armed Forces veteran condemns the 'shameless way' that the Kent-based organisation appeals for donations on high streets without permission

👮 We R Blighty has been convicted - for a second time - of "shameless" illegal street fundraising

Ben Mills and Danielle Vidler pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates' Court

The group was caught while it was awaiting its first trial this year
inews.co.uk/news/crime/w...

The Good Russian "An important and necessary book... a work of honesty and humanity," Mishal Husain "This is a unique and necessary book. The Good Russian takes us inside...

And if you'd like to read more about her experiences in Russia and why more people there aren't standing up to the despicable invasion of Ukraine, Jana's very moving new book 'The Good Russian: In Search of a Nation's Soul' has just been published:
www.hachette.co.uk/titles/jana-...

I'm a Russian living in London - this is what people back home think of Putin Jana Bakunina reveals what pro-Putin friends and family told her when she visited her home city of Yekaterinburg - and how opponents are burying their heads in the sand to survive

Jana Bakunina is Russian but has lived in the UK since 1999. She couldn't understand why so many friends and family support Putin - so she went back to find out

What she learnt about people's attitudes was deeply worrying

My interview with her for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/r...

I'm a Pussy Riot activist. This is what life is like in a Russian prison Maria Alyokhina reveals the conditions she endured in one of the remote penal colonies where opponents of Vladimir Putin face potential torture

“There is no way back"

😾 My interview with Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina for @theipaper.com on:
- Life after escaping Russia, supporting Ukraine
- Tough conditions for Putin's political prisoners
- Her worries for poet Artyom Kamardin, jailed for seven years
inews.co.uk/news/world/p...

'Threatening' behaviour of We R Blighty founder forces charity to boost security The controversial group, whose directors have been convicted of illegal fundraising, faces more criticism in run-up to Remembrance Day

🚨 The Charities Aid Foundation strengthened security at its HQ to protect employees following alleged “threatening behaviour” by Ben Mills, the founder of We R Blighty, the controversial CIC raising money for homeless military veterans

My exclusive for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/busines...

Shocking article in the Sheffield Tribune. A solicitor, Andrew Milne, buying up freeholds of houses and then making (false) threats to the leaseholders to bully them into buying the freehold at a huge premium.

Broken bones, heart attacks and chemical burns - the human cost of Amazon orders 2,500 serious injury incidents have been recorded in UK Amazon warehouses in the last ten years - roughly one injury every day and a half

Many months in the reporting - my investigation into Amazon warehouses is finally live today. A huge thank you to the workers and others who spoke to me, on and off the record. inews.co.uk/news/human-c...

UK has 'lost momentum' for war readiness - and 'relies on enemies to leave us alone' Lead author of the landmark Strategic Defence Review says the UK is currently 'running on luck' and post-Cold War era 'fumes' to protect itself from attack

⛑ A cracking and very discomforting read from my colleague Jane Merrick on how unprepared we are for war - well worth your time

🤞 One lead author of the Strategic Defence Review said the UK is “running on luck” when it comes to war readiness and we are "relying on our enemies to leave us alone"

Today we're launching Politics Unwrapped, a new weekday newsletter from The i Paper that breaks down the big stories and how they actually affect you

Sign up for free here: trib.al/CLd4iLD

I defected from China and revealed its spying tactics - now I fear assassination Chen Yonglin caused a diplomatic storm when the diplomat spoke out against his country and claimed asylum – 20 years on, he claims China is 'the enemy of human beings'

It was great to interview Chen Yongling - the Chinese diplomat who sensationally defected

He spoke to me for @theipaper.com about China's threat to the UK, his experiences at Tiananmen Square in 1989, and his father's murder in the Cultural Revolution:
inews.co.uk/news/world/d...

I escaped a deadly polygamous cult with my nine kids – others are still trapped Pamela Jones reveals her life in a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Mexico, where her father had 57 children and her ex-husband had five other wives

Growing up in a polygamous cult, Pamela Jones had 57 siblings. Her husband had five other wives. As well as nine children, she had eight miscarriages.

Speaking to me for @theipaper.com, she reveals what life was like before her escape and her fears for others still there
inews.co.uk/news/escaped...

'The danger comes when you least expect it': How BBC's Lyse Doucet covers war The veteran reporter reflects on the 'unbearably painful' war in Gaza, constant online criticism, and why she wanted to tell the story of an Afghan hotel

It was great interviewing Lyse Doucet for @theipaper.com

We discussed:
🇵🇸🇮🇱 Covering “unbearably painful” news from Gaza
🤬 Constant online criticism of BBC reporting
📖 The fab book she's written about a hotel in Kabul
🐡 Her goldfish Tango and Mango
inews.co.uk/news/world/l...

Very glad you thought so, that's kind, thanks Mark - and totally agree