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Articles by Irina Borogan

opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

How Does Russia Treat Its Modernizers? By Locking Them Up

Alexei Soldatov, the “father of the Russian internet,” has been jailed for his independence and integrity while the Kremlin tightened its grip.
4 Min read
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

How Russia's FSB Embraced Religion in the Face of a Baffling War

The higher-ups in the security forces have long recognized the use of the Russian Orthodox Church as an unofficial arm of the state.
4 Min read
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

How the Kremlin Is Taking Aim at its Russian Critics in Exile

The Kremlin is busy developing a new strategy to deal with the unprecedented recent wave of emigration that has seen hundreds of thousands of people decide...
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

How the Kremlin Quietly Built Russia's Surveillance State

While Russia's mobilization of reservists to bolster its manpower on the frontline of the war with Ukraine has dominated news coverage of Russia in recent...
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

FSB Seizes a Greater Role in Russia’s Shadow War

From the Ukrainian standpoint, there are plentiful reasons to conduct dark operations against the Russian aggressor. Recent work by the Ukrainian secret...
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

Prison Swaps, Putin Style

More Westerners may be arrested as Putin forms a “bank” of people for future prisoner exchanges.
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

The Good Engineer Zima

The Russian regime rewards engineers who keep the regime afloat, but it is a Faustian bargain.
opinion Irina Borogan

Russian Special Services: From Political to Mass Repressions

The Russian special services are using tried and true methods of intimidation and repression.
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

Putin Pulls Russian Spy Agency Out of Ukraine

All signs point to continued infighting among the Russian security organizations, the siloviki.
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

Vicious Blame Game Erupts Among Putin’s Security Forces

Russian security institutions have begun to point fingers at one another over failures in the war on Ukraine.
opinion Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

Russia’s Secret Organizations Are Not Secret Anymore. It Seems They Don’t Care

What has become clear is that to expect the Kremlin or its secret services to be embarrassed when they are unmasked is to miscalculate greatly.
opinion Irina Borogan

The Kremlin Is All Ears

Several government agencies have been given expanded authority to conduct surveillance on Russians.
opinion Irina Borogan

Police Stockpiling Drones to Spy on Protests

With the rise in protests, drones will be used more often for surveillance purposes against protests and perhaps even to spy on opposition leaders...