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Features

Beyond Putin and Xi’s Bromance, Chinese Culture Creeps Into Daily Life in Russia

From language and the arts to tourism and consumer goods, China’s presence in everyday life in Russia is becoming increasingly pronounced.

In the Donbas ‘Fortress,’ Ukraine’s Soldiers Refuse to Yield

For Kyiv’s troops, withdrawing from their strategic backbone in Donetsk — one of the Kremlin’s conditions for peace — is nearly unthinkable.
5 Min read

Russian Students Start School Year Marked by Surveillance, War Veterans and Anti-Migrant Measures

Students going back to school will find their classrooms transformed once again by the war in Ukraine.
6 Min read

Everything You Need to Know About Max, Russia’s State-Backed Answer to WhatsApp

The government is pulling out all the stops to make Max Russia's "super-app." But its technical flaws and privacy risks are hard to ignore.
7 Min read

Russia Has 1,500 Political Prisoners. Their Art Is Now on Display in Europe.

Rights advocates collected artwork made by political prisoners for the Prisoners of Conscience installation at Artists Against the Kremlin.
4 Min read

Russia’s Pro-War Bloggers See ‘Humiliation’ in Putin-Trump Summit

Bloggers voiced frustration with the talks — and fears that they, too, could fall victim to tightening censorship and persecution if the war ends.
5 Min read

‘Intoxicating Victory’: How Bashkir Activists Led a Historic Protest Movement at Kushtau

This August marks five years since the Kushtau protests in Bashkortostan, one of the few successful grassroots protests in Russia’s modern history. ...
8 Min read

'Between an Amusement Park and Something Horrible': Anna Narinskaya Brings LGBTQ+ Russians' Plight to Life

Narinskaya discusses the message behind the "Boxed" exhibition, what people in Europe and the West can take from it and her role in emigration.
6 Min read

From Rakhimov to Khabirov: How Bashkortostan Became the Seedbed of Russia’s Indigenous-Led Protests

Five years after the Kushtau protests, The Moscow Times explores the political context that set the stage for the protests and how they unfolded. 
8 Min read

In Ukraine’s Donbas, a Vital Highway Under Siege — And the Soldiers Trying to Shield It

As Putin and Trump prepare to meet and Russia presses forward in Donetsk, a team of Ukrainian soldiers works to keep a strategic artery open.
5 Min read

‘I Always Find Myself Returning to Chernobyl’: Artist Serafima Bresler

Echoes of the nuclear disaster, a deeply personal topic for Bresler, will be found throughout her works chosen for the Artists Against the Kremlin exhibition...
5 Min read

Babel Books: The Berlin Bookstore Building Community for Russian Speakers

Founder Natalia Smirnova discusses the impact of growing censorship in Russia on Babel's operations and what it means to curate a bookstore in exile.
5 Min read

'He Played a Colossal Role': Moscow Times Alumni Share Memories of Derk Sauer

Dozens of journalists got their start under Sauer's leadership at MT. We asked some of them to reflect on their experiences working with him.
8 Min read

Chuvash Artist Aysha Demina Weaves Away Cultural Taboos and Generational Trauma

Demina is one of a new generation of Indigenous artists from Russia who challenge the Moscow-imposed, “museumified” canons of Indigenous art.
7 Min read

‘First of All, It’s Beautiful’: Marat Gelman Seeks to Disarm Putin’s Nuclear Threats in New Art Project

The art gallerist and former Kremlin adviser-turned-critic has, for the first time in his career, stepped into the role of an artist himself.
6 Min read

In Russia, Soldiers’ Wives Are Urged to Give Birth to Children Who Might Never Meet Their Fathers

Initiatives across Russia are encouraging wives of soldiers to carry their pregnancies to term, even as the fathers might not return from the front.
5 Min read

‘There’s No Life Without Water’: Occupied Donetsk Residents Plead for Water Amid Supply Collapse

Faced with severely limited and poor-quality water, residents are calling on Putin to investigate local authorities' action — and inaction.
4 Min read

‘We Could Lose It in 60 Days’: Russia Closes In on Ukrainian Stronghold of Pokrovsk

Though losing Pokrovsk would significantly worsen the situation for Ukrainian forces in Donetsk, analysts doubt it will dramatically impact the war.
6 Min read

Billions Spent, Nothing Built: The Deepwater Port in Sakhalin With Links to Russia's Elite

Four years after the government and Gazprombank pledged billions to build a strategic deepwater port on Sakhalin Island, there is not even a construction...
5 Min read
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