Confession“In Russia, you will atone for your guilt before Putin”: Stories of three Russians deported from the United StatesThe Insider 26 February 2026
Confession“Programs about Christ followed by beatings half to death”: Kherson’s ex-mayor Volodymyr Mykolaienko on his years in Russian captivityViktoriia Ponomareva6 February 2026
Confession“You must not show that you are afraid”: Tales of captivity in the Kremlin-controlled “People’s Republics”Viktoriia Ponomareva5 January 2026
Confession“They forced me to cook, clean, and fulfill their sexual whims”: Testimony of a Ukrainian woman enslaved by Russian soldiersDNDaria Nilova18 December 2025
Confession“This isn’t the Middle Ages, and we aren’t serfs”: Locals in Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donbas react to Putin’s territorial demandsAAArden Arkman12 November 2025
ConfessionTracked down, coerced, threatened: How Russia hunts down deserters and forces them back to the front lines in UkraineViktoriia Ponomareva10 November 2025
Confession“Thou shalt not idolize your motherland”: Russian Orthodox priests on the war in Ukraine and the degradation of their churchVMValentina Matrenina10 November 2025
ConfessionThe Kremlin’s missionary: A former aide shares the secrets of the Russian Orthodox Church in HungaryAnastasia Mikhaylova23 October 2025
Confession“Our people poisoned Navalny”: Former FSB officer on surveilling opposition figures and running black ops in Russia and UkraineMKMikhail Kalinin18 October 2025
Confession“We tried to leave as few buildings intact as possible”: Russian-speaking IDF soldiers on their service in GazaAAlexander Leonidovich10 October 2025
Confession“Even if the war in Gaza ends, this hatred isn’t going anywhere”: Soviet-born émigré Jews speak out on the rise of antisemitism in the U.S.AAnna Rudnitskaya8 September 2025
Confession“Nobody wants to help the army anymore”: Confessions from Russian pro-war volunteersVMValentina Matrenina26 August 2025
Confession“If a colonel couldn’t do anything, what could I do?”: A Belarusian border guard’s confession MKMikhail Kalinin24 August 2025
ConfessionThose who stayed: Stories of Ukrainians who refuse to leave their war-torn towns and villagesDNDaria Nilova20 August 2025
Confession“GRU officers do time for drugs, the police for protection rackets”: Inside Russia’s prison colony for crooked cops and spooksSergey Kanev8 August 2025
Confession“The president lives in his own reality”: Confessions of police officers and government officials in Russia’s borderlandsAAnastasia Ulyanova26 July 2025
Confession“Everyone wants me to pick a fight with my cousin”: Nate Vance on war, family politics, and the fight for UkraineThe Insider 25 July 2025
Confession“They tied me to a chair with duct tape and started torturing me with electricity”: Testimonies of Ukrainian women abducted by Russia The Insider 19 July 2025
Confession“If we got captured, we’d probably be executed”: Confessions of three foreign volunteers fighting for UkraineThe Insider 14 July 2025
Confession“In emigration, the war was all we ever talked about. In Russia, it’s bad form.” The life of activists who returned to their home countryIva Tsoy 10 July 2025
Confession“The officer made it clear we were being deported”: How Trump’s anti-immigration policies impacted Russian asylum seekersAAlex Kreyn25 June 2025
Confession“Even if you feel opposition inside, you have to demonstrate support”: Confessions of teachers in Belgorod schoolsAAnastasia Ulyanova10 June 2025
Confession“Photos of Putin and Kadyrov were in the dean’s office, like icons”: Russian students expelled for their anti-war views share their storiesViktoriia Ponomareva5 March 2025
Confession“We ditched our uniforms and hid in a swamp”: Chechen POWs from “Akhmat” share their accounts from KurskMKMikhail Kalinin27 February 2025
Confession“The only way to wash away the shame is with weapons”: Why Russian volunteers choose to fight for UkraineVVasily Krestyaninov30 December 2024
Confession“Their shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’ drowned out our footsteps as we approached from the back”: Confessions of Ukrainian scoutsMAMaxim Akimov6 December 2024
Confession“For 72 days I was electrocuted, beaten, not allowed to eat or sleep”: how Russian convicts are driven to “meat-grinder assaults”Viktoriia Ponomareva31 October 2024
Confession“They tied me to a tree and said: ‘We’re gonna put you down now.’ There were 30 bodies in a ditch nearby”: Confessions of a Russian deserterThe Insider 20 August 2024
Confession“Shreds of bodies hung from the branches”: Confessions of “meat grinder” assault veteransViktoriia Ponomareva8 May 2024
Confession“Dying isn’t as bad as being a Russian POW”: Freed Ukrainian soldiers speak out about their time in Russian captivityViktoriia Ponomareva15 April 2024
Confession“We were handed envelopes with 'incentives' for delivering favorable results”: A Russian election official's confessionNKNadezhda Kolobaeva15 March 2024
Confession“It’s gut-wrenching to read accounts of torture and not be able to offer any comfort”: Confessions of Russian political prisoners’ wivesNKNadezhda Kolobaeva24 December 2023EEkaterina Pachikova24 December 2023
Confession“I know that my hands are elbow-deep in blood”: Confessions of Russian deserters The Insider 11 December 2023
Confession“Terrorists looked for children by following the sound of their screams”: How Russian-speaking families in Israel are surviving the warNNikita Aronov1 December 2023
ConfessionUnder the watchful eye of “Nikolai Nikolaevich”: How the FSB's surveillance unit monitors journalists and foreignersSergey Kanev10 November 2023
Confession“Everyone tries to enlist God on their side”: Orthodox priests reflect on ROC split over war in Ukraine MMarina Dulneva5 October 2023