The Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development’s new initiatives will effectively leave people with only the state-run internet. Here’s what regional internet service providers say about this 🔽
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Mathew Kyle Dubron is a former American and Israeli military serviceman. He went to army recruitment offices in both Moscow and Kyiv and told IStories about what he saw in Russia and Ukraine amid the war 🔽
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On March 30, the Tribunal de Paris was holding the first hearing of Dmitry Klyuev’s case, IStories found out. He is the alleged mastermind behind the 2007 tax fraud scheme that had been uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky 🔽
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A plant in Ireland owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska turned out to be part of a supply chain for missile production in Russia — yet it is not under sanctions. An investigation by IStories, OCCRP, The Irish Times, and partners 🔽
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How the daughter of a Russian intelligence officer gained access to some of the world’s most powerful people — @istories_eng tells the story of Lana Pozhidaeva, who was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s network and recruited women for him from the former USSR 🔽
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Who runs Russian war sn*ff news channels, what motivates them, how much they earn from it, and why these channels aren’t banned — we cover all of this in the full version of our investigation 🔽
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Such videos and photos subsequently become war crimes evidence. According to the latest report by the UN Human Rights Office, there have been no fewer than 96 executions of Ukrainian soldiers confirmed since 2022 — they also keep an eye on the Russian sn*ff channels on Telegram.
Why do people even create channels featuring war sn*ff?
The founder of one such channel told us: “It’s called information warfare.”
But it also brings in money. The largest Russian sn*ff channel on Telegram can earn up to 260K rubles (≈$3,250) a month from advertising.
According to a former Russian military officer interviewed by IStories, the footage of incidents that the soldiers send to the command posts often leaks from there:
“Even if the video is highly classified, there will always be someone who will leak it for money or hype.”
Having examined more than 50 Russian war sn*ff Telegram channels, we found that most of them are run by civilians, not military personnel.
Some of them aren’t even of adult age.
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In just one of the channels, we found 51 videos of mass shootings and beheadings in the “Executions” section.
In the “Executions (photos)” section, there are 53 more photos of corpses. Some of them have their hands tied.
There are also channels posting nothing but sn*ff content: photos and videos of murders, mutilated bodies, and desecration of corpses. Execution exclusives are popular, especially when filmed from a first-person perspective.
The Russian military immediately saw the potential of this war footage: for example, by posting exclusive coverage of military operations on Telegram channels and then selling advertising slots.
Before the Russo-Ukrainian war, no conflict had been documented in such detail. Cameras are on hundreds of thousands of drones, on soldiers’ helmets to record “evidence of their heroism and the elimination of targets,” and on their mobile phones.
In 2022, a new trend emerged in the Russian segment of Telegram messenger: public channels that exclusively post videos of brutal executions from the war in Ukraine, known as sn*ff.
IStories found out who created them and profited from them 🔽
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By early 2025, North Korean munitions had become vital for the Russian military effort in Ukraine, accounting for 75–100% of all daily artillery fire.
How the DPRK armed Russia — an investigation by IStories and Open Source Centre 🔽
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Since December 2025, a coercive campaign has been underway in Russian universities and colleges to make students enlist in the military.
Here’s what we know about the student recruitment campaign and how to avoid it 🔽
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Russia’s military aims to recruit 80,000 contract soldiers for its drone forces by the end of 2026, IStories found in Defense Ministry documents that were publicly accessible.
The campaign includes recruiting students and conscripts 🔽
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How Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin’s network kept operating in Africa and Latin America after his death (with Russian intelligence’s help) — an investigation by IStories, The Continent, Forbidden Stories, Dossier Center, All Eyes On Wagner, and openDemocracy 🔽
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Ramzan Kadyrov’s health is deteriorating, and speculation has resurfaced over who could become Chechnya’s next leader.
Here’s how Chechnya and the Kremlin are preparing for a change of power in the region after Kadyrov’s death 🔽
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In France, prosecutors have seized assets belonging to the head of Gazprombank Andrey Akimov and his deputy totaling more than €100 million.
IStories previously published a joint investigation with Le Monde about Akimov’s European assets 🔽
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For a deeper look at how the Russian Unified Military Registry works, how it was built, and who was involved, check out the full investigation or watch our YouTube report 🔽
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcEL...
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Because of how data is stored and processed in the registry, information on tens of millions of Russians could be leaked.
This includes highly detailed personal data — family information, addresses, health records, education, and much more.
At present, the automatic exit ban and other restrictions haven’t yet been fully implemented: draft offices and agencies have not established proper data exchange.
So people have still been able to cross the border even when the draft registry shows a travel ban flag.
If you fail to appear at the draft office within 20 days of the specified date, additional restrictions follow: you can be prohibited from taking out loans, completing property transactions, driving, or registering a vehicle.
All it takes for a draft officer is again a single click.