Nataliya Vasilyeva
Freelance reporter @nytimes.com Past: Jerusalem and Moscow, ex-Telegraph, AP survivor. Shortlisted for 2024 UK Press Awards Foreign Correspondent of the Year.
- Just a few years ago, rivals would kill to get a piece of Domodedovo, Russia's biggest privately owned airport. But after the war decimated the aviation industry, no one wanted to buy it at what seemed to be a fair market price. I tried to explain what happened: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/w...
- The NYT got hold of thousands of official complaints filed by relatives of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. My colleagues and I spent a whole two months going through them and, later, contacting over 200 people. Dozens of them spoke to us. 1/6 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
- Every single one of the complaints was a cry for help. It's hard to describe how challenging this project has been for me and my colleagues.On a personal level, my Ukrainian friends have been suffered immensely from four years of the Russian invasion,and my own life has been affected by Putin's war.
- Yet, it was difficult not be affected by the stories of families whose relatives were sent into fighting on crutches or were threatened with death unless they went on suicide missions. Hope this story sheds the light on the price that Russia is paying for winning over inch after inch in Ukraine. 3/6
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View full threadMade possible by the excellent @paulsonne.bsky.social Anton Troianovski, Milana Mazaeva and Alina Lobzina 6/6
- My piece on the growing water crisis in occupied eastern Ukraine. Completely man-made and not solvable until the war ends. “Dams have been destroyed, and there is no canal: It’s just not there. You will have to build it all from scratch.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/w...
- I got to sit down with the Tikhanovskys in Vilnius last month to talk about the future of Belarus and a stunning role reversal that his couple is now having to navigate. "I’m teaching him to be more careful about the words you say." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/w...
- My deep condolences to Derk's family. He was such a towering presence in Russian media - and a helping hand to many newsrooms.
- In Russia, the war in Ukraine has claimed an unlikely casualty: mobile internet networks. Piece by me and Alina Lobzina on how Russians from big cities are getting used to navigate a life without apps, online maps and contactless pay. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/w...
- “It’s utterly surreal to see adult men with veritable military distinctions give reports to and grovel in front of a child.” There's a looming issue for the Kremlin that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. My piece on succession plans for Chechnya: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/w...
- My piece on Kaskad, an obscure Russian army unit that offers officials, pro-Kremlin youth activists and various regime "Mitläufer"s a chance to get the badge of war veteran and come back home safe and sound after a short deployment in Ukraine: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/w...
- I went on TV Rain this morning to speak about Kaskad: www.youtube.com/live/X2KagdF...
- Landmark case, even by today's Russian standards: Melkonyants is Russia's preeminent election expert and co-chairman of Golos which has provided unrivaled expertise and training to elex monitors who went on to expose widespread fraud. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/w...
- "You constantly have to play cat-and-mouse with the school." Grateful to the brave teachers and parents who were willing to share their experience battling propaganda at school: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/w...
- Russian independent newsrooms in exile have been essential for our understanding of the Kremlin's crackdown on civil society in Russia: A lot of what we know about the closed-door trial of four journalists in Moscow is thanks to the excellent Mediazona: zona.media/online/2025/...
- Colleagues are still crowdfunding to avoid a shutdown: en.zona.media/article/2025...
- Strong story by NYT colleagues @paulsonne.bsky.social Alina Lobzina, Milana Mazaeva on what Eastern Europe and Central Asia stand to lose if RFE/RL shuts down following Trump's executive order: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...
- Mr. Kuznechyk said he could not understand why Washington would shutter RFE/RL at a time when Belarus and its patron Russia have curtailed freedoms to a degree unseen since the Soviet era. “Why make this gift” to authoritarians, he asked. “What will the world be like next?”
- Donald Trump may very well believe Vladimir Putin's word to stick to any peace deal they might negotiate. Hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled the country in the aftermath of the invasion are not that gullible. My Sunday piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/w...
- With the war in Ukraine and war-related repression expanding in Russia, it's easy to overlook a major transformation in Russia right now: thanks to a new 'extremism' designation, gay people are virtually outlawed in Russia. My piece with Alina Lobzina: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/w...
- Three years into the war and exile, Russian independent media are feeing the squeeze: The editor-in-chief of the excellent @en.zona.media is making an urgent appeal for donations - he has taken himself off the payroll to avoid more cuts. en.zona.media/article/2025...
- Curious stats from Russia's Federal Treasury this morning: The federal budget last year sent some $2 billion (176 billion rubles) to Crimea in budget subsidies. Putin claimed in 2014 that the Crimean annexation would be profitable for Russia. www.rbc.ru/economics/04...
- 11 years on, Russia is still paying for Crimea in a variety of ways.
- Reposted by Nataliya VasilyevaLSE researchers have "identified more than 200 Russian court rulings to nationalize private companies since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022," for violating privatization laws, per @nataliyavasilyeva.bsky.social. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/w...
