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Articles by Andrei Soldatov

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

Evan Gershkovich's Arrest Means No Journalist Can Feel Safe in Russia Today

All foreign journalists, and by default all foreign nationals, are now potentially fair game for Putin and the Russian security services.
3 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 Andrei Soldatov

Bad News for Me Is Good News for Russia

An investigative journalist investigates the legal case against him.
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

Why is a Russian Intelligence General in Moscow Lefortovo Prison?

The head of the Fifth Service of the FSB was brought to Lefortovo Prison under an false name.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Russia Faces Loss of Digital Sovereignty

Russia will have two ways to cope: spies and Chinese technology.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Why the Kremlin Blocking TOR Is a Big Deal

The encryption software allows users to access websites and pages blocked by the authorities, but TOR has been political since its inception in the 1960s...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

We Can No Longer Expect Google and Apple to Fight for Internet Freedom

Since the backlash over Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, global tech giants have become replaceable parts of national infrastructure.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Russia’s Drive to Replace Foreign Technology Is Slowly Working

Using primitive methods, the Kremlin has made steady progress towards a goal that once seemed impossible — weaning Russians off foreign-made technology...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Why Is Russia Not Using Pegasus Spyware?

Pegasus spyware leak appears to vindicate FSB's paranoia concerning foreign-made surveillance technology.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Russia’s Endless Registers Are a Back Door to Preliminary Censorship

Listing everything means new things cannot pop up and become available spontaneously.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Can the U.S. Still Cooperate With Russia's Security Agencies?

How to work together when you can't tell the cops from the robbers.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

What Has Become of the GRU, Russia’s Military Intelligence Agency?

To understand the Czech arms depot explosion, you have to delve into the history books.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Russia’s Pursuit of Internet Sovereignty Backfires, Again

A Kremlin attempt to slow Twitter caused government websites to crash and raised new questions about its ambitious plans to regulate the internet.
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 Andrei Soldatov

Safronov’s Arrest Is a New Low for Freedom of Speech in Russia

Putin has now entrusted the “journalist question” to his security services. We should be very worried.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

How the ‘1984’ Scenario Failed in Moscow

The authorities’ sheer incompetence coupled with bureaucratic arrogance ruined any chance for public acceptance of increased control.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Coronavirus Will Pass, But Moscow's Mass Surveillance Is Here to Stay

Laws that, on the face of it, keep people safe can change the fabric of society.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

The Kremlin’s Ticking Tech Bomb (Op-ed)

On the eve of the election, protests are feeding the Kremlin’s already high level of internet paranoia
opinion Andrei Soldatov

The Kremlin’s VPN Ban Has KGB Roots (Op-ed)

The Kremlin’s ban on VPNs is less about national security than self preservation
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Security First, Technology Second — Why It’s Back to the Future For Russian IT

In the Bavarian Alps there is a small mountain resort town, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, famous for its spectacular views and its hosting of the Nazi Olympics...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

RuNet 2016: Pressure Shifts From Companies to Citizens (Op-Ed)

The stakes are getting higher in the battle between the state and the Internet giants.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

FSB Will Welcome Russia's Internet Server Law


A little more than two years ago, in March 2012, Sergei Smirnov, first deputy director of the Federal Security Service, presented a policy paper...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

In Front of Putin, Internet Titans Lose Their Nerve

Even the recent and onerous restrictions on blogs were only mentioned once at the forum.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Putin, the Internet, and Popular Conspiracies

President Vladimir Putin, who had previously shown complete indifference to the Internet, has suddenly given an exhaustive explanation of his position...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

The True Role of the FSB in the Ukrainian Crisis

The intrigue is growing over the Federal Security Service's involvement in Ukraine. On April 11, Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor General said there was...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

FSB Makes Eavesdropping an Olympic Event

The Kremlin not only did not deny allegations of illegal spying. They seemed to be proud of it.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

FSB's Olympic Spying

Russian intelligence agencies are violating the law when they gather metadata on citizens without a court order.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Russia's Spying Craze

After the FSB announced its plans to gain direct access to phone calls and e-mails without a court warrant, other Russian agencies said they want in on...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Snowden Comes Out of His Capsule At Last

After the Snowden news conference, the real question everybody is asking is: Does the FSB control Snowden's every action?
opinion Andrei Soldatov

NSA Is No Match for the FSB

While the U.S. has checks and balances that regulate how the state eavesdrops on its citizens, Russia has none.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Both Sides Dropped the Ball on Tsarnaev

The failures of both the FBI and FSB show the lack of coordination that has hindered the joint battle on terrorism.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

The FSB Opens a New Foreign Front

The Federal Security Service will be given a detachment of agents to be assigned to permanent duty in foreign states.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

FSB's Cyber Silver Bullet

Russia can strengthen its defense against cyberattacks on state websites and the country's entire cyberspace by creating a CERT.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Now, Almost Anyone Is a Traitor

Journalists, NGOs and even bureaucrats fear that any contact with foreigners may qualify as treason under the new law.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Treating Smugglers as Spies

The illegal export of U.S. dual-use technology to Russia has always been a criminal offense, but it was never considered true espionage.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Why a Young American Wants to Be a Russian Spy

If you are lucky enough to be a Russian sleeper agent in the United States, you can earn a lot of money and do absolutely nothing.
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Police Using Sledgehammers to Crack Nuts

The March 5 protest rally on Pushkin Square revealed how government security forces were unprepared to respond properly to what should have been a very...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Why Putin Will Inherit an Unhappy FSB in 2012

However much funding has grown for the Federal Security Service during the 2000s, this fall they are facing their most serious internal crisis in years...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Kremlin's Plan to Prevent a Facebook Revolution

Recent events in the Arab world have sparked renewed optimism with online social networks. Many in the West are now convinced that Internet technology...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Imitation Anti-Terror

Two top officials who were conspicuously absent from President Dmitry Medvedev’s meeting with top security officials — Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

Turning Misfit Spies Into Heroes

In Russia, the spy fiasco was flipped on its head and spun as a huge success: the agents “penetrated” U.S. society and duped the naive Americans for...
opinion Andrei Soldatov

The Country’s New Nobility

In December 2000, then-director of the Federal Security Service proudly described the FSB’s rank and file: “Our best colleagues, the honor and pride...