I lead our Moscow bureau, a team of journalists covering a vast territory from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Caucasus and Central Asia. For the moment, much of our team, including me, is based in Berlin, given the risks now facing reporters working in Russia. My biggest focus right now is on President Vladimir V. Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. In general, I write about major events in Russia and try to unpack the opaque world of Russian politics. I also work to understand Russia’s role in the world and its fast-changing economy, as well as the dynamics in other former Soviet republics. I’m committed to exploring the changes in culture and society across these regions, as well as the global impact of the war in Ukraine.
My Background
I’ve covered Russia since 2018, when I arrived there as Moscow bureau chief for The Washington Post. I joined The Times the following year. I started my career in 2008 as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. I wrote about commercial real estate and then telecommunications until 2013, when I moved to Berlin to cover Germany for the Journal.
My article about the thawing permafrost of Siberia was part of a Washington Post series that won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2020. I was also part of the Times team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2023 for our coverage of the war in Ukraine. I was born in Moscow and grew up in Heidelberg, Germany, and St. Louis, Missouri. I hold a degree in social studies from Harvard University, where I wrote my senior thesis on the Kremlin’s push for influence on the internet.
Journalistic Ethics
Like all of my Times colleagues, I’m committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. For every story, I seek to speak to as many people as possible and do my best to understand what’s going on, and what it means. In covering Russia, it’s my job to talk to Vladimir Putin’s most active supporters as well as his fiercest opponents, and everyone in between. I work to find stories that aren’t being told, begin every reporting effort with an open mind and am committed to doing my job with empathy, nuance, accuracy and fairness.
Vladimir Putin said allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons would mean NATO countries were “at war with Russia.” It was one of his most direct threats yet.
Dismissing Ukraine’s recent invasion of Kursk, the Russian leader said Kyiv made a mistake in trying to force Moscow to divert its forces from the Donbas region.
By Marc Santora, Anton Troianovski and Nicole Tung
A Moscow court sentenced Alexander Shiplyuk, the director of a physics institute who specializes in hypersonic flight, to 15 years in prison. It was the latest treason case against a leading scientist.
More than 50 people were killed by two high-speed missiles that hit a military academy in the eastern city of Poltava, one of the most lethal Russian strikes in the war.
By David Guttenfelder, Yurii Shyvala, Maria Varenikova and Marc Santora
The reality of 130,000 displaced Russians and a chaotic official response may begin to puncture the official line that Russia is steadily heading toward victory.
Planned in secrecy, the incursion was a bold move to upend the war’s dynamics and put Moscow on the defensive — a gambit that could also leave Ukraine exposed.
By Kim Barker, Anton Troianovski, Andrew E. Kramer, Constant Méheut, Alina Lobzina, Eric Schmitt and Sanjana Varghese