Systema is RFE/RL's Russian-language investigative unit, launched in 2023. The team conducts in-depth investigative journalism, producing high-profile reports and videos in Russian.
The murk surrounding the death of Russia’s transport minister – allegedly tied to the theft of border defenses -- has captured the attention of the political elites. For many, it’s not a settled fact that he killed himself. Nor is it certain he was even alive at the time of his sacking by Putin.
Once a champion of reform, Dmitry Medvedev has morphed into a wildly belligerent critic of Ukraine and the West. In Russia, the change has saved him from oblivion. It may also be a source of riches: Foundations linked to Medvedev have amassed over $1 billion during the full-scale war, Systema found.
Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency whistleblower who has lived in Russia since his revelations rocked the US intelligence community in 2013, has a taxpayer identification number, Systema, RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit found.
The Council of the European Union has prepared a new sanctions regulation that, for the first time, formally accuses Russia of using CS gas as a method of warfare on the front lines in Ukraine.
The Russian military intelligence agency oversaw the recruitment of prisoners into assault units known as “Storm Z”. It also funded the units and collected of information about casualties, RFE/RL's Systema reports in the documentary "The Slaughter Of Ghosts: How Russian Prisoners Fight In Ukraine."
Despite laws banning discriminatory hiring practices, Russian state entities are advertising jobs with the requirement that applicants be of “Slavic appearance,” an RFE/RL investigation has found.
A series of violent clashes in Syria points to both the lingering Russian and Iranian presence in the country, as well as the extreme risks to civilians. Through interviews and analysis of open-source data, RFE/RL can give a clearer picture of what's happening inside Syria.
Despite Western bans on exports to Russia, vehicles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars are still readily available to the super-rich. Is an agency responsible for guarding top-level officials involved in the trade?
A burgeoning market for Kyrgyz passports has sprouted in Russia, offering greater travel and other freedoms amid international sanctions and domestic repressions since President Vladimir Putin launched all-out war on Ukraine. Not everyone in the Central Asian nation is happy about it.
RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit, Systema, has obtained a draft treaty that Moscow proposed early in talks that began days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It would have left a truncated Ukraine deeply vulnerable, with a minuscule military and no hope of protection from the West.
An obscure Uzbek logistics company has turned into a major middleman for Russian art collectors seeking to burnish their luxury collections with Western art – while evading Western sanctions.
A new national-priority project announced by President Vladimir Putin in January aims to develop new medical technologies to counter aging. Sources tell Systema and Meduza the project is the brainchild of Mikhail Kovalchuk, a Putin insider known for his outlandish scientific theories.
Systema traced Instagram posts by Olga Savelyeva, wife of Russian legislator Dmitry Savelyev, recently detained on suspicion of ordering a contract killing, to a multimillion-dollar mansion in the U.K.’s Wentworth Estate, a former home to Elton John and Augusto Pinochet.
Known as “Putin’s Architect” for designing a lavish, estate linked to the Russian president, Italian businessman Lanfranco Cirillo was also involved in the renovation of a second leisure property for Putin that triggered a tax raid over millions of dollars, an RFE/RL investigation has found.
Dmitry Patrushev, the 46-year-old son of one of Vladimir Putin’s closest confidants, is seen as a possible successor to the Russian president. RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit examines some of his dealings, including an investment in a country known as a hub for drug shipments heading to Europe.
How and when will Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 25-year rule come to an end? And who might take his place? These are the questions RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit posed to dozens of international Russia experts, who in all mentioned 34 possible successors by name.
In late June, drone footage appeared showing a soldier in Ukraine shooting a wounded comrade in the head. Russian state television and other pro-Kremlin media claimed the shooter was a Ukrainian “fascist.” But RFE/RL’s investigation concluded the soldiers in the video were Russians.
Many Russians and Central Asians with Russian passports are desperate to escape Russia to avoid having to fight in the Ukraine war. They often go to an EU country and apply for a humanitarian visa, crossing the border illegally and asking for asylum. Their success varies.
Systema, RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit, said on June 4 that it had discovered the name and details of a person who it believes is Yelizaveta Peskova, the daughter of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in the national taxpayer registry of Kazakhstan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s children and their spouses have long benefitted from access to state contracts and the wealth of his friends. Now the romantic partner of his elder daughter has been tapped for a key role in a Russian billionaire's liquified-natural-gas projects.
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