Stories — September 2025

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Stories — September 2025

There is little equipment left, and it is too vulnerable. Russian army may be stockpiling it for a major offensive, experts say

9 September

The Russian Army is Losing Way Less Equipment Now. What’s the Reason?

Kursk Oblast will soon hold another gubernatorial election, the second in just over a year — the previous governor, Alexey Smirnov, was arrested on suspicion of fraud. Khinshtein has no real competitors; his main task is to get re-elected and not end up in prison himself

10 September

Olga Ivanova

“If You Can Handle It — You Can Handle It, If Not — We’ll Bury You.” How Alexander Khinshtein is Calming Kursk Oblast

Passages through pipes have little impact on the course of combat operations, according to military experts

18 September

Russian Troops Once Again Used an Underground Pipe. Is This Tactic Really Effective?

An investigation by The Post and Courier, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and IStories

28 September

Irina Dolinina, John Dell'Osso

Sovcombank Co-owner Sergey Khotimsky Invested Millions of Dollars in U.S. Real Estate, and It Avoided Sanctions

A Russian-Spanish wine exporter whose family runs a chic tapas bar is under investigation for shipping sanctioned chemicals to Russia. She also owns a chemical company in Russia whose clients have included major state scientific agencies known for developing chemical weapons. An investigation by OCCRP, All Eyes On Wagner, Slidstvo.Info, Belarusian Investigative Center, and IStories

30 September

Maria Zholobova

Tapas and Toxins

Spending on promoting the Russian language abroad has tripled. This is how Moscow seeks to expand its influence and impose a pro-Russian agenda in other countries, while continuing its military aggression

16 September

Kremlin Has Increased Spending on Expanding Its Network of Loyal Young Leaders, Journalists, and Bloggers Abroad by 1.5 Times

On the fourth year of Russian “war against the West” the son of the first deputy director of Rostec state corporation was detained in his villa in Spain in a money laundering probe. IStories got the video of his testimonies

17 September

Roman Katin

“My Father is a Highly Respected Person”

One in four was killed, went missing, or was wounded. IStories analyzed the full list of those mobilized from Tomsk Oblast and reports on what three years of mobilization have looked like through the lens of a single Russian region

19 September

Sonya Savina, Egor Feoktistov, Polina Uzhvak

Three Years of Mobilization: What One Region — and the Whole Russia — Has Endured