Hey, my article is out! "The Invalid Fund: Disabled Afghan War Veterans, Violence, and Organized Crime in Post-Soviet Russia." Very excited to be a part of this cluster on disability in Eastern Europe and Russia

ASEEES Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies@aseees.bsky.social · 2d ago

Spring 2026 Issue 85.1 #SlavicReview is out now! This issue includes the Cluster "Disability in Eastern Europe and Russia," the Critical Forum "Crucibles of Power," and articles by Nathaniel D. Wood, Jagoda Wierzejska, Ernest A. Zitser, and Nikolay Smirnov. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

After more than four years of fighting in Ukraine, “Russia’s economy and society have been reorganized around war,” write @seva.bsky.social and @jeremymorris.bsky.social. In fact, “war has so transformed the economy that it might collapse without it.”

The Inertia of Russia’s War

Why Putin can’t end the conflict.

foreignaffairs.com

Daria Talanova:"Data shows that veterans commit an abnormally high number of murders & serious assaults compared to the overall male population. Veterans are prosecuted for murder/attempted murder 2.5 times more often than average men & twice as often for assaults resulting in grievous bodily harm."

War Comes Home: How Returning Veterans Are Driving a Surge in Violent Crime in Russia

A new report by the support group Vyhod suggests that queer Russians over 45 are among the most vulnerable groups in the LGBTQ+ community in Russia. Their vulnerability has its roots in a decades-long...

russiapost.info

📚NEW PUBLICATION📚 Our article on Russian "digital fieldwork" and the role of OSINT in post-2022 Russian studies, co-authored with @kevinlimonier.bsky.social, has just been published in open access in the prestigious journal Communist and Post-Communist Studies! online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article...

On Lawfare Daily, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org spoke to @emilyehoge.bsky.social about her articles in Lawfare about Russian mobsters being sent to the war in Ukraine and how it may be altering the Russian social contract.

Lesia Bidochko and Oleksandr Siedin: Homophobia has taken center stage in Russia’s ideological presentation, not for its positive meaning to the regime, but as a moral argument for existential confrontation and escalation with the West. commons.com.ua/en/gomofobiy...

WOW this is wild

thicc husband and father@lukeisamazing.bsky.social · 10mo ago

more details on the FBI investigation into NBA gambling and game fixing operation: 31 ppl involved, including Billups, Rozier, and Damon Jones, across 11 states and multiple years. oh they’re going to jail jail

an FBI official says the alleged NBA gambling ring involves the "Toronto Rangers" (not a real team), which doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the quality of their investigation

MAFIA BASKETBALL

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has been “charged in an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia,” sources told ABC News

Wrote about organized crime and Russia's war in Ukraine for Lawfare!

Lawfare@lawfaremedia.org · 10mo ago

The Russian government's use of convict-soldiers formerly of the criminal underworld in the war with Ukraine has the potential to disrupt a set of careful arrangements and “understandings” that structure the peace between the Russian state and the Russian mafia, writes Emily Hoge.

Patriot Front and Active Clubs are working with a Russian fight promoter to sell pay-per-view tickets to its fight club events. The article includes previously unidentified PF/AC guys like Thomas Denton a former member of the accelerationist group the Base. 1/4 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Revealed: how a Russian fight club expanded into the US with the help of American neo-Nazis

Members of white supremacist ‘active clubs’ spearheaded a US expansion of a Russian fighting group that has raised money for the Kremlin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine

theguardian.com

Semyon Karmanov, the intellectually disabled man recruited into Russia's army from prison through a service contract he couldn't even read, was killed in Ukraine last August. His mother and sister are convinced that he enlisted without understanding what he was signing. zona.media/news/2025/10...

На войне погиб завербованный в колонии кемеровчанин с инвалидностью; он не умел писать и читать

Житель Кемерово Семен Карманов, еще в детстве получивший инвалидность третьей группы из-за диагностированной задержки ин...

zona.media

As a historian of masculinities, I can confirm that life truly is mostly about Buffalo Wild Wings

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 11mo ago

this is, hands down, the best video I've seen on men's influencer content and it's not close either

A service that uses AI to generate “farewell videos” of soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine has been gaining popularity among Russian users. The clips show soldiers embracing their loved ones before ascending towards heaven or turning into birds. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

‘Touching stories’ Russians use AI tool to generate ‘farewell videos’ featuring soldiers killed in the war with Ukraine — Meduza

An online service that uses AI to generate “farewell videos” of soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine has been gaining popularity among Russian users, the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti…

meduza.io

In its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has so far tried to avoid a general mobilization, turning to convicts to fill its ranks in return for pardons. @emilyehoge.bsky.social evaluates the implications of releasing these individuals back into Russian society.

In Russia, Pardoned Former Convicts Return Home From War

Russia has promised pardons to former convicts who volunteer in the war. Only eventually, some may return home—bringing violence with them.

lawfaremedia.org

On July 3, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. Emily Hoge explains how Russia's relationship with the Taliban has evolved in the shadow of the Soviet-Afghan war. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

The Awkward History of Russia’s Recent Recognition of the Taliban

A little over three decades after the Soviet Union and the mujahideen fought a long and brutal war, Russia officially recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.

lawfaremedia.org