I dream of Moscow almost every night. In my dreams, it’s always the summer and I’m somewhere in central Moscow, sometimes on my own, sometimes with my wife. In every dream, there is at some point a wave of subconscious anxiety related to our traveling back to America. Do we…

I don’t know. I’m wondering. Soon after the start of the war, I got my mom out of Russia. She’s now with us in America. I’m happy she can spend time with our kids. She is babushka for them. She’ll improve their Russian. We speak Russian in the family, but…

This is the first time my story will consist of links to my own stories. It’s by design. I’m taking a look at how I’ve evolved in my perception of Russia’s war in Ukraine. No shame over how I overreacted in some of them. I’m doubling down on most of…

I’m biased (in the obvious direction — you’d know if you read my stories), but imagine for a minute this outcome. Imagine without taking any sides. You can hate Putin, or you can be pro-Putin. …

“I’ve become a regular follower of your work and I am wondering just how you feel the situation with Putin is going to resolve itself. Is there any chance that Russia might have another revolution?” I received this message from a kind follower and supporter of my writing. I know…

Yeah, you can’t make up this stuff. I avoid sharing videos and stories I come across to avoid ridiculing my home country but some stuff is so absurd it’s… hilarious. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s tragic. Both. To emphasize — this episode was shown on the Russian main TV channel.

I’m plagiarizing Umair Haque! A little bit. I never thought I would. My entire life I’ve advocated for empathy. I consider myself an empathetic person. I could never accept dismissing or degrading a person, let alone millions of people, based on their political views. In fact, I’m convinced that the…

I wish these videos below had English subtitles so Western folks get a sense of the absolutely insane and ever-escalating degree of propaganda in Russia. I could translate them but I don’t want to spend a minute of my time processing this fascist pro-war diarrhea. I already wasted time watching…

I guess no shit can be useful, so bad English right there, but, still, the Russian passport is astoundingly useless. In fact, it’s a huge liability. This is not another rant (out of California) about Putin. Actually, it is. Yes, out of California. Forget the war in Ukraine for a…

It’s a beautiful May morning where I am now in California (well, most mornings are beautiful in California!). I’m far away from Russia but it is my ex-home country, so I can write all I want about it (responding in advance to a couple of occasional trolls). My Mom left…

This is not a story where I take a stance against Russia. In fact, I don’t want to be that voice that always whines and disses — out of his immigrant cave in America. I just don’t have an opinion. From ESPN: The All England Club (AELTC) — the Wimbledon…

Not a clickbait story. I dreamt of one day leading Russia. I wanted to. It was extremely naive and far-fetched. Well, wanting to be President of anything is necessarily far-fetched. There is proof. I can’t find it right now and maybe I’ve lost it — my yearbook from Clare College…

I want to give an example of how Russia’s war messes up my family’s Russian identity. This problem is not a problem. There are bigger problems in life and of course, there is real suffering experienced by millions in Ukraine or displaced from Ukraine. But I wanted to share an…

…the information front” I’ve seen several stories and comments recommending a similar course of action. It makes total sense of course. The informational war against Putin’s lies must be stepped up massively, from every corner of the world. What I would add to Navalny’s post is that in addition to…

I had just finished four years of boarding school in England. Loneliness. Insecurities. Homesickness. But it didn’t matter. I was back at home in Moscow for the summer vacation. I had finished one chapter of my life and had a few months before I’d begin a new one. It was…

“Zelensky is Hilter”, my mother-in-law said yesterday to my fifteen-year-old son who is now my wife’s only connection to her mother. Usually, my wife would talk to her mom on WhatsApp several times a week. But a few weeks ago they had a heated debate about the war and my…

Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to be thoughtful about Ukraine-Russia-related stories. So many bloggers these days suddenly understand the six scenarios of how the war in Ukraine will or will not end; how a nuclear war might play out; what Putin’s exact plan in Ukraine is; how Russia failed…

If they weren’t governed by a few war-mongering idiots. How they could prosper in Russia or elsewhere, if, instead of hearing stories about NATO’s missiles pointing toward them, they could understand that with their hard work, talents, and open minds they could become citizens of the world, and high achievers…

I would like to write a series of stories about Russia’s independent journalism and blogging. Well, nothing’s left of it — whatever few publications remained got shut down in recent weeks. But “shut down” means that they cannot be accessed in Russia by traditional means. These publications are still doing…

For many days and several weeks, I experienced and expressed my shock and pain over the war in Ukraine. The shock wasn’t from watching CNN. It was from hearing my mom cry in anger and despair. We have close relatives in Ukraine. …