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The Kremlin’s Loyal Priests

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Oligarchs and the Battle for Ukraine

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The Channel Episode 17Ruslan's Kidnapping

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Crimea referendum

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What the IMF deal means

Episode 17

Ruslan’s Kidnapping

ACROSS THE LINES INVESTIGATION CRUNCH

Owen Bennett-Jones discusses key episodes from the country's past with expert guests

Intimate visual storytelling from international and local photographers

Sketching scenes and characters of the crisis

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Episode 18

Who are the Masked Men?

Episode 6

Waithing for Dasha’s pay check

Episode 7

Election Day

Ukraine in the World War

The Famine of Holmodor

The Crimean War

Deportation of the Tatars

by Coda staby Abigail Fielding-Smith

Potato WarsOligarchs and the battle for ukraine

by Ilan Greenberg

Propaganda

by Coda sta

Moscow’s Mercenaries

by Ilan Greenberg

Marching Boots in Grozny

by Natalia Antelava

Torture in Luhansk

by Thomas Marvel

Losing Homeland

by Justyna Mielnikiewicz

The River

by Natalia Antelava

Away From Meidan

by Natalia Antelava

Field Hospital

Guest writers o er unusual perspectives

Episode 17

What the IMF deal means

Episode 18

Crimea referendum

Vivid reporting from the ground

“I am ashamed,” the Russian said, before letting out the

longest and most elaborate profanity I have ever heard.

We were standing in the warm Crimean sunshine on

Sunday, next to a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe,

outside Simferopol, the regional capital, surrounded by

soldiers, screaming protestors, and television crews.

The swearing Russian was a journalist from Moscow, who had just got a tongue-lashing

from his editor for calling the Russian soldiers Russian soldiers. “He said we have to

refer to them as ‘a friendly volunteer self-defense force,’ ” the journalist bellowed. “Is

that what they look like to you?” He crowned the question with another string of

swears.

The soldiers—with Kalashnikovs and light antitank missiles, wearing balaclavas and

brand-new insignia-free uniforms—certainly did not look like volunteers. Hundreds of

them surrounded the perimeter of the Crimean base. Some guarded the concrete fence;

others wandered through the bushes of a nearby field, bumping into locals.

“What are you doing here?” an old Ukrainian woman screamed at one of the Russian

soldiers. “Your own government is humiliating you. If what you are doing is O.K., then

open up your faces, show us who you are.” The soldier turned his back. But, slightly far-

ther up the road, his comrades received a much warmer welcome from a small crowd of

supporters. “You are the saviors, you are our boys,” a woman waving a Russian flag

shouted, while those around her cheered, “Russia, Russia!”

The road ended at a gate, behind which a dozen Ukrainian soldiers stood, watching the

takeover of their base. Standing in front of them was a priest, and nearby a small, nerv-

ous man was reading loudly from the Old Testament. As the pro-Russian crowd down

the road got noisier, his voice sped up and stiffened; an old nun came up to him and

stroked his arm. “Vitya, calm down,” she said. “Use your monotone voice, remember?”

“I pray as I can,” Vitya snapped back. “We all pray as we can. Except some of us pray to

the devil at the Red Square.”

Since Sunday, Russia has tightened its grip on the Crimean Peninsula. Ukrainian televi-

sion has reported that more than fifteen thousand Russian troops are now in Crimea;

Ukrainian and Russian ships are in an increasingly tense standoff in the port of Sebas-

topol. On Monday, the Interfax news agency reported that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had

given the Ukrainian forces in Crimea an ultimatum: surrender by 5 A.M. on Tuesday or

face a military assault.

DISPATCH by NATALIA ANTELAVA

Ethnic Tensions Stir in Crimea

JanuaryDecember February March April May June

VIOLENCECurrent

“I am ashamed,” the Russian said, before letting out the

longest and most elaborate profanity I have ever heard.

We were standing in the warm Crimean sunshine on

Sunday, next to a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe,

outside Simferopol, the regional capital, surrounded by

soldiers, screaming protestors, and television crews.

The swearing Russian was a journalist from Moscow, who had just got a tongue-lashing

from his editor for calling the Russian soldiers Russian soldiers. “He said we have to

refer to them as ‘a friendly volunteer self-defense force,’ ” the journalist bellowed. “Is

that what they look like to you?” He crowned the question with another string of

swears.

The soldiers—with Kalashnikovs and light antitank missiles, wearing balaclavas and

brand-new insignia-free uniforms—certainly did not look like volunteers. Hundreds of

them surrounded the perimeter of the Crimean base. Some guarded the concrete fence;

others wandered through the bushes of a nearby field, bumping into locals.

“What are you doing here?” an old Ukrainian woman screamed at one of the Russian

soldiers. “Your own government is humiliating you. If what you are doing is O.K., then

open up your faces, show us who you are.” The soldier turned his back. But, slightly far-

ther up the road, his comrades received a much warmer welcome from a small crowd of

supporters. “You are the saviors, you are our boys,” a woman waving a Russian flag

shouted, while those around her cheered, “Russia, Russia!”

The road ended at a gate, behind which a dozen Ukrainian soldiers stood, watching the

takeover of their base. Standing in front of them was a priest, and nearby a small, nerv-

ous man was reading loudly from the Old Testament. As the pro-Russian crowd down

the road got noisier, his voice sped up and stiffened; an old nun came up to him and

stroked his arm. “Vitya, calm down,” she said. “Use your monotone voice, remember?”

“I pray as I can,” Vitya snapped back. “We all pray as we can. Except some of us pray to

the devil at the Red Square.”

Since Sunday, Russia has tightened its grip on the Crimean Peninsula. Ukrainian televi-

sion has reported that more than fifteen thousand Russian troops are now in Crimea;

Ukrainian and Russian ships are in an increasingly tense standoff in the port of Sebas-

topol. On Monday, the Interfax news agency reported that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had

given the Ukrainian forces in Crimea an ultimatum: surrender by 5 A.M. on Tuesday or

face a military assault.

DISPATCH by NATALIA ANTELAVA

Ethnic Tensions Stir in CrimeaJanuary

2014

DecemberNovember February March April May June 12th June

NEXT

Oligarchs PREVIOUS READING

Ruslan’s Kidnapping Ethnic Tensions StirVIOLENCECurrent

HOTSPOT DISPATCH INVESTIGATION

5 / 7

ECONOMY IN TURMOIL

HISTORY’S SHADOW

RUSSIAN LEVERAGE

FRAGMENTATION

VIOLENCEVIOLENCE

RUSSIAN LEVERAGEFRAGMENTATION

HISTORY’S SHADOW

ECONOMY IN TURMOILFORENSICSDISPATCH

What the IMF deal means

FORENSICS

The Deportationof the Tartars

HISTORY PODCAST

The Famine of Holmodor

HISTORY PODCAST

Ukraine in the Second World War

The miners of Donetsk

Episode 3 Dasha’s pay check

PotatoWars

ACROSS THE LINESCRUNCH

Holmodor'slegacyFIELD NOTES

INVESTIGATIONMoscow's mercenaries

Gazprom's pipeline bid

Marching Boots in Grozny

FORENSICS

Episode 17 Ruslan’s KidnappingHOTSPOT

DISPATCH INVESTIGATION

Kremlin's priests

INVESTIGATION

Who's bankrolling the Donetsk Peoples Republic?

Episode 7 Election day

Crimea Referendum document ACROSS THE LINESFORENSICS

FIELD NOTES

Code-switching in Odessa

Episode 17 Ruslan’s KidnappingHOTSPOT

Swedishfar right

VIOLENCEINVESTIGATION

Episode 7 Election day ACROSS THE LINE

Oligarchs and the Battle for UkraineINVESTIGATION

Ruslan’s KidnappingHOTSPOT

Ethnic Tensions Stir in CrimeaDISPATCH

Moscow's mercenariesINVESTIGATION

The miners of DonetskDESPATCH

January2014

DecemberNovember February March April May June 12th June

sequencetimelineCurrents

StorylineCollectionsCollectionsCurrentsUkraine

The unrest in Ukraine is both a threat and an opportunity

for the Russian Orthodox Church, which is close to the

Kremlin and which has been a key tool.

Crimea's Muslim Tatars are among the most vociferous opponents of Russia's

annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and have condemned as "inhuman" the temporary

ban on mass gatherings, which was issued days before the symbolic date in the minority

group's history.

Story of the RiverPHOTO STORY by Justyna Mielnikiewicz

JanuaryDecember February March April May June

FRAGMENTATIONCurrent

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