Meduza.io

3 weeks ago | meduza.io | Sam Breazeale

The Baltic Sea handles around 15 percent of global shipping traffic — approximately 2,500 vessels daily, according to researcher Julian Pawlak. A rising number of these ships belong to Russia’s “shadow fleet,” a group of hundreds of aging, poorly regulated oil tankers that Moscow uses to bypass Western sanctions.

2 months ago | meduza.io | Diana Kruzman

Amid record-breaking temperatures, glaciers worldwide have been steadily melting away, leaving scientists with the difficult task of documenting their disappearance. In Central Asia’s Tian Shan Mountains, these rivers of ice have been retreating for decades, shrinking faster than the global average and posing a threat to the region’s water supply.

Jan 24, 2025 | meduza.io | Andrey Pertsev

A lack of competitive elections has left political strategists in Russia in low demand — but the Kremlin has a plan. A new contest aims to redirect them toward social projects, repurposing strategists as “social architects” tasked with designing and overseeing regional initiatives for various demographic groups, from schoolchildren to retirees. And by keeping them financially afloat, the Kremlin also hopes to secure their loyalty.

Jan 20, 2025 | meduza.io | Sam Breazeale

As Donald Trump takes the oath of office for the second time, the world is waiting to see how he’ll seek to end Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine — something he’s previously said he would do within 24 hours (and, later, before his inauguration). But the nearly three-year-old conflict is just one of numerous interlaced geopolitical challenges involving an increasingly bold Russia that will affect the United States. Meduza explores three other critical issues Trump will have to navigate.

Jan 16, 2025 | meduza.io | Andrey Pertsev

With this year’s Victory Day marking 80 years since the end of World War II, Russian authorities are already making preparations — or at least creating the appearance of doing so. While concrete plans are few and far between, sources suggest that soldiers returning from Ukraine will take center stage, with the Kremlin working to draw parallels between its “ ” in Ukraine and the Soviet fight against fascism during WWII.