Andrei Alexejewitsch Soldatow

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Andrei Alexejewitsch Soldatow ( Russian Андрей Алексеевич Солдатов ; born October 4, 1975 in Moscow ) is a Russian investigative journalist and intelligence expert . Together with Irina Borogan, he is co-founder and editor of the website Agentura.ru .

Journalist career

Andrei Soldatov studied journalism at the Moscow State Social University, now the Russian State Social University .

In 1996 he began his journalistic activity as a correspondent for the Sevodnya newspaper . From 1998 to 1999 he was editor of the magazine “Kompania”, in 2000 he wrote for the newspaper Izvestia .

From 2002 to 2004 he was section head of the weekly newspaper "Versiya", which reported on the hostage-taking in Moscow's Dubrovka Theater on October 23, 2002.

In April 2004 Soldatov began working as a commentator and security expert at Radio Echo Moskwy . In July 2004 he was still working for the weekly newspaper Moscow News as an expert on security services. He reported on the Beslan hostage-taking in September 2004 for Echo Moskvy and Moscow News .

From January 2006 he worked for Novaya Gazeta , for which he reported on the war in Lebanon and the tensions in Palestine ( West Bank and Gaza Strip ). The newspaper abruptly withdrew his accreditation in November 2008 and dismissed him and his colleague Irina Borogan, presumably for reasons of censorship and for their research into the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya .

Soldatov regularly comments on terrorism and intelligence issues for Vedomosti , Radio Free Europe and the BBC . Since July 2008 he has been a columnist for the Moscow Times . Since 2010 Soldatow has also been writing for the international magazines Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs .

In current articles and seminars he deals with the intensification of internet censorship in Russia, with new harassment by the government against the opposition after the wave of demonstrations of 2011/2012 and with new manifestations of terrorism. The attack on the Boston Marathon gave him cause for speculation about terror networks linking Russia and the United States.

Agentura.ru project

In September 2000 he founded the Agentura.ru project with his wife Irina Borogan and several colleagues . He is the editor, Irina Borogan his deputy. The two journalists explained in an article in the journalism magazine "Message" the mission of their project:

"Our website was modeled on Steven Aftergood's project on government secrets at the Federation of American Scientists (www.fas.org). On the one hand, we wanted to publish previously closed government documents of public interest, and on the other, we wanted to publish sources of information about secret service methods we - as journalists rather than researchers - create a tool to obtain information for ongoing research. "

Agentura.ru provides daily information and analysis on the intelligence services in Russia and in almost every country in the world. The site reports on developments in the security system, terrorism, the practices of the secret services Soldatov himself became a security expert whose analyzes and assessments of the current developments in the news and security services are in great demand in Western media and think tanks. In his reports, Soldatov warned of the growing influence of the secret services in the Russian state, politics and business, reported on the efforts of the security services to restrict journalistic freedom, especially when reporting on such sensitive topics, he reported on current espionage cases, interviewed defectors and registered personnel changes and restructuring of the secret and security services in the individual countries.

In a period of restrictions on the freedom of the press and pressure against dissidents, Soldatov shows astonishing courage. His revelations about the role of the KGB in government institutions, about corruption and operations by the secret and security services have so far had relatively few consequences for him personally - apart from occasional questioning by the FSB .

One possible explanation for this is protection from his father Alexei Soldatow , a pioneer of the Internet and telecommunications. Since 1991 he has managed the telecommunications company "Relkom", which hosted his son's website, "Agentura.ru", and advised the government and security services on technology and security issues. In June 2008, the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed him Deputy Minister of Communications. In November 2010 he became Vice Rector of Moscow State University (MSU), and in 2012 Advisor to the Rector of MSU.

"The New Nobility"

In their book "The New Nobility" published in New York in September 2010, Andrei Soldatow and his wife summarize their years of research on the KGB successor, the FSB. In it, you describe the decade of the rise of the secret services and their penetration into society since Putin took office as president in 2000. Under Putin, a "new nobility" from secret service circles, Petersburgers and friends gained sovereignty in Russian politics and economy and society. While in the Soviet era, according to Steven Aftergood in his book review, the KGB tried to control all citizens, the new Russian security organs are taking selective action against this and are directed primarily against politically ambitious people and groups who are uncomfortable with the government. In the decade presented, the Russian security service gained more and more powers in the name of the fight against terrorism and to preserve the current political system, the Russian extremism laws leave a lot of room for interpretation, and everything that in any way calls the political regime into question can be considered as Extremism.

Publications

  • (with Irina Borogan): New Patriot Games: How Secret Services Have Been Changing Their Skin 1991-2004 , December 2005.
  • " PSI Handbook of Global Security and Intelligence: National Approaches: Volume 1 - The Americas and Asia; Volume 2 - Europe and the Middle East , Praeger, April 2008. ISBN 978-0275992088
  • (with Irina Borogan): The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB , Public Affairs, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-1-58648-802-4 .
  • (with Irina Borogan): The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries . Public Affairs, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1610395731 .

Article (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ruble trouble hits Russian media , Index on Censorship, November 27, 2008.
  2. ↑ Information on Soldatow in Foreign Affairs.
  3. ↑ Both Sides Dropped the Ball on Tsarnaev, by Andrei Soldatov, The Moscow Times , April 23, 2013 (Background on the attack on the Boston Marathon , April 15, 2013).
  4. ^ Andrei Soldatow and Irina Borogan: "On the track of the secret service" ( Memento from July 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Message, International Journal for Journalism Issue 2-2011.
  5. ↑ Journalist Enjoying A Security Monopoly ( Memento from January 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ): "Journalist Enjoying A Security Monopoly".
  6. ^ Profile of Prominent Russian Security Services Commentator Andrey Soldatov OSC Media Aid on the website of the Federation of American Scientists
  7. ↑ Website of the Moscow State University , biography of Alexei Soldatov ".
  8. ^ The New Nobility : Russia's Security State, September 13th, 2010 by Steven Aftergood.
  9. ↑ Taking On Putin , BBC one, Panorama, March 14, 2018; Minute 11; Soldatow: "Extremism in Russia is understood in a very strange way"
personal data
SURNAME Soldatow, Andrei Alexejewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Солдатов, Андрей Алексеевич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian investigative journalist and intelligence expert
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow