A 20-year-old man is fighting for his life after the incident

Russian state has tolerated parallel probiv market for its convenience but now Ukrainian spies are exploiting it

Russia is scrambling to rein in the country’s sprawling illicit market for leaked personal data, a shadowy ecosystem long exploited by investigative journalists, police and criminal groups.

For more than a decade, Russia’s so-called probiv market – a term derived from the verb “to pierce” or “to punch into a search bar” – has operated as a parallel information economy built on a network of corrupt officials, traffic police, bank employees and low-level security staff willing to sell access to restricted government or corporate databases.

HBO Max confirme une nouvelle fois sa maîtrise du terrain sériel et documentaire. La plateforme, reconnue pour ses productions dramatiques ambitieuses, vient de signer un succès immédiat dans le registre du true crime. À peine mis en ligne, un nouveau film documentaire s’est imposé comme l’un des contenus les plus regardés du service, dépassant sans ... Lire plus

Our 20 favourite pieces of in-depth reporting, essays and profiles from the year

Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist?