US basketball player Brittney Griner has been sent to a Russian penal colony in a remote region south-east of Moscow to serve a nine-year jail term for illegal drug possession. She joins tens of thousands of Russian women behind bars – and no-one knows how long she will serve, as…...
Thousands of Russian Prisoners Choose a High Risk of Death as Mercenaries in Ukraine
Sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in the penal colony IK-7 in St. Petersburg, Andrey Yastrebov could not think of much else than how to get out. When the recruiters of PMC Wagner—Russia’s notorious private military company—showed up looking for volunteers, he took his chance. He signed up and became part…...
Jailed American Sarah Krivanek Writes from Russian Penal Colony: ‘My Soul Is in Torment’
PEOPLE has exclusively obtained four letters that 46-year-old American Sarah Krivanek addressed to loved ones back home, expressing concern for how she’ll return to the U.S. when her sentence ends.| By Juliet ButlerPublished on October 19, 2022 12:30 PM In letters sent to loved ones back home, jailed American Sarah Krivanek writes: “my…...
In the Ukraine war, a shadowy key player emerges: Russia’s private army of mercenaries
OCT. 5, 2022 BERLIN – As Russia suffers one devastating military setback after another in Ukraine, a key player in the conflict is stepping out of the shadows: the private army known as the Wagner Group. Despite the Kremlin’s longtime practice of publicly distancing itself from the paramilitary organization, Wagner mercenaries —…...