For the Permanent Record
The Russian Issues exists to document the conflicts and histories that shape the Russian world — accurately, independently, and for the permanent record. This page sets out the mission that governs every dispatch we publish.
“To document the conflicts and histories that shape the Russian world — accurately, independently, and for the permanent record.”
We believe history is not a settled account but a living argument. Our reporting connects today's frontline dispatches to the centuries of context that produced them — from the Mongol invasions and the rise of Moscow, through the Soviet experiment, to the war in Ukraine and the conflicts still unfolding.
We are reader-supported and answerable to no government, no party, and no advertiser. That independence is not a marketing claim; it is the structural foundation of everything we publish. When we are wrong, we say so plainly and on the record.
The Four Pillars
Accuracy Above All
Every claim of fact is verified against primary sources, archival records, and on-the-ground reporting before it reaches our readers. We publish what we can prove, and we label what we cannot.
Independence Without Exception
We accept no display advertising, no sponsored content, and no government funding. No advertiser, donor, or political actor holds influence over a single sentence we publish.
History as Context
Today's headlines are unintelligible without the centuries behind them. We connect every contemporary dispatch to the historical record that produced it — from the Mongol invasions to the present war.
Source Protection First
Confidential sources are the lifeblood of independent reporting. We protect their identities with operational discipline and legal rigor, without exception and without expiry.
What We Commit To
- We will report what we find, not what any party wishes us to find.
- We will distinguish clearly between verified fact, informed analysis, and opinion.
- We will correct our errors promptly, visibly, and on the permanent record.
- We will disclose any conflict of interest that could bear on our reporting.
- We will never accept payment, favours, or direction in exchange for coverage.
- We will protect the identity of confidential sources to the full extent of the law and beyond.
Lines We Will Not Cross
We do not publish unverified rumour as fact, nor do we present opinion as reporting. Analysis is always labelled as such, and the evidence behind it is shown.
We do not accept paid placements, native advertising, or sponsored series disguised as editorial. Our pages carry no content bought by any third party.
We do not name confidential sources, expose operational security details that could endanger lives, or publish identifying imagery of civilians in conflict zones without informed consent.
We do not silently rewrite the record. Every correction, update, and clarification is dated, logged, and published alongside the original dispatch.
The record belongs to the reader, not to us. We are its custodians, not its authors. When the war ends and the archives are opened, our dispatches must still stand.
— The Founding Charter, The Russian Issues, 2007