For years, Russia’s big cities have been a source of employment and income for the people of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Now, as sanctions undermine the Russian economy, they and their families will also feel the pinch.

Rysbek, a labor migrant from Kyrgyzstan, makes deliveries for a supermarket chain in Moscow. Due to Western sanctions on Russia, he and many of his colleagues may lose their jobs. (Credit: OCCRP)

As war rages around the country, cultural centers and arthouses are scrambling to save priceless objects from destruction and would-be looters.

One of the damaged rooms of the Kharkiv Art Museum (Credit: Maryna Filatova)

The inside story of a gang known as “the Russians” who transformed Ireland's heroin trade by forcing trafficked Lithuanians to push drugs.

Credit: Andrius Švitra

The European Union has praised Serbia for its commitment to “fundamental reforms,” and the country’s drive for membership is grinding forward. Meanwhile, a campaign of pressure and intimidation against independent journalists is ramping up in Belgrade.

Credit: Oliver Bunić (NIN)

Large fees to avoid military conscription have helped turn Syria’s diaspora into a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped government. Men who don’t pay face the threat of their family’s assets in Syria being seized.

(Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo)