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Carl Schreck

Carl Schreck is an award-winning investigative journalist who serves as RFE/RL's enterprise editor. He has covered Russia and the former Soviet Union for more than 20 years, including a decade in Moscow. He has led investigations into corruption, cronyism, and disinformation campaigns in Russia and Central Asia, as well as on poisoning attacks against Kremlin opponents and assassinations of Iranian exiles in the West. Schreck joined RFE/RL in 2014.

Also by Carl Schreck

December 17, 2024
The Many Faces Of Europe Invasion, The Anonymous X Account Stoking Anti-Immigrant Narratives

An RFE/RL investigation reveals that an influential X account called Europe Invasion concocted fake personas to push xenophobic narratives and fuel anti-immigrant sentiment in the EU.
December 08, 2024
Celebrations, Looting, And Statue Surfing: Scenes From Syria After Assad's Fall

Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria, images emerged of jubilation and chaos, including toppled statues and the sacking of government buildings.
October 21, 2024
The UN Says Crimea Is Ukrainian. So Why Did Its Nuclear Agency Fund Russian Research There?

Records obtained by RFE/RL show that the UN’s watchdog for peaceful nuclear energy sponsored studies by Russian research institutes in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow seized in 2014, in what Kyiv calls a violation of its sovereignty.
August 02, 2024
'They Remain In Torturous Conditions': The Prisoners Left Behind In Russia After Historic Exchange

A multination prisoner swap between Washington and Moscow freed three U.S. citizens and Russian opposition activists from Russia. But several other Americans and hundreds of other Russians deemed political prisoners remain incarcerated there.
August 01, 2024
Who Are The 24 Prisoners Who Were Swapped In U.S.-Russia Deal?

The list of people released on August 1 in a multiple-country prisoner swap, the largest of its kind since the Cold War, is a diverse and sweeping roster of personalities and backgrounds, a mix of people with little to nothing in common -- except being swept up in months of diplomatic wrangling.
May 18, 2024
'A Living Hell': Pakistani Students Describe Harrowing Bishkek Mob Violence

After mob violence targeting foreign students engulfed Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Pakistani students told RFE/RL how the angry crowds broke into dormitories to attack them.
May 07, 2024
Exclusive: The TikTok Trail Of The U.S. Soldier Arrested In Russia Left By His Russian 'Wife'

A Russian woman who described U.S. soldier Gordon Black as her "husband" posted numerous videos of the couple together in South Korea, giving a glimpse of their relationship before he became the latest American citizen arrested by Russian authorities.
April 29, 2024
Secretive Uzbek Network Scrambles To Cover Online Tracks After RFE/RL Exposé

A shadowy Uzbek firm with ties to the president’s family has scrambled to reanimate its dormant website after a recent RFE/RL investigation revealed it had secured more than $100 million in secretive state gas deals despite having a virtually imperceptible public business footprint.
March 23, 2024
In Russian Crises, Putin Often Vanishes From Public Eye

During Russian President Vladimir Putin's 24-year reign, he has repeatedly waited days to make public statements during tragedies and terrorist acts like the March 22 concert hall attack in Moscow.
February 16, 2024
'Quietly Having Me Killed': Interviewing Navalny Before He Became Navalny

Navalny was like a Bizarro Putin: tall, gregarious, freewheeling, and completely at ease speaking off the cuff.
January 09, 2024
The Yacht Collector: Russian Tycoon Linked to 'Putin's Yacht' Fights Straw-Owner Claim In U.S. Court

A Russian tycoon accused of being the straw owner of a super yacht actually belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin is fighting to wrest control of a second luxury vessel seized by the United States over its links to a Kremlin-loyal billionaire.
November 29, 2023
Revealed: The Kremlin-Connected Russians Employed By Europe's Top Security Body

The wife of a Russian ministry official, an interpreter for Vladimir Putin, and a former diplomat whom Western intelligence suspects of spy links: These are the Russians whose employment by the OSCE has raised concerns amid what critics call Kremlin efforts to paralyze the European security body.
September 17, 2023
The Romanian Ghost Village Where Air-Raid Shelters Are Being Built After Russian Strikes On Ukraine

The Romanian Defense Ministry has installed air-raid shelters in Plauru after repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian sites across the river and multiple discoveries this month of drone fragments on the Romanian side.
September 06, 2023
Moldova Kicked Out Most Of Russia's Diplomats, But The Embassy In Chisinau Still Has Close Ties To Spies

In August, Moldova kicked out 45 Russian diplomats and embassy staff, citing fears of Moscow's efforts to "destabilize" the country. But among the diplomats remaining in Chisinau, a new investigation by RFE/RL has found that many of them are linked to Russian intelligence agencies.
July 15, 2023
'Simply Medieval': Russian Soldiers Held In Pits And Cellars For Refusing To Fight In Ukraine

A Russian soldier on July 13 was convicted of insubordination. An independent Russian news outlet reports he was among a group of conscripts held in a cellar for refusing to fight in Ukraine.
June 22, 2023
Kyrgyz, Kazakh Companies Send Western Tech To Firms Linked To Kremlin War Machine

An RFE/RL investigation reveals how sanctioned Western electronics make their way to Russia via Central Asian firms -- some set up shortly after the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine -- and end up in the hands of companies that have supplied the Russian defense industry.
June 11, 2023
The Ukrainian Cities Obliterated In Russia's Self-Proclaimed 'Liberation'

Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine has nearly wiped multiple cities and towns from the face of the earth, despite the Kremlin's claim that it is conducting a campaign of “liberation.”
June 04, 2023
'I Want To Return Before My 75th Birthday': The Armenian-Russian Cellist Banned From Russia For 50 Years Over Brother's Anti-War Activism

Russian authorities stripped Gago Makichyan of his citizenship and expelled him in what his family believes was a punitive move over his brother's protests against Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine.
March 21, 2023
Special Report: Bulgarian Blasts And Russia's War In Ukraine

A special RFE/RL investigation looks into allegations of Russian sabotage, cover-ups by Bulgarian authorities, and whether Bulgarian arms depots are still at risk as Russia's war in Ukraine enters a second year.
December 11, 2022
German Court Says Missing Chechen Blogger Is Alive, 'To Its Knowledge'

A Chechen blogger who was reportedly killed this month gave court testimony in Germany in November, and the court where he appeared said that, to its "knowledge," he is still alive.

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