Kontur https://konturnovosti.com/en_GB Kontur is comprised of a team of editors based in the United States and dozens of freelance reporters and content creators who live around the world. The mission of Kontur is to investigate and amplify stories of major importance that are often overlooked by local and regional media outlets. en-gb images/2026/04/24/55774-img_2853-370_237.jpg Parades in poison: The cover-up behind Chernobyl's deadliest days Forty years after the explosion, newly opened Soviet archives reveal how officials falsified radiation data, staged a May Day parade and silenced doctors. http://konturnovosti.com/r/161wa gc6/features/2026/04/24/feature-01 Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/24/55771-3-chernobyl-370_237.jpg The Chernobyl self-settlers: The last residents of a radioactive zone Four decades after the world's worst nuclear disaster, a group of elderly Ukrainians live, and die, in the exclusion zone, kept alive by a Polish aid team racing against time. http://konturnovosti.com/r/161ws gc6/features/2026/04/24/feature-02 Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/23/55727-afp__20250202__musiienko-notitle250129_npdxr__v1__highres__afiberopticcontrolleddron-370_237.jpg The drone war that runs on glass A Ukrainian strike on Russia's sole fiber optic factory, surging Chinese prices, and a global supply crunch are reshaping how both armies fly their deadliest drones, but only one side prepared for the shortage. http://konturnovosti.com/r/161op gc6/features/2026/04/23/feature-01 Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/23/55730-afp__20260220__977a6mz__v1__highres__finlandeurussianatodefenceeconomysocial-370_237.jpg Finland wants agents who can think like Russia Finland is expanding its intelligence ranks with Russian speakers, sending a deliberate message to Moscow as hybrid threats mount. http://konturnovosti.com/r/161p7 gc6/features/2026/04/23/feature-02 Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/22/55713-afp__20260415__a7xb8g6__v1__highres__russiatelecommunicationinternet-370_237.jpg Russia teaches citizens to accept permission-based internet Russia is blocking the internet and replacing it -- one approved website at a time. http://konturnovosti.com/r/16199 gc6/features/2026/04/22/feature-01 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/22/55712-afp__20211126__1184-5982__v1__highres__unescositeantiquechersonesossewastopolcrimear-370_237.jpg EU sets precedent: Russian scholar faces extradition over Crimea excavations A Warsaw court ruled that digging up occupied Crimea without a permit isn't science -- it's a crime. http://konturnovosti.com/r/1619r gc6/features/2026/04/22/feature-02 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/21/55675-afp__20240223__34k33tu__v1__highres__russiaukraineconflictwagner-370_237.jpg From Africa to Ukraine: How former Wagner mercenaries joined the fight against the Kremlin For years, Russia cultivated the Wagner brand as 'invincible patriots,' only for those same fighters to now change allegiance to Ukraine and take up arms against the Kremlin. http://konturnovosti.com/r/1612w gc6/features/2026/04/21/feature-01 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/21/55678-afp__20260319__a3w48we__v1__highres__russiaeconomy-370_237.jpg 'It's only going to get worse': Russians brace for deepening economic pain Respondents speak openly of uncertainty and fear as a new Central Bank study reveals widespread pessimism about Russia's economy. http://konturnovosti.com/r/1613e gc6/features/2026/04/21/feature-02 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/20/55652-afp__20191022__1la8jn__v2__highres__russiainternetchildrenlifestyle-370_237.jpg Russia's state TV uses children's choir to sell internet censorship as freedom Moscow is recycling a Soviet classic: when you can't provide something, convince people they don't want it. http://konturnovosti.com/r/160zl gc6/features/2026/04/20/feature-01 Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/17/55640-1-rus-dom-370_237.jpg Russia's institutional footprint in Poland is crumbling From a Soviet-era spy compound to a propaganda lecture hall, Moscow's presence in Warsaw is being dismantled piece by piece. http://konturnovosti.com/r/160l6 gc6/features/2026/04/17/feature-01 Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/17/55642-afp__20260228__99cd2vz__v1__highres__russiaukraineconflict-370_237.jpg Russia's 'Afghan syndrome' is back and deadlier than before Russia lived through the crime wave that followed the Afghan War. Veterans of the Ukraine war are killing their own citizens at 18 times the national rate. http://konturnovosti.com/r/160lo gc6/features/2026/04/17/feature-02 Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 images/2026/04/16/55622-afp__20200818__1wk974__v1__highres__russiapoliticsrosneft-370_237.jpg Putin is raiding Russia's oligarchs to fund his war Putin's closed-door demand for oligarch cash signals a broken compact and a regime desperate enough to make enemies of its last allies. http://konturnovosti.com/r/160c9 gc6/features/2026/04/16/feature-01 Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000