August 31, 2023

Poisoned Russian Journalist: "I Want To Live"


Poisoned Russian Journalist: "I Want To Live"
Elena Kostychenko at a Berlin hospital. Elena Kostyuchenko, Instagram.

On August 25, German authorities announced an investigation into the alleged poisoning of former Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Kostyuchenko. The writer was investigating war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine when she was poisoned on a German train in 2022.

The 36-year-old began her journalistic career as the independent Novaya Gazeta's youngest intern, at just 17. The Yaroslavl native quickly realized the dangers of being a Russian journalist when her colleague and personal idol Anna Politkovskaya, who was covering the Chechen war, was murdered on President Vladimir Putin's birthday in 2008. While at the publication, she was the first journalist to write about Pussy Riot, reported on the Zhanaozen Massacre in Kazakhstan, and uncovered Russian soldiers' presence in Donbas in 2014.

Shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kostyuchenko crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and headed to the frontline with the help of Ukrainians. While documenting war crimes committed by Russian troops, the journalist found out that Novaya Gazeta had ceased publication due to pressure from Roskomnadzor. She continued working independently and headed to Mariupol. The trip had to be cut short when her former colleagues and Ukrainian intelligence services warned her there was a plot to kill her there. She was subsequently evacuated from Ukraine.

Despite the fact that she wanted to go home, returning to Russia was no longer an option for Kostyuchenko. She is a lesbian and was arrested and beaten multiple times for her LGBT rights activism. So she moved to Berlin.

Kostyuchenko began working for Meduza and planning a new trip to Ukraine. She exchanged messages via Facebook Messenger with the Ukrainian Embassy to book a visa appointment. In her text "I want to live. This is why I'm writing this text," the activist said she knew it wasn't the safest method of communication but thought, "I wasn't in Russia, I was in Germany." She agreed to go to the Ukrainian consulate in Munich. During her stay, she visited a friend and dined at a restaurant.

A friend accompanied her to the train station and told her she "smelled bad." On the train back to Berlin, she began sweating profusely. The stink began resembling that of "rotten fruit." Then came a headache. When she arrived in Berlin, she became disoriented. She thought she had caught COVID-19, yet that was three weeks prior. Ten days later, she went to see a doctor. The doctors became concerned with the changes in her symptoms but couldn't find an illness. In December, a medic suspected she might have been poisoned. Then the police became involved.

Kostyuchenko has not recovered her health fully and had to leave Meduza. Both Natalya Arno, president of the U.S-based Free Russia Foundation, and journalist Irina Babloyan were poisoned in Prague and Tbilisi, respectively, not long after Kostyuchenko.

You Might Also Like

Flagpole Ripper
  • April 13, 2023

Flagpole Ripper

A man was arrested for tearing down a Russian flag at a police department.
Dangerous Dreams
  • December 23, 2022

Dangerous Dreams

Russians are being fined for their dreams, "likes," and "silent support."
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955