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

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

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.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

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.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

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.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, 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