IStories editor and author of key Bucha exposé both placed on Russia’s wanted list

Russia’s Interior Ministry has added Roman Anin, the editor-in-chief of independent investigative outlet IStories, and TV Dozhd staffer Yekaterina Fomina, to its wanted list, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Monday.

Both Anin and Fomina now live abroad, and no reason was given for either being added to the ministry’s online database of alleged criminals sought by authorities.

State news agency TASS reported in January that a criminal case had been opened against Fomina for “spreading false information about the Russian army” over an exposé she wrote about the Bucha massacre while working for Anin at IStories in August 2022.

In Fomina’s investigation, Daniil Frolkin, a sergeant in the Russian military, confessed to murdering a Ukrainian civilian and named those who issued orders to shoot civilians during the Bucha massacre in March 2022.

Frolkin was subsequently convicted of “spreading false information about the Russian army” for the interview he gave Fomina and was handed a 5.5-year suspended sentence.

Anin began his journalistic career in 2006 at Novaya Gazeta, eventually moving to the newspaper’s investigative unit, where he uncovered numerous cases of corruption and cronyism in military, political and business circles. Along with other prominent investigative reporters, he launched investigative news site IStories, in 2020. Anin told Mediazona that he knew nothing about the criminal proceedings against him.

Before joining IStories in 2020, Fomina worked as a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta. Fomina’s articles cover a variety of topics, including the war in Ukraine, domestic violence and the AIDS crisis in Russia.