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Polina Nikolskaya
For Polina Nikolskaya's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Denys Kostev, a Ukrainian teen who lived in an orphanage in southern Ukraine and ended up in Russian-controlled territory following Moscow's full-scale invasion
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2024
Poster child for Russia's removal of Ukraine orphans says he was coached, threatened
Kyiv says many Ukrainian orphans taken to Russian-controlled territory have been subjected to an orchestrated program to make them accept Kremlin ideology.
A pedestrian walks past a mobile recruitment point located to promote service in the Russian army and invite volunteers to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry, in a street in Moscow on May 3. The slogan reads: "Our profession is to defend fatherland."
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023
Russia deploys 'punishment battalions' in echo of Stalin
Drunk recruits, insubordinate soldiers and convicts are part of hundreds who've been pressed into Russian penal units known as "Storm-Z" squads.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 4, 2023
How pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine
Several million Russian speakers live in Germany, a legacy of Soviet ties to Communist East Germany and decades of German dependency on Russian gas.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 24, 2022
Raw recruits called up to fight in Russian-backed separatist region
In preparation for the possibility of all-out war, the separatists have been mobilizing men age 18 to 55, and even some older men have joined up.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2021
How Russia's new gulag tries to break convicts like Alexei Navalny
Six former inmates and a former prisons inspector spoke of regular beatings by guards, sexual assaults and severe psychological pressure at a facility near Moscow.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
May 15, 2021
Big promises, few doses: Why Russia is struggling to produce Sputnik V
Putin has trumpeted the vaccine around the world, but Russia had produced just 33 million vaccines as of May 12 and exported fewer than 15 million.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 8, 2020
Hundreds of Belarus protesters say they were beaten by police
A rights group identified 500 cases of police torture across the former Soviet republic since a disputed presidential election on Aug. 9.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on