Varvara Pakhomenko

Varvara Pakhomenko has worked in the conflict zones of the North and South Caucasus since 2006. In 2006-2009, she worked for the Demos Center in Moscow, before moving to the Russian Justice Initiative in 2009-2011. Since 2011, she has worked as an analyst on Europe and Central Asia for the International Crisis Group.

Between dialogue and violence: the North Caucasus's bloody legacy

After Paris, we need to act against radicalisation. Russia's legacy in the North Caucasus tells us how not to. Русский

By Varvara Pakhomenko

/ 14 Dec 2015

Ingushetia abandoned

Getting rid of presidents in Northern Caucasian republics rarely ends well. An explosion is bad news: when Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov came to power. When Murat

By Varvara Pakhomenko

/ 16 Aug 2009

Corporal Glukhov's deserts to Georgia: the propaganda war begins

Nothing out of the ordinary - a soldier deserts his military unit. For anyone who has any idea what our army is like, there is nothing surprising about this. According

By Varvara Pakhomenko

/ 3 Feb 2009

South Ossetia: News from a Nowhere Zone

In the "Atlas" shop on Kuznetsky Most in Moscow, the salesgirl looks down and says that they have no maps of Georgia left. They used to, but not

By Varvara Pakhomenko

/ 25 Nov 2008

South Ossetia: fear and loathing in the buffer zone

Over a month has gone by since the withdrawal of Russian troops from the so-called ‘buffer zone' - a strip several dozen kilometers wide which separates the territory of

By Varvara Pakhomenko

/ 15 Nov 2008

Justice, Chechen style

Someone is charged with banditry and sentenced to imprisonment. Chechnya is full of stories like this, and they are almost all the same. They are so common that unless you

By Varvara Pakhomenko and Alexander Mnatsakanian

/ 23 Jul 2008