Oleg Vladimirovich Kashin (russian: Оле́г Влади́мирович Ка́шин; born 17 June 1980) is a Russian journalist and writer known for his political articles.
Early life
Oleg Vladimirovich Kashin was born 17 June 1980 in
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
.
In March 2003, he graduated from the Baltic Fishing Fleet State Academy in
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
with a degree a maritime navigation. Kashin sailed twice to sea on a sailing ship ''
Kruzenshtern'', being a deck hand and a navigator intern. Participant in international sailing
regatta.
Career
While studying at the Baltic State Fishing Fleet Academy, Kashin wrote for ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda'' in
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
where he expressed rather sharp views. He continued to work for that newspaper up to 2003, specializing on exclusive interviews and special reports,
[Interview with Oleg Kashin](_blank)
, for Sreda.Org (in Russian). then moved to
Moscow and started working as a journalist for ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' in
Moscow. After a while, he left the newspaper, became a staff writer at
Kommersant and became the leading Russian journalist covering youth political movements, ranging broadly from the
National Bolshevik Party
The National Bolshevik Party (NBP; russian: Национал-большевистская партия), also known as the Nazbols (russian: нацболы), operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of N ...
to
Nashi
Nashi ( uk, Наші; ''Nashi''; "Ours") is a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada-based organisation that opposes human trafficking by raising awareness through education. Savelia Curniski is the president of NASHI. The organisation has establishe ...
. He left
Kommersant in June 2005, dissatisfied with the dismissal of the director-general Andrei Vassiliev.
In 2007, Kashin became a regular author and a deputy editor of the ''Ŗusskaya zhizn'' (''The Russian Life'') magazine. In 2009, Kashin returned to
Kommersant as a special correspondent.
[ Russian Wikipedia article on Kashin]
2010 attack
On 6 November 2010, Kashin was assaulted by unknown attackers near his home in Moscow. He was hospitalized with broken jaw, fractured skull, broken leg and broken fingers, one of which later had to be amputated.
Police are treating the attack as attempted murder.
[''Leading Russian reporter Oleg Kashin attacked in Moscow'']
BBC President Medvedev said that the assailants "must be found and punished".
[ Prior to the attack, Kashin had been reporting on the proposal to build a highway through the ]Khimki Forest
Khimki Forest is a forest near the Russian city of Moscow covering about 1000 hectares. It is part of the so-called "Green Belt" around Moscow. An $8 billion high speed road, the Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway (M11), has been proposed to go thr ...
near Moscow.[ His reporting covering youth political movements and political protests had also prompted aggressive responses from many pro-Kremlin groups, including the ]Young Guard of United Russia
The Young Guard of United Russia (russian: Молодая гвардия Единой России, Molodaya gvardiya Yedinoy Rossii; MGER) is the youth wing of the United Russia
United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya ...
, a youth group associated with the United Russia political party, chaired by Vladimir Putin.[Russian Journalist Beaten in Moscow](_blank)
/ref> This attack is one of the subjects of the 2012 documentary ''Putin's Kiss
''Putin's Kiss'' is a 2012 documentary, directed by Lise Birk Pedersen, about Russian youth activist Masha Drokova (Maria Alexandrovna Drokova, married name: Masha Bucher
*
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) and her experiences with the youth organisation Nashi.
Plot ...
''.
In 2015, Kashin got acquainted with the materials of the investigation, including the testimony of the suspects, and accused Andrey Turchak
Andrey Anatolyevich Turchak (russian: Андрей Анатольевич Турчак; born 20 December 1975) is a Russian politician who has served Secretary of the General Council of United Russia from 12 October 2017 and the Senator from Psk ...
of ordering the crime. This was done as a revenge for a blog post, which Turchak, then a Pskov Governor, commented on with the words "You have 24 hours to apologize. The countdown has begun." No charges were officially filed against Turchak. In 2017, he was appointed deputy chairman of the State Duma, and Putin awarded him with the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd degree. On 27 November 2018, a full video of the interrogation of the alleged perpetrator was published, in which he said that the attack was organized by the co-owner of the "Mechanical Plant" company Alexander Gorbunov, and the customer was Turchak, who personally hurried the performers and personally demanded to break Kashin’s legs and arms so that he could not write.
Views
Considering the widely publicized case of Andrey Sychev, in which a young conscript lost his legs and genitalia after brutal beating by other servicemen, Kashin claimed that the case was fabricated by Committee of Soldiers Mothers: "The only proven episode... is that Sychev squatted for a while in front of now imprisoned junior sergeant Sivyakov.... All the other stuff was thought up by the chairman of Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...
Committee of Soldiers Mothers Lydmila Zinchenko, who, after giving a dozen of interviews to liberal media now cowardly conceals from investigators."
In 2014, without denying that the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.
The events in Kyiv ...
was illegal, Kashin called it a ''restoration of historical justice''. He has been covering the 2014 events in Crimea and the War in Donbass
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
for the influential Russian nationalist publication ''Sputnik i Pogrom''.
Despite taking a strong anti-war stance and describing the actions of the Russian authorities as cannibalistic toward Ukraine and suicidal for Russia itself, he was included by Alexei Navalny's associates on a list of about 6,000 Russian "bribetakers and warmongers" who deserve to fall under international sanctions because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kashin himself linked his inclusion on the list to the fact that he "has repeatedly criticized people who are now speaking on behalf of Navalny."Соратники Навального потребовали ввести международные санкции против Олега Кашина
/ref>
References and notes
External links
Oleg Kashin's blog
in LiveJournal
''Sticks and stones: the blogs of Oleg Kashin''
feature on Kashin
Radio Free Europe.
Nashi Beats Yabloko Leader
St Petersburg Times.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashin, Oleg
1980 births
Living people
People from Kaliningrad
Russian journalists
Russian dissidents
Russian nationalists
2011–2013 Russian protests
Russian victims of crime
Russian emigrants to Switzerland
Russian emigrants to the United Kingdom
Russian bloggers
Russian columnists
People listed in Russia as media foreign agents