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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · 24d

And here is the interview with Sikorski in full: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Russian drone incursion into Poland ‘was Kremlin test on Nato’

Polish minister says Moscow sought to gauge reaction without starting war as Romania reports new incursion

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · 24d

Thought this was an interesting point made by Polish foreign minister Sikorski in Kyiv this weekend - a good summary of what could be the problem with all the discussions of boots on the ground and the "coalition of the willing".

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Aug 25

My long profile of Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former army commander and current ambassador to London, who many see as Ukraine’s next president, with plenty of new info from behind the scenes:

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

General, envoy … future Ukraine president? Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s London waiting game

Refusal to take calls from JD Vance after Zelenskyy-Trump showdown reflects political tightrope ‘war hero’ has walked since being fired as army chief

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Aug 2

Wrote this on the past two weeks of politics and protests in Kyiv

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

In wartime, demonstrations in Ukraine can never be more than a peaceful protest

Zelenskyy forced to U-turn on anti-corruption bodies but protesters know unrest only plays into Russia’s hands

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Jun 30

Yes, they are mentioned fairly high up in the story.

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Jun 30

I spoke to perpetrators and investigators in the grim trend in Ukraine of Russians recruiting teenagers online and turning them into unwitting suicide bombers

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Russia pays young Ukrainians to be unwitting suicide bombers in shadow war

Oleh, 19, was offered $1,000 for a paint attack on a police station – but the bag he was given contained a crude bomb

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Jun 21

My story about a newish phenomenon of deportations from the occupied areas of Ukraine. Russia tells people they are banned from “Russia” for 40/50 years, drives them 20 hours under guard to the border with Georgia and pushes them across

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Banned from home for 40 years: deportations are Russia’s latest move to ‘cleanse’ Ukraine

A deal freezing frontlines would be unacceptable for Serhiy Serdiuk, who was taken to Georgia in handcuffs with his family after refusing to teach the Russian curriculum

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Jun 19

Will be talking with the amazing David Hoffman next Thursday for anyone in DC who might be interested…

carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/...

The Illegals: A Conversation With Shaun Walker on the Untold Story of Russia’s Deep-Cover Spies

For more than a century, Soviet and Russian spymasters have poured enormous resources into the training and deployment of deep-cover spies known as “illegals.” These agents live behind enemy lines for...

carnegieendowment.org

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Jun 6

Wrote this on Lana Estemirova’s new book Please Live, about her mother Natalia, the rights activist murdered in Chechnya in 2009, her work and their relationship.

It’s a powerful, beautiful read - can’t recommend highly enough.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

‘She lived without fear’: daughter of Chechen activist publishes book she vowed to pen after mother’s murder

Lana Estemirova promised to tell story of her mother, a renowned human rights activist. This month it is published

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · May 27

I spoke to the Crimean Tatar legend Mustafa Dzhemilev on a life of two exiles, turning down Putin’s money, and his views on Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff (“I’ve seen a lot of stupid diplomats in my life, but one like him, that’s a first.”)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

‘Does he know anything?’: Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev on Trump’s plans to legitimise Russian annexation

Exiled Soviet-era dissident tells the Guardian that for the US to turn its back on the territory would be ‘shameful’

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · May 20

London: there are a few tickets left for Thursday’s Guardian event when I’ll be talking to Christo Grozev and Daniela Richterova about Russia’s modern espionage programmes and Christo’s work to uncover them

Non-London: online tix also available

www.theguardian.com/guardian-liv...

Russia’s spies: Uncovering Russia’s secret espionage programmes

Exploding weapons factories, assassination plots and fake news: Vladimir Putin’s hybrid war campaign against the West has stepped up several notches since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · May 19

“If you don’t engage in good faith we’ll have to abandon our support for your adversary” is quite a negotiating position.

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · May 17

My analysis from a week in Kyiv that had lots of gambits, ultimatums, counter-offers and threats but didn’t change much when it comes to the fundamentals, as everyone puts on “a theatre play with one audience member” - Trump.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Week of geopolitical poker over Ukraine ends with no endgame in sight

Path to peace looks as unclear as it was before European leaders’ meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · May 10

After Euro ultimatum in Kyiv today, Putin's going to do a surprise video address at midnight Moscow time (in 45 mins). Is he going to agree to ceasefire? Would be big surprise for him to cave under ultimatum... Double down? Go on a random history rant?

Feels quite unpredictable.

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Reposted by Shaun Walker

Pjotr Sauer @pjotrsauer.bsky.social · May 5

NEW: Our exclusive deep dive into a suspected Russian-led cell behind the parcel bomb plots with the first interviews with those directly involved, revealing how the sabotage campaign unfolded on the ground With @shaunwalker7.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Explosive sex toys and cosmetics: the story behind the DHL parcels plot

Exclusive account reveals previously unreported details and insights into how Kremlin’s sabotage campaign played out on the ground – and the multinational effort to track down the network behind it

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · May 4

“These people are disposable.”

I’ve been working for a while on this story about how Russian intel services recruit (often unsuspecting) Ukrainians and Belarusians for their sabotage offensive in Europe, and how Western services are trying to counter it.

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

‘These people are disposable’: how Russia is using online recruits for a campaign of sabotage in Europe

Moscow’s intelligence services have launched a new type of attack on the west, violent but piecemeal and hard to prove

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 30

with @manisha.bsky.social @pjotrsauer.bsky.social @juliettegarside.bsky.social Anton Naumliuk, Tetyana Nikolayenko, Artem Mazhulin and Lucy Swan, and together with a journalistic consortium put together by @forbidden-stories.bsky.social

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 30

Yesterday we published our investigation into torture & death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna.

Now, what I & several Guardian colleagues have been working on for past few months: inside one of Russia's worst torture prisons for Ukrainians

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Inside Taganrog: beatings, electrocution and starvation at prison where Ukrainians were tortured

Russia is holding an estimated 16,000 civilians in arbitrary detention at 180 separate facilities. Taganrog was the most notorious.

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Shaun Walker

Dr. Manisha Ganguly @manisha.bsky.social · Apr 29

The Viktoriia project launches today- our first story. Our deep dive into Russian detention centres, with @shaunwalker7.bsky.social and @forbidden-stories.bsky.social consortium to follow tomorrow.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

‘Numerous signs of torture’: a Ukrainian journalist’s detention and death in Russian prison

The Guardian, working with media partners, has tracked down first-hand accounts to reconstruct Viktoriia Roshchyna’s final months

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 20

“Carpet. Plane. Siberia.”

An adapted short extract from my new book The Illegals: on how the KGB used its deep cover spies to get close to the leading lights of the Prague Spring.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Exposing ‘the illegals’: how KGB’s fake westerners infiltrated the Prague Spring

Kremlin’s most prized spies were sent in to Czechoslovakia to whip up the 1960s reform protests in a move then replicated across the eastern bloc

www.theguardian.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 20

The book doesn’t suggest that they are constructed or run in the same way. The point was meant to be different and only allusive: that opportunities for operatives to present in ways not linked to Moscow/RIS has expanded greatly since Soviet days when traditional illegals basically the only option.

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 17

My book The Illegals, on Russia's deep-cover spies, is out in UK & US this week... Please consider picking up a copy if you're interested in Russian history, crazy spy stories or both.

A nice review in today's NYT:

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/b...

Book Review: ‘The Illegals,’ by Shaun Walker

In his new book, “The Illegals,” Shaun Walker studies the Russian agents who worked deep undercover as Americans for decades.

www.nytimes.com

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 17

No tour as such but some US trips coming up over the year and always happy to discuss events. Please do email - [email protected]

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 14

London: I'll be talking on Wednesday at Waterstones Gower St about my new book on the history of Russia's illegals programme, with the best possible conversation partner: @gordoncorera.bsky.social, who has himself written a (brilliant) book about illegals

t.co/zwbJCwCy84

https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-illegals-shaun-walker-in-conversation-with-gordon-corera/london-gower-street

t.co

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Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7.bsky.social · Apr 10

Ahead of my book on the history of Russia's Illegals programme coming out next week, here's a taste in Guardian Longread form.

‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ap...

‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son

The long read: For the first time, the man the KGB codenamed ‘the Inheritor’ tells his story

www.theguardian.com

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