Lucian Kim
Lucian Kim is NPR's international correspondent based in Moscow. He has been reporting on Europe and the former Soviet Union for the past two decades.
Before joining NPR in 2016, Kim was based in Berlin, where he was a regular contributor to Slate and Reuters. As one of the first foreign correspondents in Crimea when Russian troops arrived, Kim covered the 2014 Ukraine conflict for news organizations such as BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
Kim first moved to Moscow in 2003, becoming the business editor and a columnist for the Moscow Times. He later covered energy giant Gazprom and the Russian government for Bloomberg News.
Kim started his career in 1996 after receiving a Fulbright grant for young journalists in Berlin. There he worked as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe, reporting from central Europe, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and North Korea.
He has twice been the alternate for the Council on Foreign Relations' Edward R. Murrow Fellowship.
Kim was born and raised in Charleston, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in geography and foreign languages from Clark University, studied journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated with a master's degree in nationalism studies from Central European University in Budapest.
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Thirty years ago, the Soviet Union withdrew from a disastrous nine-year war in Afghanistan. "Those who fought are being looked up to again," says one Russian veteran.
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The brother of Paul Whelan, the American arrested in Moscow in late December, says Russia has given the family no information for why he is being accused of spying.
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One in 5 Russians is self-employed, and as the government looks for new sources of revenue, it's turning to technology to get the country's nannies, cleaners and tutors to pay their taxes.
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Russia suspended its observance of the INF treaty, a key agreement in nuclear arms control, in response to the U.S. suspending its own participation in the deal.
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Japan's prime minister will be in Moscow Tuesday, amid speculation that Russia and Japan might be about to sign a peace treaty. The two countries have still not officially ended World War II.
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"A library can be a loud place," says a city official in charge of Moscow's 400-plus public libraries, which have begun attracting visitors with coffee shops, theater rehearsals and lectures.
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Ukraine has taken another step in separating itself from Russian domination by establishing its own Orthodox church — a move which has angered the Kremlin and Russian Orthodox leaders.
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A Russian, an American and a Canadian were aboard the spacecraft when it lifted off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkahstan. It's the first launch since a failed mission in October.
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The head of Russian military intelligence, Igor Korobov, 62, died after his agency was accused of activities against the U.S. His predecessor also died at age 58 from unclear circumstances.
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"Normal people collect stamps and I try to give my cheese to Putin," says cheesemaker David Sirota. "I know 100 ways to get into an event with Putin but every time, his security takes away my cheese."