Askar Shogenov

4 Posts

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Askar is a journalist based in Kabardino-Balkaria.

The Nalchik First Polyclinic. Photo: OC Media.

Corruption

‘I slipped a ₽1,000 bill in her lab coat’: false vaccine certificates in Russia’s North Caucasus

by Askar Shogenov

•4 min read

As compulsory vaccination for COVID-19 begins for some professions in Russia, in the North Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, falsified vaccination certificates are available for as little as $14. After representatives of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing and the local health ministry visited her school, Aziza (not her real name) knew she would need a vaccine certificate. ‘After the lessons, they gathered all the teachers in a classr

Illustration: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Corruption

Voice | ‘I was shot twice in the head and abducted, but I survived’

by Askar Shogenov

•7 min read

At one point, Sufyan (not his real name) had a promising life and career ahead of him. That all changed when he turned in his superiors at the Ministry of Capital Construction of Kabardino-Balkaria for a massive fraudulent scheme. ‘I was born in the late 1960s, and in my youth, I believed that I lived in the fairest and happiest country in the world. If someone told me at that time that by the age of 50, I would be lonely, unemployed, and disabled, I would have laughed in their face.’ ‘Since

Feature Stories

The Dispensary: Life in Kabardino-Balkaria’s only public addiction clinic

by Askar Shogenov

•8 min read

Mystery drugs, bad food, unknown rules, and a complete absence of clocks. Patients at the Narcological Dispensary in Nalchik report living in a Kafkaesque nightmare. ‘[It’s] as if we are not patients, but criminals who are serving sentences here for committing serious crimes’. Andrei Ilchuk is a patient at the Narcological Dispensary. Located in the capital city of Nalchik, it is the only public medical institution of its kind in the republic. Due to the expenses involved with treatment

Environment

‘Environmental concerns’ mask a lack of funds to reanimate Kabardino-Balkaria’s erstwhile heavy industry

by Askar Shogenov

•6 min read

Authorities in Kabardino-Balkaria have been promoting ambitious plans to kickstart the republic’s industry with a new hydrometallurgical plant. But for ‘environmental reasons’, and supposed archaeological discoveries at the site, the plans — the estimated cost of which had began to spiral — may now be permanently on ice. The Russian government has made claims that Western sanctions are reinvigorating the country’s industry, but several plans for the reconstruction and creation of new pla

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