Yevgenia Markovna Albats (, born 5 September 1958Editorial dossier
,

Agentura.ru Agentura.Ru () is a Russian website that covers subjects related to terrorism and intelligence agencies in Russia. It was created and supported by journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. From 2000 to 2006 the web-site was supported by the I ...

, referring to another web sit
Labyrinth
''The New Russia's Dictionary: a world of literature''
''

Znamya ''Znamya'' ( rus, Знамя, p=ˈznamʲə, a=Ru-знамя.ogg, lit. "The Banner") is a Russian monthly literary magazine, which was established in Moscow in 1931. In 1931–1932, the magazine was published under the name of ''Lokaf'' ("Лок ...

'') is a Russian investigative journalist,

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, writer and radio host. In 19861992, Albats worked as a columnist for ''Moskovskie Novosti''. Since 1995, she has worked with the newspapers ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

'', ''

Novaya Gazeta ''Novaya Gazeta'' (, ) is an independent Russian newspaper. It is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, the Chechen wars, corruption among the ruling elite, and increasing authoritarianism i ...

'' and ''

Kommersant (, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...

''. From 2004 to February 2022, she was the host of the author's program "Full Albats" on

Echo of Moscow Echo of Moscow () was a 24/7 commercial Russian radio station based in Moscow. It broadcast in many Russian cities, some of the former Soviet republics (through partnerships with local radio stations), and via the Internet. From 1996 its editor- ...

radio station. As of 2022, she works as a chief editor of '' The New Times'' magazine. In 19941996, she studied at Harvard University's Department of Political Science, after which she lectured on the political system of the USSR and Russia at a number of leading universities in the United States. In January 2004, Albats defended her

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

dissertation in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at Harvard University.

Early life and education

Albats was born in Moscow, in Russia when it was the epicenter of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, to a Jewish family. Albats' father, Mark Yefremovich Albats, was a member of a

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

military

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

team during World War II, residing in German-occupied Ukraine.Memories about family members of Echo of Moscow's guests
Yevgenia Albats, 7 July 2004
Machine translation
. In 1943 he was wounded and discharged from the Army. Afterward he worked as an engineer at a scientific institution, designing

radiolocation Radiolocation, also known as radiolocating or radiopositioning, is the process of finding the location of something through the use of radio waves. It generally refers to passive, particularly radar—as well as detecting buried cables, wate ...

systems for the Soviet Army.''We are here''
Albats' mother, Yelena Izmaylovskaya, was an actress and a radio news host.
Albats' elder sister, Tatyana Komarova, is a television host/anchor. Yevgenia Albats graduated from the Department of Journalism of

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1980. One of her classmates was

Anna Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (; 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russians, Russian investigative journalist who reported on political and social events in Russia, in particular, the Second Chechen War (1999–2005). It was her repor ...

, who would become an investigative journalist and was

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

in 2006.

Journalism career

Albats started her professional work as a freelance reporter with

Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (; ) is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper that was founded in 1925. Its name is in reference to the official Soviet newspaper '' Pravda'' (English: 'Truth'). History and profile During the Soviet era, ''Komsomolskaya ...

, while she was still a senior at the Moscow State University's Department of Journalism. After graduation, she succeeded in getting a job as a low-paid assistant at the "letters" desk (the desk that was obliged to answer letters from readers of the paper) at ''

'' Sunday supplement, ''Nedelya''. At the same time, she started writing about

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

and

particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

for the same paper. From 1986 to 1992, she worked for ''The'' ''Moscow News'' as a special assignment correspondent, writing about the USSR's notorious political police, the KGB. In 1996 to 2006, she worked for ''Izvestia'' (led the weekly column ''We and Our Children'') and ''

''. She received the Golden Pen Award from the Russian Union of Journalists for exposing poor conditions in

maternity ward Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more fetuses exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section and becomes a newborn to the world. ...

s in 1989. Albats was fired from ''Izvestia'' in 1997 after she had completed a major article exposing alleged illegal activities by the FSB.Post-Soviet Media Law & Policy Newsletter
, Issue No. 36,

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University in New York City. Founded in 1976 and now located on Fifth Avenue near Union Square in Lower Manhattan, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardo ...

, 20 April 1997 She was restored to her position by a court decision on 15 March 1997. In 2007, Albats became a deputy chief editor of '' The New Times'' magazine. On 16 January 2009 she replaced

Irena Lesnevskaya Irena may refer to: People *Irena (name) Places *Irena, Missouri, a village in the United States *Irena, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, a village in south-east Poland *Irena, Lublin Voivodeship, a town in eastern Poland, merged into nearby Dęblin ...

as the Chief Editor of the magazine. Since 2013, she is one of the jury members of the

European Press Prize The European Press Prize is a non-profit foundation based in the Netherlands. It runs a programme of journalism awards of the same name for journalists from 46 countries, the Council of Europe, Belarus and Russia. As part of the programme, a jur ...

Political activities

From 1993 to 2000, she was a member of the Clemency Commission at the Executive Office of the President of the Russian Federation.

Research and works

Albats was a Fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Nieman Foundation for Journalism The Nieman Foundation for Journalism is the primary journalism institution at Harvard University. History It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ...

in 1993
Fellowship at the Nieman Foundation
). In 2004 Albats was awarded a PhD in political science from

. She works at the radio station ''

'' and writes for ''The'' ''Moscow Times''. In 1992 Albats was appointed a consultant for a

Russian Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993. The Duma headquarters are located in central Mos ...

commission to examine

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

involvement in

Soviet coup attempt of 1991 The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and ...

. This commission was led by

Lev Ponomaryov Lev Aleksandrovich Ponomaryov (, 2 September 1941) is a Russian political and civil activist. He is an executive director of the all-Russian movement "For Human Rights." He is a member of the Federal Political Council of Solidarnost, and was de ...

. As a member of this commission she interviewed KGB officers. Albats described her findings in ''The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future''Albats.''KGB: The State Within a State''. Translated from Russian by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. 1995. , . First edition in 1994, , . in 1994.''The Spies Who Stayed Out in the Cold''
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', by Glenn Garelik, 27 November 1994 KGB chairman

Vadim Bakatin Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin (; 6 November 1937 – 31 July 2022) was a Russian politician who served as the last chairman of the KGB in 1991. He was the last surviving former chairman of this organization. He was appointed to dismantle the KGB, b ...

gave Albats the number of KGB officers as 180,000 in a post-1991 interview. Using the "rule of thumb", "four non-ranking KGB employees for every officer", Albats estimated that the number of KGB employees in Russia in 1992 approached 700,000, "one olitical police agentfor every 297 citizens of Russia", as opposed to "one Chekist for every 428 Soviet citizens." Albats described the

as a leading political force rather than a security organization. She wrote that KGB directors

Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...

and

Vladimir Kryuchkov Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (; 29 February 1924 – 23 November 2007) was a Soviet lawyer, diplomat, and head of the KGB, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Initially working in the Soviet justice system a ...

manipulated Communist Party leaders. She asserted that FSB, the successor of KGB, became a

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

party. In 1992 Albats published an article in ''

'' quoting documents from KGB archives that

David Karr David Harold Karr, born David Katz (1918, Brooklyn, New York – 7 July 1979, Paris) was a controversial American journalist, businessman, Communist and NKVD agent. Early life He was born into a Jewish family. Enthralled with the radical left ...

was "a competent KGB source" who "submitted information to the KGB on the technical capabilities of the United States and other capitalist countries"."Senator

Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

requested KGB assistance with a profitable contract for his businessman-friend", ''

'', 24 June 1992, p. 5 She cited KGB notes describing transfers of money to communist parties of United States, Finland, France, Italy, as well as "commercial dealings" of

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

's family with Soviet foreign trade. Albats learned that the KGB employed the future Russian

Patriarch Alexius II Patriarch Alexy II (or Alexius II, ; secular name Aleksei Mikhailovich Ridiger ; 23 February 1929 – 5 December 2008) was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Elected Patriarch of Mosco ...

as an agent under a nickname Drozdov. Albats, who is Jewish, is a leader in the

Russian Jewish Congress The Russian Jewish Congress is a non-profit charitable fund and Russian Jewish organization. It was established in 1996 by a group of Jewish businessmen, workers and religious figures with the goal of reviving Jewish life in Russia. It unites som ...

. Albats published a book, ''The Jewish question'', in 1995.

Talk shows

As of 2004, Albats hosted a radio talk program at

. In February 2007, she held a talk with

Olga Kryshtanovskaya Olga Viktorovna Kryshtanovskaya (; born 1954) is a Russian sociologist, activist and State Duma deputy from the United Russia party. Education and career Kryshtanovskaya works for since 1989. In 2003 she discovered that majority of former KGB o ...

, director of the Moscow-based Centre for the Study of Elites. Kryshtanovskaya said that FSB members and other "

silovik In the Russian political lexicon, a ''silovik'' ( rus, силовик, p=sʲɪlɐˈvʲik; plural: ''siloviki'', rus, силовики, p=sʲɪləvʲɪˈkʲi) is a person who works for any state organisation that is authorised to use force ag ...

s" took key positions in the Russian government, Parliament and business. These members share their military background and

nationalistic Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, Id ...

views. She noted that most FSB members remain in the "acting reserve" even when they formally leave the organization. All "acting reserve" members receive an FSB salary, follow FSB instructions, and remain above the law because their organization protects them, according to Kryshtanovskaya.In Russia, A Secretive Force Widens
Finn, P., ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', 2006 In 2006, Albats criticized

Anna Arutunyan Anna Arutunyan is a Russian American journalist, analyst, and author. She is a global fellow at the Wilson Center The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicat ...

who had written an article in ''The'' ''Moscow News'' about the murdered journalist

. Arutunyan wrote that Politkovskaya became an activist and that her articles contained "inaccuracies".

Family and personal life

Albats was married to journalist, writer and science popularizer

Yaroslav Golovanov Yaroslav Kirillovich Golovanov (; 2 June 1932 in Moscow – 21 May 2003 in Peredelkino) was a Russian journalist, writer and science communicator. He covered space exploration by the Soviet Union from its beginnings. Golovanov's father wa ...

and has a daughter, Olga (b. 1988).Biography of Yaroslav Golovanov
/ref>"Tanya Albats"
poem by Semyon Ventzimerov

References

External links

;Books
''Bureaucrats and Russian Transition: Politics of Accommodation''
,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2004.
''The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future''
Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. 1994. . ;Articles by Albats

by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

.
''Reporting Stories in Russia That No One Will Publish''
23 April 2000,

Nieman Reports The Nieman Foundation for Journalism is the primary journalism institution at Harvard University. History It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ' ...

.
''The Day Democracy Died in Russia''
, The Center for Public Integrity, 17 April 2001.
''The Chechen War Comes Home''
,

, 26 October 2002.
''Wielding the KGB's Tools''
,

The Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' (''MT'') is an Amsterdam-based independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking to ...

, 31 May 2004.
''The Kremlin Shows Its True Face''
,

, 2 August 2004.
''In Putin's Kremlin, It's All About Control''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, 12 December 2004.
''The Shakedown State''
, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, 2005.
''Seven Questions: Russia’s Cloaks and Daggers''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

, November 2006.
''Interview with Y. Albats in English and German''
" Kontakt - Report", April 2007. ;Articles, talks by Albats in Russian
Higher School of Economics

Personal column
at

.
Personal column
in the online magazine YeZh.
Personal blog
;Articles about Albats
''Who is next?''
''

Publius Pundit Publius may refer to: Roman name * Publius (praenomen) * Ancient Romans with the name: ** Publius Valerius Publicola (died 503 BC), Roman consul, co-founder of the Republic **Publius Clodius Pulcher (c. 93 BC – 52 BC), Republican politician * ...

''.
''Moscow Liberals Hold Demonstration''
Charles Gurin, ''

Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Albats, Yevgenia 1958 births Nieman Fellows Living people Moscow State University alumni Writers from Moscow Russian investigative journalists 21st-century Russian women journalists 21st-century Russian journalists Russian political scientists Russian political writers Russian historians of espionage Echo of Moscow radio presenters Academic staff of the Higher School of Economics 20th-century Russian women writers 20th-century Russian writers Russian women historians Women political scientists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Russian anti-communists 20th-century Russian women Jewish Russian writers People listed in Russia as media foreign agents