This was Russia today Monday, November 10, 2025
Howdy, folks. In the newsletter below, we review an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe that traces how Belarusian prison labor feeds into Russia’s military supply chain. Let us know if you’re enjoying the newsletter’s new format, why don’t you. Please note that Meduza’s newsletter will return on Wednesday, November 12, after yours truly is back from Veterans Day in the U.S.
A new investigation finds Lukashenko’s regime is doing more than supplying airfields and hospitals to Russia’s military
When most foreigners picture a Belarusian prison, the mental image is likely some version of the Soviet Gulag — if they’re keeping things lighthearted, of the Muppets Most Wanted variety. At any rate, the weather is cold, the uniforms are stiff, and the labor is hard. That last detail, it turns out, has been especially true in recent years. According to a new investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe, the aid Alexander Lukashenko’s regime provides for Vladimir Putin’s war machine isn’t limited to airfields and hospitals. The entire Belarusian prison system has been mobilized to assemble supplies for the Russian military.
Novaya Gazeta Europe spoke to a handful of former prison inmates in Belarus and pieced together how Russia’s close ally has put its penitentiaries’ factory floors on a war footing. The men who spoke to journalists described making crates for artillery shells, metal bed frames, camouflage uniforms, pouches for first-aid kits, coffins, envelopes for draft notices and death certificates, and even plastic funeral flowers. Journalists also described the especially noxious work — often performed by political prisoners who lack craft skills — of stripping cables of their insulation to extract their copper, aluminum, and lead (possibly for bullets).
According to one ex-inmate, the prison system’s products used to go to Europe through various intermediaries, but those sales evaporated under Western sanctions on Belarus for aiding Russia’s war on Ukraine. Today, thanks to the invasion, business is booming in Belarusian prisons. Inmates described earning several times their normal wages for rush jobs during around-the-clock shifts. At some facilities, the men are kept at their workstations until the end of their shifts, even if there are no orders — just in case a rush job comes in from the Russian military.
Prisoners loaded their products into boxes stamped with “Made in Russia” labels, later marveling at the sight of their work in news coverage of fallen soldiers. “Hey, those are our coffins!” one inmate recalled thinking. “The guards treat the prisoners like furniture,” said another, explaining that prison officials would discuss personal and sensitive matters in front of inmates as if they were invisible — talking about everything from affairs with mistresses and conversations with administrators to the fact that “these camouflage uniforms are headed for Russia.”
Some Belarusian prisons have also reclassified the civilian foremen running their industrial zones as active service members, further militarizing the process. These foremen now wear uniforms and “have started behaving like prison guards,” Novaya Gazeta Europe reported.
The Archive Collection: Nothing can stop Meduza from releasing anniversary merch — even if we have to make it ourselves. Check out our latest drop now!
We have a new tradition here at Meduza: every year on our birthday, we update the merch in our online store, Magaz. In 2025, we turned 11 — and despite the considerable challenges we’ve faced this year, we’ve found a pretty original way to bring you a new collection. Here’s a look at the latest clothing and accessories you can buy to rep Meduza and support our work.
Today’s reporting from Meduza
Three years after Russia’s retreat, civilians in Kherson are still living under constant fire
Three years after Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson, the Ukrainian city remains under constant bombardment, leaving much of its infrastructure in ruins and roughly 60,000 residents struggling to survive in frontline conditions. Meduza marks the third anniversary of Kherson’s liberation with photographs capturing the city’s ongoing devastation and the resilience of those who remain.
🛢️ Russia’s oil empire stumbles as Lukoil halts output in Iraq under U.S. sanctions pressure: Meduza breaks down today’s biggest Russia-related news stories, November 10, 2025
Russian oil giant Lukoil has halted production at Iraq’s West Qurna-2 field after new U.S. sanctions led Baghdad to freeze payments, forcing the company to declare force majeure and threatening its exit from the project within six months. Meanwhile, Russia faces deepening domestic and geopolitical challenges — from delayed wages at key state firms and Sergey Lavrov’s possible fall from favor to laws enabling the FSB to shut down the Internet and mass mobilization of reservists, and preparations for Putin’s visit to India.
🇺🇸 Thousands of Russians have applied for asylum in the U.S. since 2022. Trump’s ICE raids could land many of them in Putin’s prisons.
Since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, U.S. immigration authorities have intensified raids and deportations, leading thousands of Russian asylum seekers — many of whom fled political persecution — to face detention or expulsion. Meduza’s interviews with affected Russians reveal widespread denials of asylum, long waits, poor detention conditions, and growing fears of being sent back to Russia, where they could face imprisonment.
👑 New investigation reveals how the Putin regime ‘reproduces itself’ through ruling dynasties
A new investigation by Proekt reveals that three out of four top Russian officials have relatives working in government or state-linked companies, creating entrenched “ruling dynasties” that dominate public institutions and major state enterprises. The report concludes that under Vladimir Putin, the regime has effectively reproduced itself through nepotism, with power increasingly passed down among families of political, security, and business elites.
🍿 Jude Law’s Putin film, ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin,’ now has a movie trailer
The French studio Gaumont has released the first trailer for The Wizard of the Kremlin, directed by Olivier Assayas and starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin, depicting his early political rise through the eyes of strategist Vadim Baranov (played by Paul Dano), a fictionalized version of Vladislav Surkov. Premiering at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, the film — set for worldwide release on January 21, 2026 — portrays the creation of “a new kind of politician” driven by power and ambition.
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