Andrei Soshnikov

Andrei Soshnikov is a Russian investigative journalist whose career spans independent local press, the BBC Russian Service, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Russian investigative unit. His two major investigations (the exposure of the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg and the identification of Alisher Mukhitdinov as Iron March founder "Alexander Slavros") represent the primary source record for both subjects.

Internet Research Agency Exposure

Soshnikov began investigating the Internet Research Agency (IRA) while working as a reporter for Moy Rayon, a St. Petersburg local newspaper. He and Novaya Gazeta reporter Garmazhapova posed as job applicants and entered the IRA's office in 2013, producing the first published descriptions of its internal organization. Soshnikov's report documented that the IRA photocopied applicants' passports but made no effort to verify identities; that trolls were divided into specialized teams; and that individual operatives were assigned quotas of approximately 100 posts per day with designated themes including Russian state-approved framing on the G20 St. Petersburg summit in September 2013.¹

In February 2015, Soshnikov published a follow-up from an unnamed IRA whistleblower that included photographs, videos, and copies of "technical tasks" distributed to trolls, establishing the IRA's operational methodology in significantly greater detail.¹

After joining BBC News Russian, Soshnikov continued IRA-related investigations, using social engineering methods to identify individual operatives behind accounts on Twitter, VKontakte, and Telegram.

Iron March / Mukhitdinov Investigation

Soshnikov authored the investigation that established Alisher Mukhitdinov as the real identity of Iron March founder "Alexander Slavros," published by BBC News Russian on January 30, 2020 under the title "«С самого детства я осознавал, что я русский»" ("Since childhood I understood I was Russian"). The investigation built on WHOIS-based speculation that had circulated since before the SPLC Hatewatch May 2019 profile and on the December 2019 Bellingcat investigation, both of which stopped short of physical confirmation.

Soshnikov physically located Mukhitdinov in southwest Moscow; Mukhitdinov declined to comment. The investigation documented his educational trajectory (expelled from both Moscow State University and Moscow State Institute of International Relations), his self-description as a "metanationalist," his family's background including the connection to Nuritdin Mukhitdinov, and the BBC's failure to confirm circulating theories about Russian government pressure related to alleged Azov Battalion fundraising. Soshnikov's investigation is the primary evidential basis for the identification as accepted in academic and journalistic literature.²

RFE/RL Systema

After BBC News Russian, Soshnikov moved to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as editor-in-chief of Systema, an RFE/RL Russian-language investigative unit launched in 2023. He subsequently announced his departure from RFE/RL on social media and stated he was seeking work in journalism, investigations, OSINT, and editing.³