IStories (the "I" stands for "important") and
COVID-19 tests, the production of
surgical masks during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Russia,
domestic violence in Russia, the Russian waste management market, persecution of the Russian politician
Alexei Navalny, and others topics. In November 2020, the
Global Investigative Journalism Network wrote that IStories had 13 staff. In 2021, IStories had 15 staff. In February 2021, it published an article that talked about how
Rosneft, a Russian oil company, bought part of the
Pirelli company. After a complaint from Rosneft, the court ordered the website to remove the article. In July 2021, the Russian activist Alexander Ionov demanded the Russian government to designate IStories as a "
foreign agent". In 2021, IStories closed its operations in Russia. In early March 2022,
Roskomnadzor, a Russian government agency, blocked access to the websites of independent Russian media outlets
Dozhd,
Echo of Moscow and others for their coverage of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 3 March 2022, IStories published a letter, explaining how to bypass the blocking by the Russian authorities. On 5 March 2022, the
Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation designated IStories as an "
undesirable organisation". This designation prohibits the activities of the organisation on the territory of Russia and prescribes sanctions for anyone who supports the organisation. On 11 March 2022, Roskomnadzor blocked access to the website for what it says are "falsehoods [on topics] of substantial public interest" about the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In November 2023, IStories joined with the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and 69 media partners including
Distributed Denial of Secrets and the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories to produce the '
Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime of
Vladimir Putin, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. Government officials including Cyprus president
Nikos Christodoulides and European lawmakers began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours, On 17 June 2024, a Moscow court issued arrest warrants for
IStories editor-in-chief and award-winning investigative reporter
Roman Anin and , a journalist at
TV Rain and a former
IStories correspondent, on charges of
disseminating "false information" about Russia's armed forces in Ukraine. Russia's Interior Ministry added two
Russian journalists in exile to its wanted list. In the spring of 2022, Fomina published an investigative report regarding
war crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fomina said the arrest warrant would affect her professional life as she would not be able to travel to many countries that could arrest her and extradite her to Russia. == Organisation ==