Mikhail Zygar
Writer; Press Freedom Fellow, CUNY Craig Newmark School of Journalism; Visiting Professor, Princeton University
Mikhail Zygar is a journalist, author and filmmaker. He’s the inaugural Press Freedom fellow at CUNY Craig Newmark School of Journalism and a visiting professor at Princeton. After authoring a petition against the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Zygar left his native Russia and was labeled a foreign agent by the Russian government. Prior to that, he was founding editor of Russia’s only independent TV news channel, Dozhd (TV Rain), and worked for Newsweek Russia and Kommersant. Zygar’s most recent book, “War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” was listed among The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2023. Previous books include “The Empire Must Die” and “All the Kremlin’s Men.” Zygar received the 2014 CPJ International Press Freedom Award.