Bloody amber
Every year, dozens of tons of illegal amber from Ukraine find their way into Poland. It is a business worth billions of dollars controlled by Ukrainian mafia. Without the precious raw material smuggled from across the eastern border, there would be no amber jewellery – Poland’s showcase product.
Proud and patriotic. Polish soldiers of 2018
photo: Wojciech Król/CO MONPolish soldiers like to wear national symbols, such as the emblem and flag, in the form of tattoos. They do much more often than civilians. Such patriotic tattoos are supported by every second soldier, but only every fourth Pole.
VSquare
The militarisation of patriotism
WOT information centre opening; photo: Robert Siemaszko/CO MONThe number of uniformed classes, lyceums with military profile and defence groups have emerged in recent years. What is the reason? Polish government wants to use growing nationalistic energy
Flight to anywhere
A company with ties to the Hungarian government which often flies Hungarian oligarchs by helicopter has recently co-founded a new company with Pennsylvania registered International Defense & Aerospace Group LLC (IDAG). IDAG sold helicopters to the Hungarian police in 2017 and one of its co-owners was involved in an infamous helicopter deal a year before.
BLOG: NOTES FROM THE REGION
How Orban’s media empire is smearing Atlatszo
Vsquare founding member Atlatszo, a non-profit investigative journalism outlet became the latest target of government propaganda in Hungary
In Russia’s shadow, populists rise before the Latvian elections
Every European election these days starts with the same two questions. The first is obvious: who is going to win and form the government? And will Russia interfere as it did in the US presidential election?
VSquare
ABOUT US
VSquare is an independent, cross-border journalism initiative dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting and independent press in the Visegrad Region.
LEAK TO US
Have you seen something that you think should be a story? Do you have documents we should see? We want to hear from you. We encourage whistleblowers to securely submit all forms of content that might be of public concern. We take source protection very seriously. There are a safe ways to share documents and messages with us.
STAY IN TOUCH
We love to hear about what our readers are up to — both professionally and personally. If you are interested in hearing more about what is going on throughout the Visegrad countries, if you have feedback or questions about VSQUARE.ORG, please send to us your question/comment.
