In a note to newsroom staff, Chief International Editor Didi Schanche announced the following staffing update:
Dear All,
I'm delighted to announce that Charles Maynes will join NPR as its Moscow correspondent beginning January 3.
Charles has been filling in in Moscow since the summer. Recent stories include examining the former USSR's response to COVID-19, regional gas politics, the fight for women's worker rights, Soviet Afghan war veterans' experiences, a Romanov dynasty wedding (sort of), and the lingering influence of a Soviet-era rock club on calls for democratic reforms in the region today.
For over a decade, he has reported on Russia and the former Soviet Union — covering everything from Putin-era Kremlin politics and digital troll farms to Russia's mercenary armies, nationalist biker gangs, eco-warriors, Arctic migrant surges, the Soviet Union's #1 Beatles fan, and the ballet Swan Lake's strange hold on the Russian psyche.
His news reporting has appeared on a variety of outlets including PRX, PRI, CBC, VOA, and ORF/Austria.
His documentary and feature work has also appeared on programs and podcasts including This American Life, 99% Invisible, Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything, Re:sound, and BBC's The Documentary and Short Cuts.
In 2019, he co-produced Spacebridge, a podcast about the joint US-USSR citizen diplomacy movement for Radiotopia's Showcase series the New Yorker called "dazzling."
He has also been active in multimedia and innovative forms of audio storytelling — most recently as a sound designer and story editor for Walking Cinema, an immersive journalism production company that specializes in location-based audio experiences.
He has been the recipient of a Third Coast International Audio Award (Three Records from Sundown, Podstantsia, 2009) and was the co-recipient of the Prix Marulic Gold prize for audio documentary (Looping Swans, BBC/Falling Tree Productions, 2016). He was also awarded a Fulbright fellowship to Russia in 2004-2005 to work with the Moscow-based Foundation for Independent Radio.
He graduated with a B.A. in history from Grinnell College and has studied Russian at the Linguistic University in Moscow and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Please join me in welcoming Charles to NPR.
Cheers,
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