Professional Affiliation

Journalist

Expert Bio

Ian Bateson has spent over 8 years reporting in Ukraine and Russia. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Washington Post among others. He regularly comments on Eastern European politics for Monocle 24 and the BBC World Service. He is a two-time Fulbright scholar. 

Wilson Center Project

A Real Country: Ukraine After Revolution and During War (hybrid reportage-memoir) 

Project Summary

My project looks at the shaping of a new Ukrainian history and national story at a time when Ukraine has been at the center of global events and Russian propaganda continues to claim Ukraine isn't a real country, but an accident of history. The book uses reportage and stories I collected while traveling across the country over the past six years from war-torn Donetsk in the east to the villages my great-grandparents left in Austro-Hungarian Galicia in 1900 in the west. At the core of the project is the question of what happens in families and countries when stories of suffering are not passed on.

Major Publications

• "Volodymyr Zelensky Plays Himself." The Atlantic. (25 September 2019).
• "What Exactly Did Paul Manafort Do to Earn That $66 Million?" New York Magazine. (11 November 2018)
• "Ukraine desperately needs peace. Can peacekeepers help?" The Washington Post. Opinion. (19 September 2017).
• "Ukraine Declares War on Journalism." The New York Times. Opinion. (31 May 2016).