Research notes, regional briefings and methods.
Notes from our work on sourcing, verification and research in difficult jurisdictions, written for the people who commission and rely on it. We publish six or seven a year.
When a source asks for anonymity
Protecting a source and verifying what they say are both obligations, and research that relies on anonymous information should be built to meet both.
Read the note · 3 min
Asset tracing across the former Soviet space: what still works
Tracing assets in the region has become harder as access to registers has narrowed, yet court, corporate and foreign records still support lawful, well-documented findings.
Fact-checking under deadline: how we support newsrooms
We help newsrooms check investigations before publication, claim by claim, while editorial decisions, legal review and the story itself remain with the newsroom.
Why regional expertise matters in investigative research
Research on Russia, Central Asia and the South Caucasus depends on language, local knowledge and an honest sense of what can be established lawfully and safely.
How we write and review these notes.
Our notes are held to the same standard as our client work. Each one is written to be relied on, and each says where its limits are.
Checked against primary sources
Statements about registers, courts and laws are checked against official or authoritative sources before publication, and again when a note is reviewed.
Reviewed and dated
Every note shows when it was published and when it was last reviewed. Where rules change, we revise the note and say so.
Corrected openly
If we find an error, we correct it promptly. Readers who believe a note is wrong can write to us at [email protected].
No client matters
Notes describe public records and general practice. They never discuss, or draw on confidential material from, client engagements.
Neutral and lawful
We describe research conditions neutrally and recommend lawful methods only. We do not publish political commentary.
Not advice
Notes are general information. They are not legal, financial or investment advice, and should not be relied on as such.
All notes since 2023.
- MethodsHow we source, verify and grade evidence.
- Research notesHow particular records work, and what they can show.
- Regional briefingsResearch conditions in Russia and the wider Eurasian region.
- BriefingsNotes for decision-makers on recurring questions.
- CommentaryViews on the practice and ethics of investigative research.
Showing all 23 notes
2026
7 notes- 15 September 2026 When a source asks for anonymity Protecting a source and verifying what they say are both obligations, and research that relies on anonymous information should be built to meet both. 3 min
- 21 July 2026 Asset tracing across the former Soviet space: what still works Tracing assets in the region has become harder as access to registers has narrowed, yet court, corporate and foreign records still support lawful, well-documented findings. 4 min
- 23 June 2026 Fact-checking under deadline: how we support newsrooms We help newsrooms check investigations before publication, claim by claim, while editorial decisions, legal review and the story itself remain with the newsroom. 3 min
- 26 May 2026 Why regional expertise matters in investigative research Research on Russia, Central Asia and the South Caucasus depends on language, local knowledge and an honest sense of what can be established lawfully and safely. 3 min
- 21 April 2026 Following Chinese investment in Central Asia: sources and pitfalls Chinese investment in Central Asia can be traced through lawful open sources in several languages, provided researchers handle names, group structures and announcements with care. 4 min
- 17 March 2026 Sanctions research beyond the list: ownership, control and the 50 per cent question A company absent from every sanctions list can still be caught through its owners or controllers, and establishing that requires research into structures, relationships and timing. 4 min
- 27 January 2026 The Astana International Financial Centre: what its registers and courts offer researchers The AIFC has its own common-law framework, public register and court, and its records are most useful when read alongside Kazakhstan's national sources. 3 min
2025
7 notes- 9 December 2025 Mongolia's resource sector: licences, ownership and partners Mongolian mining and energy projects draw foreign capital, and research must connect licence records, company records and ownership chains running through China, Russia and offshore jurisdictions. 4 min
- 14 October 2025 Working with local researchers safely Regional research often depends on people who live and work there, and those who commission it share responsibility for the risks those people take. 4 min
- 26 August 2025 Uzbekistan's opening economy: due diligence questions for new entrants Uzbekistan's reforms have drawn foreign investors, and the public records needed to check counterparties are improving, though unevenly. 3 min
- 17 June 2025 Company research in the South Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan sit on routes linking Europe, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia, yet their public records disclose very different amounts about companies and owners. 4 min
- 29 April 2025 Russian court records as a research source Russian court records can reveal a company's disputes, debts and relationships, provided researchers know which systems publish what and read each document for what it is. 3 min
- 11 March 2025 Verifying synthetic media: a working protocol for legal teams Images, audio and video can now be generated or altered convincingly, so any media file offered as evidence needs a structured, documented check before anyone relies on it. 4 min
- 28 January 2025 Transliteration and the problem of the many names Names from Russia and Central Asia appear in many Latin spellings, and research that ignores this will miss relevant records and match the wrong people. 4 min
2024
7 notes- 19 November 2024 Confidence levels: how we tell clients what we know Every finding in our reports carries one of four stated confidence levels, so readers can see how much weight each sentence bears before acting on it. 3 min
- 24 September 2024 Re-export routes through Central Asia and the Caucasus: what open sources can and cannot show Open trade data can show where goods may be moving towards Russia through neighbouring states, but it rarely shows who moved them or whether anything unlawful occurred. 4 min
- 16 July 2024 The archive is not the internet Online sources are incomplete and often recent, so serious research still depends on paper records, archive visits and the recollections of people who were there. 4 min
- 4 June 2024 Researching companies in Kazakhstan: registers, courts and the regions Kazakhstan publishes useful company and court records, but sound research depends on identifiers, searches in Kazakh and Russian and attention beyond the two largest cities. 4 min
- 23 April 2024 Ownership registers: what they show, and what they leave out An ownership register records what someone chose to declare at a given moment, and it is most useful as the first step in a wider enquiry. 4 min
- 12 March 2024 Reading a Russian company extract: what the state register shows, and what it does not A Russian register extract is a precise record of a company's legal facts, and reading it well means knowing where that record stops. 4 min
- 23 January 2024 Why the second source matters more than the first A first source tells you where to look. Only an independent second source tells you whether it is true. 3 min
2023
2 notes- 5 December 2023 Reading a company filing for what it does not say Accounts are written to comply with the law, and the most revealing information often sits in the notes, the filing history and the changes between years. 4 min
- 17 October 2023 Briefing a board on reputational risk Directors need a short, candid briefing that leads with the answer, separates fact from judgement and states how confident the assessment is. 3 min
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