Ben Judah

Ben Judah was born in 1988, less than three years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. He studied at Oxford University and has travelled widely in Russia and Central Asia. He has reported from the abandoned Gulags of Kolyma, tracked a Yeti in Tajikistan, and covered the Georgian war and revolutionary violence in Kyrgyzstan.

His work has featured in the New York Times, Financial Times, the Economist, Prospect, Standpoint and Foreign Policy. He reported for Reuters in Moscow before joining the European Council on Foreign Relations in London as a Russia analyst. He is currently a visiting fellow at the European Stability Initiative.

Foreign Policy named his first book Fragile Empire one of its Top 25 Books To Read in 2013.

In his latest book, This is London, Ben turns his keen reporter’s eye on home, immersing himself in the hidden world of the city’s immigrants – from the richest to the poorest – to discover the complex and varied individuals who are making London what it is today. It was published to widespread acclaim by Picador.

Ben's latest book, This is Europe, was published by Picador on 15 June 2023.

Ben has also made a short documentary with Vice called Undercover Migrant which explores life as a migrant in post-Brexit Britain.