He worked first for local newspapers in St Petersburg and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), then for Reuters. He stayed in Moscow, mainly reporting on the war in Chechnya, until 2006. Since leaving Reuters, he has written two books. The first -- Let Our Fame be Great -- is about the peoples of the North Caucasus, and his travels to find their scattered communities. The second -- The Last Man in Russia -- is a biography of a dissident Orthodox priest, whose life closely mirrors that of the Russian nation in the 20th century, and sheds light on the demographic tragedy of modern Russia.