When she was just 20 years old photo-journalist Diana Markosian asked the news agency she was working for in Moscow to send her to Chechnya. Many others in her position would have dreaded setting foot inside the much-troubled Chechnya, which has suffered decades of war but Markosian was intrigued by the region and its beleaguered history. Her agency denied her request, but she refused to be disheartened and made her own way there.

Whilst many of her work colleagues would fight tooth and nail to avoid being sent to Chechnya, Markosian has been there several times since her first visit and moved there permanently in 2011. Whilst the Russian authorities declared the region of Chechnya had normalized more than three years ago, she doesn’t deny that living there is still fraught with danger.

In an interview with Time Magazine’s LightBox Markosian explains that, women are still regularly kidnapped and that she is becoming used to being followed by authorities, having her work checked and her images deleted. Continue Reading

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