Robert Garaev

Writer, journalist, musician. Born in 1976 in Kazan, Garaev was involved in criminal youth groups during his adolescence. He studied at Kazan University and played in the band called Bak-Paseff. In 2000, he moved to Moscow, where he worked as a music reviewer, DJ, guide at the Jewish Museum, and participated in the Heavy Metal DJs project. In 2020, he published the book The Boy’s Word: Criminal Tatarstan of the 1970s-2010s, which formed the basis for Zhora Kryzhovnikov’s series The Boy’s Word: Blood on the Asphalt (2023). Garaev co-wrote the show’s script with Kryzhovnikov.