Steve LeVine was based in Central Asia and the Caucasus for 11 years—starting two weeks after the Soviet collapse through 2003.

He ran The Wall Street Journal bureau for the eight-nation region, and before that covered it for The New York Times.

From 1988-1991, LeVine was Newsweek's Pakistan-based correspondent for that country and Afghanistan. Before that, he covered the Philippines for Newsday from 1985-1988. He worked on The Wall Street Journal's oil staff through January 2007.

He is currently writing a new book on Russia that, among other things, will explain its string of high-profile murders.