Former investigative journalist,[1] special correspondent,[2] and executive producer[3] of Novaya Gazeta.

[5] He started his journalistic activity in the weekly regional newspaper Vecherniy Neftekamsk in the high school.

[2] Kanygin interned at the Harriman Institute as a Klebnikov Russian Civil Society Fellow in 2016.

[8] On 14 April 2023, Kanygin was deemed in the list of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

[9] From the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kanygin openly condemned the Kremlin’s actions.