Um, it’s not pleasant.

If you’re a journalist covering topics of international importance, there’s a strong chance that someone out there wants you dead. And, if you’re particularly unlucky, one of those people might try to hire someone to finish the job.

This is Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian investigative journalist who has covered Russia extensively. Understandably, this pissed some people off, and over the course of his life, Grozev claims that he’s had plenty of threats made against him, along with the usual spying and fucking-with that comes with being an international journalist.

Here, he explains what that experience was like — and why he believes a random tweet prevented him from being kidnapped and/or killed.