The big news of the day is the apparent diplomatic breakthrough that promises to be the first step toward ending the crisis in Ukraine. The deal was negotiated in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Belarusian President Alyaksandr […]
A criminal case against opposition activist Anastasia Rybachenko who left for Estonia when faced with charges under the “Bolotnaya Case,” has been dropped. Rybachenko told about that on Friday on her page in Facebook. “As soon as we make sure that I’m no longer in international and federal databases as a person on a wanted […]
This article was originally published in Kommersant, originally titled “Mikhail Khodorkovsky Surrenders to Pardon.” It reports on what was happening behind the scenes when Mikhail Khodorkovsky made the decision to ask for a presidential pardon. The claims have not been verified, but in an official statement, Mikhail Khodorkovsky wrote, “the issue of admission of guilt […]
The liberal magazine Snob.ru has collected quotes on today’s amnesty bill from various thinkers across the political spectrum. Note that some of the differences in numbers and facts can be attributed to the fact that the full effects of the amnesty bill are not yet known. See our liveblog for updates and additional details. — […]
The state-owned media giant RIA Novosti is being restructured, and its editor Svetlana Mironyuk has been replaced by a well-known Putin mouthpiece, Dmitry Kiselyov. Slon.ru, a liberal online magazine, weighs in on the recent development. — Ed. The fall of RIA Novosti is a drama that was deliberately made into a serial. Everyone saw the […]
On December 12, 1993, Russia adopted its current Constitution. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the President and the State Duma will pardon a significant number of criminals. There has been a significant amount of speculation as to whether Pussy Riot, the Bolotnaya Square prisoners, the Greenpeace activists, and other high-profile convicts will be included in […]
Yesterday, Russian state-owned media outlets carried a “leaked” report that the imprisoned Pussy Riot members were included in the draft amnesty bill. Today, it has been announced that the Supreme Court has thrown out their sentences anyway. As their prison terms are set to expire early next year, this is being interpreted by many as […]
In the case of the riots on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012, the discovery of evidence stage hasn’t been completed yet: only 40 out of 453 declared witnesses have been questioned. However, according to the Bolotnaya prisoners’ attorneys, “the court began to ‘push’ the participants in the trial ‘to make sure everything is completed […]
Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny has had his prison sentence suspended, though his conviction for fraud still precludes him from running for public office, at least for now (read our full analysis of here). Below, Slon, an independent news outlet, has posted comments from several high-profile politicians and political thinkers. – Ed. Pavlovsky: “I don’t think […]
The news this week that the prominent economist Sergei Guriev has resigned from his posts and has departed for France—perhaps permanently—is the latest in a series of rumored planned emigrations by liberal public figures such as journalist Masha Gessen. As has been recounted in translations published on The Interpreter this week, Guriev’s resignations and his […]
