Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. UPDATES BELOW Yet another suspect has been detained in the case of the Bolotnaya Square anti-Putin demonstration. See also our Russia This Week stories: Ultranationalists Angry […]
Tag: Bolotnaya Square
Russia This Week: Bolotnaya Defendants Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev Sentenced (21-25 July)
Updated Daily. Opposition leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev in the long-running Bolotnaya Case were found guilty by a Moscow court of “inciting mass riots” in protests against President Vladimir Putin on 6 May 2012 and sentenced to 4.5 years forced labor. Russian and Ukrainian bloggers confirmed the sighting of the Buk anti-aircraft missile system. […]
Russia This Week: Here Comes the Kremlin’s Troll Army (2-7 June)
Updated Daily. Building on years of Russian journalists’ reporting, Western media are now covering the Kremlin’s paid troll army, citing forums moderators’ experience, leaked documents, and local infiltrators, and uncovering how “web brigades” have been skewing public debate on Ukraine. Authorities are rounding up more suspects in the Bolotnaya Square demonstration case even two years […]
Moscow Plans to Track Anyone Convicted of Extremism after Release from Prison
Staunton, May 20 – In what represents yet another threat to the constitutional rights of Russian citizens, the Russian government is preparing a draft law that would allow officials to administratively supervise anyone who has been convicted and sentenced to the penal system for extremism and terrorism after his or her release, Izvestiya reports today. […]
Russia Liveblog–Crackdown on Dissent
Following the crackdown on a Russian protest at Manezhnaya Square earlier this week — a protest waged in solidarity with the convicted and sentenced defendants in the Bolotnaya Case and from which more than 400 people were detained by Russian OMON police — prominent oppositionists such as Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov have been thrown […]
What Sovok Is About
I had not been in Moscow for a year. The last time I came I was with the French president’s pool and so I could not investigate and take notes on how my city had changed. For a year, I waited to find its new energy. On the plane I was already upset when it […]
Moscow Protest Aftermath: Jail Sentences Handed Out to Opposition Leaders
Two of the leading figures in the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov, have been sentenced following their arrests while protesting the sentencing of the Bolotnaya defendants yesterday in Manezh Square Moscow. Navalny, the former mayoral candidate, anti-corruption blogger and leader of the Progress party, has been sentenced to 7 days in jail by […]
“I’m Afraid It’s Not the Court Making the Decision”
This interview occurred before the sentencing earlier today, resulting in prison terms ranging from two and a half to four years. The sentencing was attended by protests which have been met with a sever clampdown by the Russian authorities, a situation which is being covered in a liveblog here. — Ed. On 21 February, Judge Natalya […]
Trial for Bolotnaya Protesters Nearing Completion
“There is not one piece of evidence that confirms the guilt of the accused,” said Alexei Polikhovich’s lawyer, Alexei Miroshnichenko. “The whole trial is politically motivated.” His colleague Olga Grigorenko, also defending Alexei Polikhovich, elaborated on the property damages, totalling 28,228,000 rubles, which, according to the indictment, the defendants have to repay. Advocate Grigorenko said […]
Another Bolotnaya Protester Amnestied
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 […]