Staunton, August 18 – Yesterday, Russian police blocked the march in Novosibirsk calling for Moscow to live up to the constitution and observe the rights of the country’s federal subjects, but the Putin regime failed to block the message of the Siberian federalists from getting out. Not only did the actions of the police underscore […]
Staunton, August 2 – On August 1, the Russian government forced Slon.ru to remove an interview with a leader of the Siberian regionalist movement only to have it appear on other sites almost instantly. On the one hand, the ban reflects Moscow’s nervousness about the announcement of plans by Siberian regionalists to hold “a march […]
Updated Daily. Ultranationalist Sergei Kurginyan bragged that an electronics specialist was sent to repair a Buk anti-aircraft system for the separatists in Donetsk. The citizen reporter at the lake in Gukovo who filmed Grad rockets launching from Russian territory in Ukraine has had his VKontakte page removed. July 15 marks the fifth anniversary of the […]
Updated Daily. Refugees continue to flee armed conflict in southeastern Ukraine into Russia, but questions remain about how many of them there are, as both official and news reports differ substantially, and international relief organizations and journalists are not let into the border towns under a state of emergency. The retreat of Col. Igor Strelkov […]
Updated Daily. Pussy Riot went to Washington to lobby for additions to the Magnitsky List of Russian official human rights violators. 6 May was the second anniversary of a major opposition demonstration in 2012 in Moscow, where dozens were arrested in clashes with police that activists say were staged by provocateurs. Police detained 13 today […]
Russians continue to protest the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine following a mass march against Putin’s forcible annexation of Crimea last week. (Go here and here for the last weeks’ news.) Defendants in the Bolotnaya Case charged with “instigating riots” remain on trial. The Russian government continues to make moves to suppress dissent, chiefly by blocking […]
Lenta.ru, one of Russia’s most prominent independent news outlets, has had their editor removed after they published an interview with the leader of Ukraine’s ultra-nationalist Right Sector, Dmytro Yarosh. Lenta was first warned by the Russian regulatory commission that they could face penalties, and then their editor was fired. Slon, another independent media outlet, has […]
The Ukrainian Prime Minister meets with President Barack Obama, while the Russian government works to control the message on Ukraine. Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation […]
The Sochi Winter Olympics start in just two days. This week, The Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller speaks to Boston College Professor Dr. Matt Sienkiewicz about whether Russia is ready for the Olympics, what to look out for during the Olympics, and whether or not the games will be safe from terrorism. Also see today’s liveblog of the run-up to the […]
On Thursday this week a court in Yekaterinburg issued a two year suspended sentence to a journalist, Aksana Panova, for extortion. The sentence came with an unheard of addition: Panova is banned from working in media for two years. That the grounds for the conviction are ropey at best is worrying enough, though unsurprising for […]
