Tag: OMON

Armed, masked police troops have raided a mosque in Russian-occupied Crimea, loading more than 100 worshippers onto buses.

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. Recent Translations: –The Non-Hybrid War –Kashin Explains His ‘Letter to Leaders’ on ‘Fontanka Office’ –TV Rain Interviews Volunteer Fighter Back from Donbass –‘I Was on Active […]

Mass protests, violent attacks against the police, Molotov cocktails, stones, sticks, women and children… The scene could easily be mistaken for the Maidan early last year, but in fact it was a recent training operation by Russia’s Interior Ministry to prepare for just such an eventually on the streets of Moscow—Zaslon 2015. The scene of […]

Staunton, October 6 – The editors of Moscow’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta warn in a lead article October 6 that “injustice toward [Muslim] believers could lead to violence” in Moscow and other Russian cities as well, a conclusion that new research on the state of inter-ethnic relations in Russia’s regions confirms. “Almost two million” people have viewed […]

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. […]

In the midst of the closing ceremonies of the Sochi Winter Olympics, and the crisis in Ukraine which has now toppled the Yanukovych government, a Russian court handed down sentences to the defendants in the Bolotnaya protest trial who had been found guilty last week. The result comes as no surprise to defence lawyer, Sergei […]

“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 […]

Russia has long been a country identified with secretive and elite security and police agencies; from the Oprichina of Ivan the Terrible, the Okhrana of the Tsar’s, the Cheka and KGB of the Bolsheviks and Soviet Union, to the FSB of today. Due to the multitude of differing agencies, often times with varying levels of […]