Anastasia Kuzina is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Russian Service.
Locals in Moscow’s Begovoi neighborhood generally agree that something needs to be done about the growing problem of homelessness. But when an NGO proposed opening a consultation center to help homeless people get back on their feet, many residents decided it would be best to do it somewhere else.
Russian activists and experts fear the country is experiencing a silent HIV epidemic among gay men that is fueled in part by social stigma and wrongheaded government policies.
When the Russian government's system for purchasing and distributing the vital drugs needed to combat the virus that causes AIDS breaks down, patients use social-media networks to give one another medicine and hope.
