Andrei Shary is the director of RFE/RL's Russian Service.
Bosnian-Croat General and convicted war criminal Slobodan Praljak took a fatal dose of poison in a courtroom in The Hague. But in a larger sense he had been poisoned decades before. (The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the creation of a new national youth organization that many believe will be similar to the Soviet-era Young Pioneers and Komsomol organizations. So far, the Kremlin has offered few clues as to what the new youth league's ideology will be.
Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian author who won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature, says she wants to use the spotlight cast on her by the award to try to spark a "revolution in the minds of people."
A single crew of volunteers has been in charge of recovering the bodies of soldiers missing in action in eastern Ukraine. But now the group may have to end its activities due to a lack of resources.
Russian Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, the only lawmaker to vote against Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014, speaks to RFE/RL about the Duma's April 7 decision to lift his parliamentary immunity and what the future holds for him.
The director of a Ukrainian choir in Russia has had her life turned upside down since the crisis erupted in Ukraine.
A relative of Boris Nemtsov is accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the opposition politician's murder and says a coarse insult could have served as motive.
A lawyer for Nadia Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot held in Russia on charges of complicity in the murder of two journalists, say her health is declining. Savchenko has been on hunger strike for more than four weeks.
Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian military pilot held by Russia and accused in the deaths of two journalists, is reported to be in good health. But family members and Ukrainian officials continue to be denied access to her holding cell in Voronezh, a fact that some observers worry is just the start of a Russian pressure campaign.
Andrei Kurayev, a prominent Orthodox theologian, says he is bracing for further retaliation after exposing what he claims is a powerful gay lobby within the Russian Orthodox Church. Kurayev has been fired from the prestigious Moscow Theological Academy over his allegations.
The director-general of the prestigious Bolshoi Theater has been fired following a series of damaging scandals. The theater's troubles culminated in January, when an acid attack left the artistic director of its ballet company almost blind.
