Anna Yarovaya is a correspondent for North.Realities of RFE/RL's Russian Service.
Russian opposition activist Sergei Filenko was twice found guilty of "discrediting" Russia's military -- and paid his fine in cash that he marked up with anti-war slogans. Shortly before Finland closed its borders to Russian tourists, he fled to the Nordic country, where he is now seeking asylum.
Denys Fedotov and his pregnant wife, Viktoria Kuznetsova, made the harrowing journey from besieged Mariupol to Finland, encountering processing centers and interrogations along the way.
Five years ago this month, Karelian gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev was arrested on charges he says are retribution for his investigations into the crimes of the Soviet state. In a rare interview from custody, Dmitriyev spoke about his case and about the fate of the respected NGO Memorial.
A prominent St. Petersburg legal-aid group that focuses on cases involving state secrets has shut down following months of intense persecution by the state. Its lawyers say that "the risks have become too great for many people."
Colleagues of St. Petersburg lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who is under criminal investigation for purportedly revealing state secrets, have declared a "state of emergency." President Vladimir Putin's security forces "are trying to show us they can do anything they want without consequences," they warn.
In a Russian city near the Finnish frontier, officials hung a Victory Day picture showing a sturdy soldier and his trusty reindeer. Problem: The soldier was a Finn who fought against the Red Army after dictator Josef Stalin invaded his country in the Winter War of 1939-40. The incident was one of a string of similar cases in recent years, several of which involved images of German soldiers gracing Russian Victory Day posters.
A retired man in Russia's Karelia region brought a roll of toilet paper to the regional legislature and handed it to lawmakers to express his displeasure with a 21-ruble pension benefit indexation for "Labor Veterans" with exemplary work histories.
!["We don't cooperate with [the Czech NGO]. We don't have any ties to it. But if we continue working in our previous way, it will create enormous risks for members of our team as well as for journalists and people who cite our information," a member of the group said.](https://gdb.rferl.org/b4463b6e-6bbe-4e4f-b95d-44e33fb08807_cx0_cy9_cw0_w100_r1.jpg)
!["We don't cooperate with [the Czech NGO]. We don't have any ties to it. But if we continue working in our previous way, it will create enormous risks for members of our team as well as for journalists and people who cite our information," a member of the group said.](https://gdb.rferl.org/b4463b6e-6bbe-4e4f-b95d-44e33fb08807_cx0_cy9_cw0_w66_r1.jpg)
