Claire Bigg covers Russia, Ukraine, and the post-Soviet world, with a focus on human rights, civil society, and social issues.
Several arrests have already been made since a controversial law targeting homosexuals came into effect in St. Petersburg three months ago. Many fear the law -- which punishes the propaganda of homosexuality among minors -- heralds a return to repressive Soviet-era measures against Russia's already marginalized homosexual community.
Russia's NTV television channel says it will air a controversial film critical of Soviet troops on June 22, the anniversary of Nazi Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has asked NTV not to show the film, saying this would insult World War II veterans.
A collection of songs against the regime of Vladimir Putin has been released online to support the antigovernment protest movement that has rocked Moscow and other big Russian cities. The "White Album" features songs by famous singers as well as amateur musicians weary of Putin's 12-year rule.
Dozens of dead saiga antelope were discovered this week in Kazakhstan with their horns cut off, in the latest evidence of poaching of the critically endangered animal. Conservationists warn that rampant poaching is decimating the population of saiga antelope, one of the world's rarest and most ancient mammals.
With the opposition and the Kremlin vying for their attention, Muscovites were spoilt for choices this year over how to celebrate June 12, Russia's national holiday.
What is the purpose of the "neutral" documents for Georgia's breakaway regions and what does their recognition by Washington mean in concrete terms for residents of the two territories?
A key committee of Russia's parliament has approved a raft of amendments to a controversial draft law intending to curb street protests. While lowering new fines on protesters, the amended bill considerably expands the list of actions that would be punishable by law.
A string of online videos has surfaced in recent months portraying Kyrgyz women being brutally assaulted and humiliated. The authors of the clips, which appear to have been shot in Russia, describe themselves as "Kyrgyz patriots" on a mission to punish female migrants for associating with non-Kyrgyz men.
Russian search engine Yandex has for the first time outperformed the country's leading state-controlled television channel in viewer numbers. According to a recent study, Yandex attracted a million people more per day last month than the popular Channel One television station.
Dolphins have been dying in large numbers along the Black Sea coast in Russia and Ukraine. Local officials have blamed the cold winter, poachers, and a possible infectious disease for the mysterious die-off. But local environmentalists say pollution, particularly around the Olympic construction sites in Sochi, is the real culprit.
The surprise win of nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in Serbia's presidential polls on May 20 throws the country into fresh political uncertainty. Nikolic, a one-time ally of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, may now ask his party to form a new government and break an existing deal on a new ruling coalition headed by Boris Tadic's Democratic Party. Nikolic's election also casts serious doubt on Serbia's attempts to join the European Union.
The crash of a Sukhoi plane during a promotional tour of Asia has cast a pall over Russia's ambitions to regain a foothold on the global civil aviation market. The jet crashed into an Indonesian mountain on May 9 with some 50 people on board, all of whom are believed dead. The Sukhoi Superjet-100 is the first new passenger plane produced by Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union
Proponents of economic austerity policies to contain Europe's debt crisis suffered a major setback on May 6 when French and Greek voters cast their ballots for staunch antiausterity advocates.
Fifty-seven-year-old Francois Hollande, a career politician, has overcome a perceived lack of charisma to defeat incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the race for the French presidency.
Prison authorities have allegedly issued reprimands against two jailed members of an anti-Kremlin punk group detained after performing a song in Moscow's largest cathedral. Their lawyer says the reprimands are an attempt to pressure the women into confessing.
A scuffle broke out in the Georgian parliament on April 24 after a deputy suggested that the country consider recognizing the World War I-era Armenian massacres as genocide. Unfortunately, the session was attended by a group of schoolchildren who had come for a lesson on civic education.
A museum in Italy has been burning its own paintings to draw attention to the underfunding of culture in the country. Curator Antonio Manfredi says his museum will have to shut down if it doesn't receive financial help from Italian or European authorities.
The Russian Orthodox Church will hold a nationwide Divine Liturgy on April 22 to counter what it describes as a vicious campaign against its faith and clerics. The unprecedented liturgy comes as the church and its leader, the powerful Patriarch Kirill, is embroiled in a series of scandals.
The Pirate Party has come a long way since being founded in Sweden six years ago by a group of Internet freedom activists. They say their next big target is the European Parliament, but there are other regions on their agenda as well.
A prominent rights organization that helps Russian citizens sue their country at the European Court of European Rights is fighting for survival after the Russian Justice Ministry struck it off its registry. Among other things, the group has been instrumental in holding Moscow to account for atrocities committed by federal troops in the North Caucasus.
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