Claire Bigg covers Russia, Ukraine, and the post-Soviet world, with a focus on human rights, civil society, and social issues.
A popular female singer has been shot dead in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The killing is the latest in a string of attacks against female artists in the conservative province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the performing arts are widely considered to be un-Islamic.
Russia has halted gas supplies to Ukraine – a major escalation of a dispute in which Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom is demanding that Kyiv settle its huge gas debt. But in many ways, what many have dubbed the third "gas war" between the two countries is different than previous disputes in 2006 and 2009. Here's why.
The armed separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine is pushing thousands of civilians out of their homes. But amid the chaos and a bitter information war between Russia and Ukraine, the extent of the refugee crisis is difficult to gauge.
Russian officials say they want to reduce the outflow of patients seeking medical treatment abroad. A top blogger who beat cancer in the United States after being declared incurable in Russia has responded with a withering letter panning Russian health care.
Despite Western outrage over Russia's actions in Ukraine, the conflict has boosted President Vladimir Putin's ratings in his own country.
It's no longer a secret that fighters from the Chechen Vostok Battalion are operating in eastern Ukraine. What is the Vostok Battalion, and what's its game plan in Ukraine's rebellious east?
Russian police have opened a fraud investigation against prominent opposition-leaning journalist Aleksei Venediktov. Supporters have dismissed the probe, initiated by politician, as either a private vendetta or part of a crackdown on free media.
British fashion designer John Galliano, who fell from grace three years ago after an anti-Semitic rant, has reemerged in Moscow as creative director of a Russian cosmetics chain.
Miners and steelworkers in Ukraine's industrial east have mostly stayed out of the separatist conflict rocking their region. Now, they are emerging as a new force in the struggle against pro-Russian insurgents.
As Ukrainian forces press ahead with efforts to recapture the country's east, pro-Russian insurgents are waging their own underground war against dissent. In that war, torture is their weapon of choice.
Rights campaigners are drawing attention to rampant rights abuses in Azerbaijan as the country assumes the six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, the decision-making arm of Europe's leading human rights body.
Insurgents in eastern Ukraine were busy organizing their May 11 referendums on self-determination, despite a call by Russian President Vladimir Putin to put off the vote.
Antigovernment rebels in eastern Ukraine say they plan to go forward with self-determination referendums on May 11, despite calls by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone them. The initiatives are similar to the one that led to Crimea's annexation by Russia in March. Here's what's known about the polls.
Two years since a Russian opposition protest ended in sweeping detentions and criminal charges against almost 30 demonstrators, supporters are battling to sustain public attention in the "Bolotnaya" case.
Germany's largest-circulation tabloid wants two Soviet tanks removed from a Berlin war memorial in protest of what it calls Russia's "hegemonic military policies" in Ukraine.
Tensions are running high in eastern Ukraine as a deadline set by Kyiv for pro-Russian gunmen to vacate government buildings passed early on April 14. Here's a look at the situation on the ground in flashpoint cities.
A Russian journalist is under mounting pressure after jokingly appealing to the Kremlin to send troops to liberate his region's Russian-speakers from corrupt officials.
Russia has banned the use of methadone to treat heroin addicts in Crimea. Health experts predict a spike in drug-related deaths and HIV infections.
Moscow and Kyiv have been trading almost daily barbs as their diplomatic relations crumble following Crimea's annexation.
Euromaidan doctor Olha Bohomolets became a national hero for treating injured antigovernment protesters in Kyiv. And now she's running for president.
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