Claire Bigg covers Russia, Ukraine, and the post-Soviet world, with a focus on human rights, civil society, and social issues.
Russian authorities have blocked access to several websites known for their criticism of the government. The move is part of what critics denounce as a deepening crackdown on independent media.
Acclaimed Ukrainian writer and Euromaidan supporter Serhiy Zhadan says separatism has "no future" in his country.
As tensions ratchet up in Crimea, young men across Ukraine have been queuing up to join the army. But many women, too, are ready to take up arms if the conflict with Russia turns into an all-out war.
Scores of Ukrainians have answered their country's mobilization call and volunteered to help repel a potential attack from Russian troops.
Ukraine is on high alert after Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to invade the country. What's the mood in Russia?
Ukrainians living in the pro-European, western city of Lviv are switching to Russian for one day to show solidarity with their country's predominantly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions. Intellectuals spearheading the campaign say efforts to curb the use of Russian following the ouster of Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych risk deepening Ukraine's bitter east-west divide.
As the manhunt for Viktor Yanukovych continues in Ukraine, rumors are flying about his whereabouts. One thing is clear: options are narrowing for the fugitive former president.
Who will fill the power vacuum in Ukraine in the wake of President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster?
Seventy years ago, the entire Chechen and Ingush peoples were deported to Central Asia on the orders of Josef Stalin. Two survivors recall the tragedy, in which at least a third of the population succumbed to cold, hunger, and Soviet bullets.
Hundreds of people are being rushed to hospitals in Kyiv after being wounded and maimed in violent street battles between police and protesters. RFE/RL looks at how medics are struggling to treat the wounded.
A quarter of a century ago, on February 15, 1989, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan following a devastating nine-year war. Soviet-era journalist Mikhail Leshchinsky, whose reports on the war played a key role in preparing public opinion for the pullout, recalls the historical day.
Animal-welfare activists are sounding the alarm over what they describe as the massive culling of stray dogs in Sochi ahead of the Olympic Games.
A handful of athletes have pledged to denounce a controversial Russian law targeting gays and lesbians during the Sochi Olympics. But confusion still reigns over what forms of protest will be permitted at the games.
The kidnapping and apparent torture of Euromaidan activists like Dmytro Bulatov -- who has been transported to Lithuania for medical care after saying that captors sliced off part of his ear and drove nails through his hands -- has raised fears of Russian or Russian-speaking "death squads" operating in Ukraine
Amid widening turmoil in Ukraine, organizations from all sides of the political spectrum are forming security patrols to bring order back to their cities -- a development that is raising fears of more violence and divisions.
Automaidan, a group of motorists supporting Ukraine's pro-European protests, has vowed to continue rallies despite a police crackdown on their movement. Several violent assaults on Automaidan have been reported this week, and one of its activists has gone missing.
Ukraine's pro-European protests have seen its first fatalities since plunging into violence last week. Euromaidan helper Yuriy Verbytsky is believed to have been kidnapped and left to die in a forest outside Kyiv.
With street clashes between police and pro-European protestors in Kyiv continuing, the far-right youth group Pravyy Sektor has vowed to fight the Ukrainian authorities to the bitter end. What is Pravyy Sektor and where did it come from?
Five years ago, on January 19, human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were fatally shot in downtown Moscow in a double murder that sparked public outrage. As supporters prepared to mark the anniversary of their death, RFE/RL spoke to Baburova's mother.
In Warsaw, lawmakers are debating a proposal to jail anyone describing concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland as "Polish."
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