Idel.Realities is a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service.
Speaking out against the war on Ukraine is a dangerous business in Russia, and the state is using all its powers to silence dissenting voices. RFE/RL has spoken to some Russians who, despite the risks, refused to stay silent.
Children across Russia are being prompted to produce patriotic drawings for an art contest called "Z Patriot," aimed at drumming up support for the Kremlin’s false narrative about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. RFE/RL asked locals in a town in the southern Orenburg region what they think.
A former coordinator for imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny is using Telegram to collect and publish information about schools and teachers he says compel children to participate in demonstrations in support of Russia's war in Ukraine.
A court in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, has extended the pretrial detention for activist Andrei Boyarshinov, who was charged with terrorism over his calls to stop Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Russian activist Dmitry Zvonaryov has fled Russia, fearing for his safety amid a crackdown by the state on anyone challenging Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed acting governors to five regions of the country hours after their predecessors announced they were stepping down.
Shortly after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, a small online newspaper in the Ural region city of Perm was blocked by the government. Now the staff is trying to circumvent the censorship by publishing a weekly version on social media that readers can print out and share with others.
Millions of Russians have blood ties to Ukraine. One student from Tatarstan tells how the war there has affected her family, some of whom are living under bombardment in Ukraine while others are now refugees. One relative is a Russian officer organizing the return of bodies of slain soldiers.
who fled Russia in December fearing for his safety, has obtained political asylum in Lithuania.
Russian Orthodox deacon Dmitry Bayev, who openly criticized President Vladimir Putin and the government for launching an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, has left the country for an unspecified destination amid pressure from security authorities.
A court in Moscow has extended the pretrial detention of the former leader of a regional organization for jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny as the authorities continue to stamp out opposition to President Vladimir Putin.
Three Russian activists in the Urals city of Perm have been charged with "discrediting the Russian Federation's armed forces" for allegedly publishing at home copies of an online magazine that has been covering the war Moscow launched against Ukraine last month.
Lora, who lives in the Russian city of Kazan, was a big backer of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine until her son signed up to fight there. Now she questions what Russia is fighting for and worries whether he will come back alive or wounded.
A popular rapper, Ivan Dryomin, has left Russia to protest his country’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.
Turkish workers at the Gemont factory in Russia's Tatarstan region have protested that their U.S.-dollar pegged salaries are being paid using an exchange rate from before the ruble plunged in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
A meeting of an anti-corruption project backed by Russian opposition politician Yulia Galyamina in Kazan had to be postponed because of an alleged emergency situation in the facility where it was to be held, according to an organizer of the event.
An activist in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan has held a single-person picket demanding Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader of the North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya, to be fired over his public threats to kill the family of a rights lawyer.
The Supreme Court of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan has rejected an appeal filed by a prominent Islamic scholar who was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in November for running a branch of a banned religious group.
For years, rights groups have documented evidence of rampant torture and abuse in Russia’s sprawling prison network. The gruesome case of a man imprisoned in the Kirov region, described in a statement to his lawyer, adds further evidence.
The rector of Kazan Federal University in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Ilshat Gafurov, who is also a regional lawmaker, has been placed in a detention center in Moscow on a murder charge.
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