RFE/RL's Russian Service is a multi-platform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion.
Russian authorities have detained two opposition municipal lawmakers from Moscow and St. Petersburg, in a possible attempt to thwart them from running in September’s elections.
The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting September 19 as the date for elections to Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
A Moscow court has sentenced a member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot to 15 days in jail on the charge of disobeying police orders.
The Russian parliament's lower house has approved in the final reading a bill that would require foreign IT companies to set up local units or face penalties including a possible ban, as Moscow continues to tighten its control over the flow of information on the Internet.
The Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved the third and final reading of a bill that would criminalize participation in the activities of foreign or international NGOs declared "undesirable" in Russia.
Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer for jailed Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), says she is quitting her bid to become a member of parliament in order to protect her campaign team from being prosecuted under a draconian law that targets Navalny's associates.
Russian protest artist Pavel Krisevich has been sent to pretrial detention over a so-called "suicide" performance in which he fired blanks from a pistol in Moscow's Red Square.
Russian protest artist Pavel Krisevich has been detained after his "suicide" performance in which he used a nonlethal firearm on Red Square in Moscow.
A daughter of a close associate of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov who was forcibly removed by police from a shelter for domestic violence victims and rights activists has warned that she could be killed in an "honor killing” if she is returned to her home.
Larisa Shoigu, the older sister of the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a member of parliament's lower chamber, has died at the age of 68.
A court in Moscow has upheld a one-year correctional-labor sentence for Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer for jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, on trespassing charges that she has described as a move to silence her.
The jailed former executive director of the pro-democracy Open Russia movement, Andrei Pivovarov, has been charged with failure to provide authorities with details of his group, which had been added to "foreign agents" registry.
A court in Moscow has upheld the Justice Ministry's move to designate the Latvia-based independent Meduza news outlet as a “foreign agent” -- a move that requires it to label itself as such and subjects the media outlet to increased government scrutiny and regulation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that would ban supporters and members of organizations deemed as "extremist" from being elected to any post -- making it virtually impossible for anyone connected to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny from gaining public office.
Russian opposition politician and former lawmaker Dmitry Gudkovwas released from custody on June 3 without being formally charged.
At least seven Jehovah's Witnesses have been handed prison terms in Russia amid a continuing crackdown on the religious group, which was banned in the country in 2017.
Online business media outlet VTimes has announced its closure after the Russian Justice Ministry added it to the registry of "foreign agents" last month, a move the site says "destroyed" its business.
A court in Russia's Vladimir region has rejected imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's request to annul his designated status as a "flight risk," which subjects him to hourly nighttime checks while he is incarcerated at a penal colony.
A court has ordered the detention of the former executive director of Open Russia, a pro-democracy movement, for two months after he was removed from a Warsaw-bound plane in St. Petersburg just before departure.
Russia's upper house has approved a bill that would ban supporters and members of organizations designated as "extremist" from being elected to any post -- a move making it virtually impossible for anyone connected to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to gain public office.
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![Graffiti reading "Foreign [intelligence] agent. Love USA" was written at the entrance to the offices of human rights group Memorial in central Moscow.](https://gdb.rferl.org/cda63e5c-c2e3-401a-837c-ab7eca3f1e31_w100_r1.jpg)
![Graffiti reading "Foreign [intelligence] agent. Love USA" was written at the entrance to the offices of human rights group Memorial in central Moscow.](https://gdb.rferl.org/cda63e5c-c2e3-401a-837c-ab7eca3f1e31_w66_r1.jpg)
