RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service is the only major international news provider reporting in the Tatar and Bashkir languages to audiences in the Russian Federation’s multiethnic, Muslim-majority Volga-Ural region.
In Bashkortostan, many parents of conscripts have launched appeals to the local military prosecutor's office over complaints that their sons were illegally detained at the conscription office and growing fears they could be pressured to sign contracts to fight in Ukraine.
A well-known Bashkir activist who fled Russia fearing persecution over his activities raising awareness about problems faced by Muslims in the country has been held in a deportation center in Greece for almost two months, where authorities tell him they may deport him back to Russia.
Faced with a deepening personnel crisis for its war in Ukraine, Russian authorities are recruiting from republics in the North Caucasus and looking to form extra units along ethnic lines.
Despite numerous protests by Orthodox activists and organizations, the first monument to Soyembike, the woman who ruled the Khanate of Kazan in the 16th century, has been unveiled in Russia.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia has labeled the All-Tatar Public Center (TIU), a leading nongovernmental organization involved in promoting and protecting Tatar history, culture, and language, as an extremist group amid Moscow's ongoing crackdown on NGOs.
Yury Shevchuk, leader and frontman of DDT, one of Russia's most popular rock groups, has been charged with an administrative misdemeanor over a statement he made during a concert about Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Amid accusations from Ukrainian officials, more evidence is revealed that Russia has forcibly relocated thousands from Mariupol and other scenes of intense fighting in Ukraine.
Chinese investment in Russian regions like Bashkortostan -- some 1,300 kilometers from Moscow – was already troubled, but Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine could see it deteriorate further.
As more coffins and death notices come home, the brutal reality of Moscow's six-week war in Ukraine begins to hit regular families.
The chairman of the All-Tatar Public Center (TIU), Farit Zakiyev, has left Russia's Tatarstan region for Turkey over Moscow's unprovoked war against Ukraine.
The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office has declared the Ukrainian-registered nongovernmental organization Free Idel-Ural, which seeks to protect the rights of indigenous ethnic groups in the Volga region, as "undesirable."
Residents of the Russian city of Yoshkar-Ola shared their feelings about a possible war against Ukraine. "It shouldn't be said that a war is possible, but rather, that it must not happen now, in principle," a local woman said.
Like their coreligionists elsewhere, Roman Catholics in Russia's Tatarstan region also celebrated Christmas midnight Mass on the night of December 24-25. Dozens attended the service at the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the region's capital, Kazan.
The Supreme Court of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan has rejected an appeal filed by Nakia Sharifullina, a noted teacher and founder of Islamic schools for girls, who was handed a suspended two-year sentence in August after being convicted of organizing the activities of a banned Islamic group.
Russia's Justice Ministry has labeled four current and former RFE/RL journalists as "foreign agents" -- a designation used by the government to designate what it says are foreign-funded organizations that are engaged in political activity, as well as people linked to them.
The former lawyer of a regional organization for jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny has left Russia amid an ongoing crackdown on the defunct organizations associated with the Kremlin critic that were labeled as extremist earlier this year.
A woman who headed a regional organization for jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny was ordered jailed on extremism charges, in an unusual prosecution that appeared to target her for retroactive crimes.
Russian authorities have ordered the mass culling of poultry in the western Kirov region after an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
A court in Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan has sentenced noted activist Ramila Saitova to three years in a colony settlement after finding her guilty of calling for extremist activities.
A court in Russia's Tatarstan region has sentenced a prominent Islamic scholar to 6 1/2 years in prison for running a branch of a banned religious group.
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