Robert Coalson worked as a correspondent for RFE/RL from 2002 to 2024.
Since the last presidential election in 2018, President Vladimir Putin has marched Russia faster than ever into authoritarianism. In the March 15-17 vote set to hand Putin a fifth term, the question is not who will win but what it will mean for the country and beyond.
It was his longest state-of-the-nation speech, coming just two weeks before Russians vote in an election in which he is set to win a new six-year term. Putin's address was heavy on domestic policy concerns, with ample saber-rattling and bellicose threats sprinkled in.
It may not contain surprises, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to a joint session of parliament on February 29 will set the tone for the weeks before a March 15-17 election -- and for the start of his fifth term in the Kremlin.
The number of Russians in custody over political stances or religious faith has been rising steadily, particularly since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Activists say the authorities use harsh conditions, the deprivation of medical treatment, and isolation to ruthlessly erode their health.
Days after Aleksei Navalny’s death in prison, his widow, Yulia, pledged to continue his fight against Vladimir Putin, urging Russians to share her “anger.” But amid the most severe repressions since Stalin’s time and the ongoing war against Ukraine, can Navalnaya find a way to make a difference?
Russian opposition activist Aleksei Navalny was an unyielding Putin critic who was noted for his courage and his devotion to nonviolent resistance and democracy. Through years of persecution and prison, his message to Russians stayed the same: "I am not afraid, and you shouldn’t be either."
Russian opposition activist Aleksei Navalny: an unyielding Putin critic noted for his courage and his devotion to nonviolent resistance and democracy. Through years of persecution and prison, his message to Russians has stayed the same: “I am not afraid, and you shouldn’t be either.”
Former lawmaker Boris Nadezhdin's attempt to challenge longtime President Vladimir Putin in a March election has proven unexpectedly popular, with people lining up to endorse his bid. But will he be allowed on the ballot? The Kremlin faces a dilemma over what comes next.
January 25 marks 100 days since the arrest in Russia of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. Facing the prospect of years in prison, she writes from jail: “We live now; we won't have any 'other' time. What have we done today?"
The ongoing protests in Bashkortostan demonstrate a potentially volatile mixture of personal, regional, and national politics that could be difficult for President Vladimir Putin's highly centralized system to manage against the background of Russia's war against Ukraine.
In recent days, both St. Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov and President Vladimir Putin have made comments about gender-neutral toilets in foreign countries, elevating claims of a culture war with the West over mounting public concerns about the consequences of Russia's real war against Ukraine.
Although Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died 70 years ago, his presence seems ubiquitous in the increasingly authoritarian Russia of Vladimir Putin. “We are definitely living inside Stalin’s legacy, where the main things are fear, atomization, submission, and other social evils,” a commentator wrote.
There were no mass demonstrations or brutal crackdowns in Russia in 2023. Instead, using a web of vague laws, President Vladimir Putin’s security forces methodically eliminated dissenting voices and sowed fear throughout society.
Ruslan Akhmetshin, a former coordinator for Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny in Arkhangelsk, describes his 30 months in custody, from the "inhumane conditions" of pretrial detention to the dismay he felt upon his release from prison earlier this month.
With all political opposition eliminated and Russia firmly in the grip of what analysts call “mature authoritarianism,” the country prepares for a March presidential vote devoid of competition and, if the Kremlin has its way, ushers Vladimir Putin into another six-year term without surprises.
In September, U.S. elder statesman Henry Kissinger endorsed NATO membership for Ukraine, saying “the idea of a neutral Ukraine under these conditions no longer makes sense.” It was the culmination of his evolving views on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Europe's changing security situation.
RFE/RL’s Alsu Kurmasheva has now spent more than a month in a Russian jail on suspicion that she failed to voluntarily register under the country's "foreign agent" laws. In her first messages from jail, Kurmasheva describes her conditions and expresses gratitude for the support she has received.
Shortly before being sentenced to seven years in prison over a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, St. Petersburg artist Sasha Skochilenko addressed the court, telling the judge “I am freer than you.”
The Kremlin has tried to use the Israel-Hamas conflict for its own ends, castigating the West and hosting a delegation from the Palestinian group. The storming of the airport in Daghestan shows that a shift in Moscow's Mideast balancing act has potentially explosive repercussions for Russia.
Tens of thousands of irreplaceable cultural artifacts have been seized by Russia in occupied parts of Ukraine, in a campaign critics say is part looting and part historical revisionism.
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