Robert Coalson worked as a correspondent for RFE/RL from 2002 to 2024.
Officials are signaling their intention of tagging three groups tied to jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, including his network of regional offices, as "extremist organizations." His representatives around the country say that they will continue their work even under the threat of prison.
In his speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin focused mainly on domestic matters, painting a picture of unity months ahead of important elections. He dropped no foreign-policy bombshells but delivered warnings to the West.
When a wave of protests erupted across Russia in January and February in support of arrested opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, the government took note of the young age of many of those who took to the streets. In the weeks since, officials have been cracking down hard on many students.
Jailed Kremlin opponent Aleksei Navalny's claims that prison authorities are deliberately harming him instead of healing him have focused attention on health care -- or the lack thereof -- in Russian penitentiaries.
A 22-year-old woman from a Daghestani family living in Siberia has been trying for months to get away from her parents, who are threatening to take her to Daghestan -- where she fears confinement, abuse, and maybe even a so-called honor killing
The ruling United Russia party featured the 7-year-old son of murdered opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in a social media promotion. The boy's mother, who was never married to Nemtsov, says the child will continue to participate in United Russia promotions in the future.
With supporters of Aleksei Navalny raising the alarm over the deterioration of his health in custody, the situation has echoes of the 2009 death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky, which prompted the West to impose targeted sanctions against alleged human rights abusers in Russia and other countries.
RFE/RL spoke with three Russians from the Urals region who emigrated from Russia after despairing that their efforts to reform their country would produce no good.
Russian President Vladimir Putin raised eyebrows when he gathered tens of thousands of supporters, many without masks or social distancing, at a Moscow rally. With elections coming and the ruling party's ratings down, critics accuse the Kremlin of endangering public health for politics.
Sergei Krasikov helped arrest five suspected poachers in a nature reserve near Lake Baikal. Now he faces criminal charges. Activists say Russia's few honest rangers face huge challenges, as poachers often have ties with prosecutors, police, and local politicians, while rangers get no support.
Police raided a conference of independent lawmakers in Moscow last weekend, detaining nearly 200 people. With elections coming and the ruling United Russia party polling at record lows, the unprecedented move is seen as a signal the Kremlin has no intention of seeing its monopoly on power weakened.
Two senior prison officials in Siberia's Irkutsk region have been dismissed in the wake of two cases of alleged horrific prisoner torture. But activists say the region has been plagued by such lawlessness for decades, with more and more convicts coming forward with their stories.
For several years, a growing online community called "Male State" has been targeting Russian women, feminists, LGBTs, and migrants in a bid to promote a racist and misogynist far-right ideology.
Opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has set himself the goal of blanketing Russia with a network of regional offices. But efforts to open offices in the North Caucasus have met with strong resistance from both from the local authorities and the people who live in the region.
With elections expected in September shaping up as a big test for President Vladimir Putin and United Russia, students in Siberia say a university official has been recruiting them with promises of money and academic benefits for posting positive comments about the ruling party on social media.
Sergei Rozhkov vanished without a trace from a town in Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast last October. After investigating the situation, his family believes it is likely he was abducted and is being forced to work against his will somewhere in the region.
A man in Tomsk says he was beaten up by plainclothes police. Authorities initially acknowledged it was a case of mistaken identity but after his family went public, they changed their minds and charged him with resisting arrest. Now he has a limp, a fractured jaw, and a 500-ruble ($7) fine to pay.
Aleksei Navalny's team has postponed national protests, ending weeks of demonstrations and disappointing supporters. Liberal elder statesman Grigory Yavlinsky has argued that Putin and Navalny represent equally perilous paths for Russia. Are internal divisions threatening to derail the opposition?
Saratov regional lawmaker Nikolai Bondarenko says the Russian authorities are making an example of him and other activists to sow fear throughout society.
Russia's Education Ministry and the Kremlin-created Russian Movement of Schoolchildren have announced plans to hire school counselors nationwide in 2022 in a bid, as the minister recently told parliament, "to prevent the possibility of anyone exercising a destructive influence on children."
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![Aleksei Navalny inside a glass cell during a court hearing in Moscow on February 12. "We have to all understand that [he] is now not just a political figure for us but a political prisoner who was illegally tried and imprisoned," says Aleksei Shitov, head of Yabloko's youth wing in Novosibirsk.](https://gdb.rferl.org/90dfacd3-0a32-4cdf-bf3e-834d5ad26a6c_cx0_cy10_cw0_w100_r1.jpg)
![Aleksei Navalny inside a glass cell during a court hearing in Moscow on February 12. "We have to all understand that [he] is now not just a political figure for us but a political prisoner who was illegally tried and imprisoned," says Aleksei Shitov, head of Yabloko's youth wing in Novosibirsk.](https://gdb.rferl.org/90dfacd3-0a32-4cdf-bf3e-834d5ad26a6c_cx0_cy10_cw0_w66_r1.jpg)
