Tom Balmforth covers Russia and other former Soviet republics from his base in Moscow.
As Russia gears up for mass nationwide demonstrations on December 10, the presence of nationalist voices is unsettling some of Russia's ethnic minorities who are otherwise sympathetic to the movement's goals. It's a potential division that unnerves liberals and that the Kremlin is more than eager to exploit.
Russians have organized a string of fresh protests on the Internet and promise to bring more than 14,000 onto the streets nationwide, as public discontent over allegedly fraudulent elections shows no sign of abating.
A heavy police presence didn't deter thousands of opposition supporters angered by weekend elections from once again turning out in Moscow, where they faced competing pro-government rallies.
The situation in Moscow is tense as opposition and pro-Kremlin groups take to the streets in the Russian capital, amid reports that authorities have deployed tens of thousands more police and troops.
Three leading figures in the Russian state -- President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov -- have been severely weakened by the December 4 election result. Former Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov, who has reinvented himself as an opposition figure, meanwhile, looks like the big winner. What are the implications?
Western election observers have chided Russia for parliamentary polls that saw Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia barely clinging onto its majority. Critics say the result would have been even worse for the ruling party had the election been free and fair.
The heavy losses suffered by the ruling United Russia party in parliamentary elections at the weekend is a reflection of dramatic changes in the Russian Federation in recent years, according to analysts.
An exit poll broadcast on state television says Russia's ruling party, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia, is set to win parliamentary elections with less than 50 percent of the vote.
With polls suggesting Russia's long-dominant ruling party will struggle to maintain its supermajority in today's voting, a weak showing by United Russia could be the clearest sign yet of rising public discontent in Putin's Russia.
As the clock ticked down to this weekend's Russian elections, cities like Yekaterinburg emerged as outposts of opposition to United Russia.
Authorities have fined Russia's only independent electoral watchdog, Western-financed Golos, for violating the law just two days before national parliamentary elections.
The St. Petersburg legislature will soon debate the second reading of a bill outlawing “homosexual propaganda" that a senior federal lawmaker has suggested implementing Russia-wide. Gay activists see the legislation as part of the continuing persecution of sexual minorities and say local authorities are trying to make homosexuals scapegoats for social and economic problems in order to win political points ahead of State Duma elections on December 4.
Rights activists in Russia remain skeptical that fresh legal changes will bring an end to the legislative persecution of journalists, warning that the success of recent amendments to the Criminal Code on defamation and slander will hinge on how they're enforced.
The resurgence of Russian nationalism will be on full display on November 4 as tens of thousands are expected to attend the Russian March in Moscow. But this year's march comes with a twist: Anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny, one of Russia’s most promising opposition politicians, is attending. Navalny’s noisy campaign against the United Russia ruling party has drawn nods of approval from liberal opposition quarters, but for whom his alliance with nationalists is anathema.
A leading opposition lawmaker is calling for an investigation in the wake of allegations that Moscow Oblast Governor Boris Gromov ordered local officials to assure "maximum support" for the ruling United Russia party in upcoming elections to the State Duma.
The West views the overthrow and death of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi as a victory of democratic forces over a brutal dictator. But Russia sees Qaddafi's fall as the potentially illegal overthrow of a trusted ally.
A Moscow jury has convicted a native of Russia's Caucasus in the killing of an ethnic-Russian football fan during an incident that set off racist rioting in the Russian capital last year.
With most newspapers going through hard times, Russia’s bombastic tabloids are thriving. Several famous Soviet-style broadsheets have reinvented themselves as tabloids to pander to a public that is tiring of leaden political reporting.
Unfettered by the restraints imposed on traditional mass media, Russia's vibrant blogosphere is often touted as the last bastion for the free exchange of ideas and the final platform for Russia's opposition. But as the blogosphere gains momentum, the Kremlin is redoubling its efforts to control it.
A regional journalist's journey from being a star TV news anchor to working as a trolleybus conductor provides a striking example of how authorities in Russia's provinces deal with troublesome media.
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