Tom Balmforth covers Russia and other former Soviet republics from his base in Moscow.
A Chechen woman was dragged over the coals on TV and made to publicly retract her words after she was caught complaining about alleged police abuses in a local village.
Director Aleksandr Sokurov dedicated his acceptance speech at Russia's Nika film awards to avoiding a "civil war with schoolchildren and students," saying the country's leadership shouldn't ignore such voices.
After large anticorruption protests erupted across the country one year before a presidential election, the Kremlin has an important decision to make -- to crack down or not to crack down.
As Russia's opposition burst back onto the scene with huge anti-Kremlin rallies, a new kind of protester has emerged: young idealistic Russians who came of age under Vladimir Putin.
Police detained anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny as hundreds were arrested and thousands rallied in cities across Russia in some of the larger public demonstrations the country has seen in years.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is facing unusual pressure over corruption allegations from Communist Party lawmakers who usually side with the Kremlin in parliament.
The gates to Russian Orthodoxy are opening to St. Patrick and other saints associated with western Christianity, but venerated by Orthodox believers after the Great Schism.
There are mounting calls in Russia to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest this year, with pro-Kremlin lawmakers accusing host country Ukraine of being anti-Russian and a prominent pop star calling Ukraine's victory last year political and unfair.
Natalya Poklonskaya, a Crimean deputy in Russia's State Duma, has been mocked online for claiming that a bust of Nicholas II wept holy tears as Russia marked 100 years since the tsar was forced to abdicate power amid revolution.
In a fresh investigation, Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny accuses Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of rampant corruption and of amassing a secret property empire including yachts, vineyards, and palatial residences.
Speaking to journalists after he was freed from prison on February 26, civil-rights activist Ildar Dadin said he would continue to "fight against the system" and seek criminal action against a warden he accuses of widespread abuse.
Thousands are marching in Moscow to commemorate slain Kremlin critic and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov who was killed two years ago.
They don't know when and they don't know how, but the ideologues of a Russian cryonics company are adamant that technology will one day reanimate the frozen bodies of their customers.
A controversial bill that would sharply reduce penalties for many cases of domestic abuse has won final approval in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.
Leaders of Russia's Jewish community have accused a top lawmaker of making anti-Semitic remarks when he criticized ongoing protests against the handover of St. Petersburg's iconic St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Complimentary vodka flowed and chants of "Trumplissimo America!" resounded at a party in the Russian capital on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States.
The case of a Russian kindergarten teacher who was jailed for trying to draw attention to child abuse has received increased attention after she was sent to a punishment cell for trying to warm her feet.
Russian politicians and pundits ranged from upbeat to dismayed as they reacted to U.S. secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson's Senate confirmation hearing.
Russian legislators returned from recess by approving -- with almost unanimous support -- the first reading of a bill that would decriminalize assault in the family home.
Russia's Health Ministry has unveiled radical proposals to phase out smoking altogether starting in 2033, but the plan still requires government backing. Some warn the plan could spawn a thriving black market for cigarettes.
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