Tom Balmforth covers Russia and other former Soviet republics from his base in Moscow.
Moscow authorities have denied activists permission to publicly commemorate the historic August 1991 putsch attempt when Boris Yeltsin famously stood on a tank to face down hard-line Communists, leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Yevgeny Urlashov -- a former mayor of Yaroslavl and rare example of a Russian opposition politician in public office -- has been sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison on corruption charges. "I was condemned because I spat in the face of United Russia!" he shouted as he was led away.
Denied the chance to compete in the upcoming Olympic Games in Brazil, banned Russian track and field athletes gathered for their own tournament at a modest training ground in northeastern Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has abruptly reshuffled several regional leaders and dismissed the ambassador to Ukraine in a substantial shake-up that also included the removal of the country's longtime customs chief.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is facing a new wave of criticism over extensive renovation works after heavy flooding that many Muscovites believe was exacerbated by bad planning.
Moscow city authorities are developing a smartphone application that promises to be a lot like Pokemon Go, except that players will search for Russian historical figures like Aleksandr Pushkin and Yury Gagarin.
Those aren't Pokemon hunters! Russian TV uses unrelated protest footage in a report on mishaps befalling players of the hit game.
Last year, residents of the Russian city of Oryol fought off moves to erect a monument to Josef Stalin -- now they're battling against plans for a statue of another tyrant, Ivan the Terrible. Officials want to erect the statue of the tsar, who is said to have killed his own son, near a children's theater in the southwestern city that he founded 450 years ago.
The Russian Defense Ministry published doctored, misdated satellite imagery to support its suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for downing of a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
A location-based smartphone game taking the world by storm hasn't even been released in Russia, but the hype has prompted a religiously inspired call for a ban and condemnation of Pokemon Go as a CIA plot.
In a single sentence, he once called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "manipulative tyrant" and likened him to the big-eared, bug-eyed "house elf" from the Harry Potter series. But the surprise appointment of Boris Johnson to head the British Foreign Office is being cautiously welcomed by Moscow -- and his predecessor's exit pointedly cheered.
Russian long jumper Darya Klishina has been derided by her compatriots after she agreed to compete under a neutral flag at next month's Summer Olympics, which could make her one of Russia's only track-and-field athletes not sidelined from the Brazil games by a national doping scandal.
Russian protest artist Pyotr Pavlensky has accused the organizers of the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent of essentially "acknowledging their support for police terror" by withdrawing his award.
Russian television has made a fresh sally in an ongoing diplomatic dustup between Washington and Moscow, airing purported footage of an altercation outside the U.S. Embassy between a Russian guard and a U.S. diplomat who Moscow says was a spy returning from a mission.
The Federation Council planned to consider a whopping 160 new laws on June 29, setting the Russian upper house up for what one daily dubbed a possible "world record" as it scrambled to wrap things up before summer recess.
It's official, the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union -- and Moscow is delighted.
Russian lawmakers, who are expected on June 24 to pass controversial antiterrorism legislation, have reportedly dropped the proposed bill's most contentious elements: a mechanism to strip certain Russians of their citizenship.
Russian vacationers are the lifeblood of Abkhazia, and the breakaway Georgian region is getting an infusion as the number of visitors from its giant patron grows. But a dispute over whether to let foreigners buy property in the lush Black Sea territory reflects concerns over the extent of Russia’s clout.
The fan disturbances and the reactions of some officials seem to suggest there is only a small degree of separation between some parts of the Russian ruling apparatus, its official Supporters Union, far-right views, and soccer hooliganism.
Following violence involving Russian fans at the 2016 European Championship in France, here's a look at Russia's soccer hooligans and what Russian authorities are (or aren't) doing to rein them in ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
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