“The war in Ukraine scattered Russia’s opposition. From exile, it is biding its time as it seeks ways to weaken President Vladimir Putin.” “… [A]fter … Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony … his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, met with his grieving aides to ask: What next? … Russia’s [2022] invasion of Ukraine … and Putin’s brutal crackdown on […]
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“Russia’s presidential election appears largely a rote exercise, as a popular, unchallengeable leader faces only nominal competition from three ‘systemic’ opponents. The Kremlin has worked for years to make it this way.” “… ‘[M]anaged democracy’ … under … Putin used to offer plenty of opportunities … to … members of various ‘loyal opposition’ parties, [including the chance to] get elected […]
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“… Russia’s liberals … walk[] a tightrope. Their opposition to the war puts them at odds with much of their own society …. [M]any Ukrainians still feel … the Russian opposition has not gone far enough in condemning the killing of Ukrainians and occupation of their lands, instead opposing the war from a Russian viewpoint, focused predominantly on the losses […]
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“The Russian authorities vilified the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny with a viciousness that suggested he was more influential than Moscow would admit. Little has changed since he died.” “When … Navalny was alive, the Kremlin sought to portray him as an inconsequential figure unworthy of attention, even as … Russian authorities vilified and attacked him with a viciousness that […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 7 Things to Know Vladimir Putin used his annual address to the Russian parliament to not only rattle his nuclear saber at the West again, but also to accuse his Western counterparts of “spooking the world” with the threat of a nuclear war, all while claiming to be ready for talks on nuclear arms control. “We remember what […]
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“The service for the Russian opposition leader will be open to the public, but it was unclear whether the authorities will try to stop people from attending.” “… The planned service, at a church on Moscow’s outskirts, sets up the possibility of a rare display of opposition sentiment in the Russian capital … [] Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, advised anyone […]
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“When prison authorities announced the death of … Navalny, … Putin’s most potent political opponent, the Russian president appeared to be overflowing with cheer. Addressing … workers and students at a machinery plant in the … industrial city of Chelyabinsk …, a smiling Putin, unsurprisingly, made no mention of Navalny’s death … and instead professed himself … satisfied at the […]
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“Many in the West saw Alexei Navalny as the Russian opposition’s most promising challenger to Vladimir Putin. His death in prison on Friday brings a tragic end to a struggle the Kremlin had already largely contained.” “Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known and most indefatigable Kremlin opposition figure[,] … died in an Arctic penal colony Friday under as yet unknown circumstances …. […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 5 Things to Know Donald Trump’s advisers have discussed getting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin around a negotiating table early in a potential second term, according to a Feb. 14 report by Bloomberg. One adviser to Trump said the promise of severing U.S. military aid could help get Zelenskyy—whom Trump has described as “the greatest […]
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(Moscow Times – Dec. 28, 2023) As the year draws to a close, Russia’s motley landscape of civil rights defenders, election monitors, environmental campaigners, anti-war activists and others is more beleaguered than ever before. Confronted with the increasingly oppressive machinery of the Russian state, scores of activists and the organizations to which they belong have gone into survival mode, with […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) The Kremlin stands to benefit from the Israel-Hamas conflict in three ways, according to Hanna Notte of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The conflict distracts the West from the war in Ukraine; it hinders normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel; and it helps Russia to style itself as David to the Western […]
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“Once upon a time, Alexey Navalny wanted to be a normal politician in a normal country. Now that’s just a fantasy.” [original article was adapted from “The Dissident: Alexey Navalny, Profile of a Political Prisoner,” released by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.] “… Navalny, despite decades crusading against Russian corruption and against … Putin’s increasingly dictatorial rule, never […]
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(Moscow Times – Leyla Latypova – April 19, 2023) On a recent cold March afternoon, a handful of people gathered on a square in downtown Ulyanovsk, a mid-sized Russian city on the Volga River, to demand the return of direct elections for the city’s mayorship. Despite a large police presence, the gathering — which featured speeches from local activists and […]
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(Moscow Times – Farida Rustamova, Maxim Tovkaylo – March 10, 2023) The first high-profile attempt by a group of Russian billionaires to get European sanctions against them lifted with help from the country’s political opposition has ended in bitter acrimony and the resignation of Leonid Volkov — a close ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny — from his position […]
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(Article text Copyright © 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – March 9, 2023 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-opposition-fractured-navalny-venediktov/32310660.html) A major new investigative report by the team of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny charges that the Moscow […]
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(Moscow Times – Feb. 20, 2023) Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny published a 15-point plan outlining his view of Russia’s future in the postwar era on Monday, predicting Russia’s “military defeat” and outlining his plans to transform Russia into a parliamentary republic. Entitled “15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country,” Navalny’s Twitter thread was […]
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“Thanks to Matt Taibbi’s most recent contribution to ‘The Twitter Files,’ we know the full extent of institutional corruption in the mind-boggling case of Hamilton 68.” “The media fell head over heels for a shoddy propaganda operation spearheaded by an ex-FBI agent. Twitter, internally, understood the operation to be partisan hackery but never spoke out. Organizations full of influential ex-government […]
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(Moscow Times – Jan. 26, 2023) The U.S.-produced fly-on-the-wall documentary “Navalny,” which followed the now-jailed Russian anti-corruption campaigner and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny during the aftermath of a poisoning attempt in 2020, was nominated for an Academy Award on Tuesday. The film, directed by Daniel Roher, shows Navalny during his recuperation in Berlin from poisoning with nerve agent Novichok and […]
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“The Kremlin’s intensive use of lies and conspiracy theories to defend its invasion of Ukraine has once again dramatized the need for smart policies to counter disinformation. …Perhaps it’s time we learned something from Eastern Europe’s online armies of nongovernment activists — many of them volunteers. They possess authenticity and expertise that outside governments cannot match. … Volunteer activists fight […]
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(Moscow Times – April 8, 2022) Russia said Friday it was shutting down the local offices of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that have been working in the country for the past 30 years. The announcement came on the 44th day of Russia’s military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine, with thousands killed and more than 11 million having fled their […]
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Satellite images, social media posts and flight-tracking data allow private analysts to track details governments once classified […]
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“… [A]mid a sweeping crackdown on Russian rights groups, independent media and opposition supporters[,] [t]he Moscow City Court’s decision to shut down the Memorial Human Rights Center came a day after Russia’s Supreme Court revoked the legal status of its sister organization, Memorial, … that drew international acclaim for its studies of [Soviet] political repression …. Russian authorities previously declared […]
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A court in Moscow on Tuesday began hearings into a request by prosecutors to shut down a key center of Russia’s leading rights group Memorial […]
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“You wait all the time in prison. Any prisoner will tell you that the term breaks down into large and small waiting periods. In the endless groundhog day, there are certain regular events … It is clear that people here keep count of their total term too. Most prisoners can immediately answer “I have 583 days left.” But my prospects […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) – The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who is serving time in a penitentiary in Russia, and his close associates on counts of establishing and participating in the activity of an extremist network. “The Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case under Part […]
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… Created in 2000, Golos had notably denounced election rigging in the 2011 parliamentary election and the 2012 presidential vote which saw Putin return to the Kremlin […]
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As September elections approach, COVID-19 takes a mounting toll and wildfires burn across huge swaths of the country …. The Kremlin crackdown on dissenters, civil society, and independent media continues […]
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[T]he “foreign agents” law has been modified and toughened repeatedly and used increasingly against independent groups ahead of elections[…]
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“The MacArthur Foundation’s decision to stop funding nuclear policy work threatens to silence key voices amid fears of a new arms race …” Click here for: “‘A big blow’: Washington’s arms controllers brace for loss of their biggest backer” – Politico/ Bryan Bender
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… The measure appears aimed at neutralizing the foundation of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, which Russian authorities are seeking to have declared “extremist” ahead of parliamentary elections […]
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“Imprisoned dissident’s supporters are looking for new ways to maintain his visibility and, they say, keep him alive.” “… Russian authorities are moving to have [Navalny’s] political movement, including his anticorruption foundation, declared an extremist organization, putting it on a par with terrorist groups such as al Qaeda or violent religious cults. The move would choke off funding and provide […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 20, 2021) Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has recovered after he ended a 24-day hunger strike last month demanding adequate medical treatment, a top aide and the head of Russia’s prison service said Thursday. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s best known domestic critic, is serving two-and-a-half years in a penal colony outside Moscow on old […]
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Subject: THE INCONVENIENT SAKHAROV Date: Thu, 20 May 2021 From: DDGlinski <DDGlinski@alumni.harvard.edu> THE INCONVENIENT SAKHAROV His legacy is a moral challenge to the Kremlin, to Western elites and to many of Russia’s oppositionists by Dmitri Glinski Dmitri Daniel Glinski, Ph.D., a member of the council of the Democratic Russia Movement in the early 1990s and of Russia’s Constitutional Consultative Assembly […]
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“With the Kremlin critic jailed and key aides exiled or under house arrest, his supporters are struggling to launch a coherent challenge to President Vladimir Putin.” “Russian authorities are tightening the screws on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s opposition network, threatening the survival of his political movement as he languishes in jail. His key aides are under house arrest or in […]
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… Young people and new media readers were more likely to view the protests positively, while older age groups and television viewers held more negative attitudes […]
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MOSCOW. April 29 (Interfax) – Most regional team offices of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, whose activity has been suspended, will continue to operate as independent sociopolitical movements, Navalny associate Leonid Volkov said. “Some regional staffs will be shut down, but the majority will continue to work as independent regional sociopolitical movements,” Volkov said on YouTube on Thursday. These movements will […]
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“A Moscow court … restricted … an organization founded by … Navalny, pending a decision on whether it and his offices across Russia should be outlawed as extremist groups. … another step in the sweeping crackdown on Navalny, his allies and his political infrastructure. The Moscow prosecutor’s office … [has] petitioned the court to label the foundation and Navalny’s network […]
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“Aggressive intimidation tactics and court move suggest bid to silence opposition leader for good.” “… Navalny [supporters] … are facing unprecedented pressure … [with] a Moscow court … poised to designate their organisation an ‘extremist’ movement on a par with jihadi group al-Qaeda… [A]ctivists working for the opposition leader say they are in a state of siege. … shut[ting] down […]
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“Opposition leader says doctors advised him to end the hunger strike because it was threatening his life.” “… Navalny announced Friday that he would end a weekslong hunger strike after he received medical treatment and his doctors warned that continuing to refuse food could kill him. … Navalny … started his hunger strike … to protest poor treatment in prison […]
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Tens of thousands took to the streets across more than 100 Russian cities to demand Navalny’s release or treatment by outside doctors […]
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“… Putin may have hoped that locking up … political opponent [Navalny] in a harsh [Pokrov] penal colony would finally put him out of sight and out of mind. … [Navalny] has been on a hunger strike … protesting … the appalling conditions of his confinement … deprived … of sleep and … medical care. … [with] a fever and […]
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… The Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow has recognized the group as political prisoners […]
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The leaders of Russia, France and Germany met by conference call … discuss[ing] coronavirus vaccines, the Iranian nuclear standoff[,] … eastern Ukraine, Libya … Syria [and Navalny] […]
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Jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny says he fears the possibility of solitary confinement in a punishment cell after being accused of minor infractions. … six reprimands within two weeks at the correctional colony where he is being held. […]
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Members of the Public Oversight Commission in the Vladimir Region have met with jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny following … complaints about … declining health and poor medical treatment […]
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Russia state news outlet TASS has been reporting that opposition politician Aleksei Navalny is being held in a penitentiary in … Pokrov, though the anti-corruption campaigner’s staff say they have not received official confirmation of his whereabouts […]
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“… For Russians … oppos[ing] Putin, Navalny’s imprisonment represents a bellwether moment … long expected and feared. … [A] forceful, sweeping effort to tighten political freedoms … signposts a new era for a regime … extending into its third decade. … Putin’s rule … propped up first by economic prosperity … then … pugnacious patriotism, now pivot[s] to repression as […]
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Veteran Russian activist Lev Ponomaryov has shut his well-respected human rights organization due to the country’s controversial laws on “foreign agents” […]
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(Article text ©2021 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Dan Peleschuk – KYIV, Feb. 24, 2021 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/navalny-ukraine-attitudes-mixed-feelings-russia-nationalism-putin/31120106.html) Few patriots would appreciate an outsider comparing a chunk of their country to finger food. But when Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny did just that to Ukrainians in 2014 — saying that Moscow-annexed Crimea […]
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