Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was found guilty of fraud in July, and while he recently lost his appeal, in October his five-year prison sentence was suspended. Now the court has released an explanation for the mitigation of his sentence. Under current election law, Navalny, as a convicted felon, would never be able to hold public […]
On Monday, November 4th, Russian nationalists will hold a rally, the “Russian March,” to protest against minorities whom they say are ruining the country. Ironically, this is perhaps the opposite of the spirit of the holiday. November 4th is a national holiday in Russia, Unity Day, which commemorates the occasion in 1612 when Russians from every […]
The Russian Interior Ministry has issued an order for new anti-riot trucks, heavily armored vehicles capable of driving through and dispersing crowds. Tests of these vehicles could begin next month. Riots are increasingly common in Russia. New riots are even possible on Monday. This new order suggests that the Kremlin may be sending a message. […]
Former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov’s fall from grace is a thread that has unraveled a culture of corruption inside the Russian government. The case also led to the imprisonment, death, and postmortem conviction of Sergei Magnitsky, a case that has set off significant international complications. It began when Serdyukov cheated on his wife with Yevegeniya […]
Following the race riots in the southern Moscow district of Biryulyovo, where ethnic-Russian Neo-Nazis attacked a warehouse full of immigrants, Moscow police were forced to act to appease the furious Russian nationalists. And act they did. Police raided warehouses, arrested migrants, and filmed the beating and humiliation of one migrant who stands accused of committing […]
Russia’s trade wars are showing no signs of ending any time soon. In fact, despite signs that the Kremlin has fired a man who has been the face of Russia’s isolationist and exclusivist policies, a development which some said was a sign of change, Russia is now increasing its threats to Ukraine by making them […]
Syria has sacked their deputy prime minister, Qadri Jamil, without warning. Any sudden change in the Assad regime is likely to spark controversy and conspiracy theory. Jamil is a member of the opposition party recognized by the President’s party, the Ba’ath party. Jamil’s party is often seen as a farce as it is fairly closely tied […]
November 4th is a national holiday in Russia, Unity Day, which commemorates the occasion in 1612 when Russians from every class united to push the Polish-Lithuanian occupation force out of the country. This year, however, both a nationalist group (anti-immigrant) and a pro-migrant group have sought to hold rallies on that day. At this moment, […]
There’s a word – liberal – and there’s some kind of problem with it lately. Either the liberals want to destroy the country, or they and their Bolotnaya [demonstrations] are causing Biryulyovo [ethnic riots]. The word bubbles up, embeds itself into curly narratives, passions rage, but one thing is not clear: who is all the […]
Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, has been dismissed. Onishchenko was seen as the face of many Russian isolationist policies, such as the banning of “harmful” food products from many former Soviet countries which had expressed interests in joining the European Union instead of the Russian alternative, the Customs Union. The Moscow […]
