[Summary: Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a member of the Superior Council of United Russia, is expected to run for the mayoral elections on 8 September as an Independent. United Russia has explained this by the fact that “40 parties” “might want” to support him. The main potential rival to the acting mayor, Civic Platform […]
[In this article, Yulia Latynina argues that arrest last week of the powerful Mayor of Makhachkala, Said Amirov, has signaled the FSB’s assertion of direct control in the republic of Dagestan. Latynina speculates that this is partly motivated by the desire to stem the growing power of salafists in the region.—Ed.] In a Hollywood movie-type, […]
[The expatriation of Sergei Guriyev, a highly regarded Russian economist, was a major story both in the Russian and in international presses last month. By his own admission, Guriyev left Russia because he feared imprisonment after continued harassment by Russia’s Investigative Committee, which searched his office and seized thousands of emails related to investigation into […]
[In 2008, Moscow businessman Aleksei Kozlov was arrested on fraud charges. His wife, Olga Romanova, a veteran financial journalist, investigated his case and debunked the evidence against him. The Russian Supreme Court overturned Moscow City Court’s conviction, but Kozlov was simply put on trial again for the same charges. On May 31st, City Court found […]
Gary Kasparov, leader of the United Civic Front, has decided to refrain from trips to Russia. At a press conference in Geneva, the chess grand-master announced that he is afraid of criminal prosecution in his homeland in connection with the investigation of cases against the opposition. “I went there back and forth right up until […]
[Few of the Kremlin’s moves since Putin’s return to the presidency have engendered more homegrown protest than the NGO Law, which forces civil society groups that receive foreign funds or engage in nebulously defined “political” activity to register as “foreign agents.” Here, Aleksandr Rubtsov highlights the “theatre of the absurd”-qualities to the law’s implementation. –ed.] In […]
On June 4, Sergei Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow, announced his resignation. He will be running for office at early mayoral elections that will be held in September According to Sobyanin, the majority of the capital’s residents support the idea of holding early mayoral elections concurrently with elections for the governor of the Moscow Region […]
[Russia’s security services have shocked the public by arresting Said Amirov, the Mayor of Makhachkala in the Republic of Dagestan, alleging his involvement in conspiracy to murder and involvement in the narcotics trade, among other serious crimes. Amirov has dominated Dagestani politics for fifteen years, and his arrest has raised questions of whether the state […]
[Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Justice Minister Aleksandr Konovalov met on April 27 with their employees who have been included in the so-called Magnitsky List. The list includes 18 judges and representatives of law-enforcement and other government agencies whom American authorities believe are complicit in the death in pre-trial detention at Matrosskaya Tishina Prison of […]
[Enhanced laws punishing individuals for offenses to religious feeling are being employed against artist Artyom Loskutov, who has been brought up on similar charges several times before for the content of his art. Kommersant reports on his latest offense.–Ed.] Artyom Loskutov, an artist from Novosibirsk known for organizing “Monstration” street art shows, is involved in […]
