The arrest of leading Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza highlights the threat to democracy and civil society activists. His case is an instance of ‘classic’ repression, according to Le Monde,… Read more »
More than 1 million people in nearly 200 cities around the world have gathered to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On six continents they marched in streets, stood in… Read more »
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, surrounded by several top officials, addressed the country Friday night local time from the doorstep of the presidential administration in central Kyiv to show he and… Read more »
The Kremlin’s persecution of Memorial, Russia’s venerable human rights group, is typical of authoritarian attempts to exploit and distort the past to give legitimacy to violence, says Anne Applebaum, a… Read more »
Russia’s ruling party retained its supermajority in parliament, further cementing President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power following elections that excluded most opposition politicians and were marred by multiple reports of… Read more »
Russia’s leader faces a backlash from the generation that has lost out under his rule, notes analyst Natia Seskuria. Young people are becoming more politically active. After 21 years of Putin’s… Read more »
Democracies have been bent out of shape by rising populism but autocrats are more likely to crack under pressure, as the brittle façade of Vladimir Putin’s Russia demonstrates, analyst Philip… Read more »
What is the danger to an autocratic regime if it loses control over civil society? In the latest confirmation of the Russian authorities’ disregard for a vibrant and independent civil… Read more »
There is growing concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin may attempt to spur another crisis abroad (perhaps over Belarus) as a way to distract from the mounting political pressure at… Read more »
Alexei Navalny grows more powerful every time Putin talks about him, one observer suggests. Police took several allies of the jailed Kremlin critic into custody early on Thursday, ahead of planned… Read more »