• The 'partial' mobilization that Russian president Putin announced on September 21 has caused an exodus of Russian men and women. Seven months in, Putin's address makes the war seep further into Russian society. The announcement was met with protests in several Russian cities, as well as long lines at many border crossings.
    by Mike Eckel

  • Russian troops entered Kherson on March 1. Since then, the southern city has been under their de facto control. Ukrainian politician

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  • During an antiwar protest in Moscow sociologist Greg Yudin was arrested and beaten up by the police. He

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  • One of Kazakhstan's veteran human rights defenders,Yevgeniy Zhovtis, shares his account of Kazakhstan's recent protests.
    by Paolo Sorbello

  • From a disastrous pandemic response and blatantly rigged elections, to nationwide protests and brutal crackdowns, this past year has been one of the most volatile in Belarus’s history. To find out more about what’s changed (and what hasn’t) during this time, journalist Shura Burtin turned to residents of Minsk. This article tells the story of a changing Belarus — through the eyes of the people who live there.
    by Shura Burtin

  • The Belarusian opposition wants to restart mass protests late March, but will people go back to the streets? Last month saw a heavy crackdown with outrageous verdicts for demonstrators and journalists in courts. The number of political prisoners since last summer has risen to 270, and only in February 102 people were convicted of 'political crimes' under the Lukashenko regime.
    by Adam Tarasewicz

  • On February 11 and 12 Alexander Lukashenko gathered his loyal Belarusian People's Congress to discuss constitutional reforms. The Kremlin didn't find an alternative leader and Russia loses popularity in Belarus.
    by Artyom Shraibman

  • There are no new polls about the public opinion of Navalny and the protests yet, but the situation appears to have changed drastically. The internet generation is becoming fed up with grotesquely spending authorities and their use of excessive force against peaceful protesters
    by Andrei Kolesnikov

  • Lukashenko's weakened position after the presidential elections of August 9 seemed an opportunity for Russia. At last Putin could force him to accept total integration in the Union State he has been dreaming of. But now the Belarusian president seems unable to crush the protests and the West has turned him down Belarus is becoming a problem for the Kremlin as well. It can lose the sympathy of the last Slavic brothers left after the Ukraine crisis.
    by Artyom Shraibman

  • An open letter written by Russian Orthodox priests in defense of those imprisoned over recent protests in Moscow is the first time that clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church have taken collective action that was not sanctioned by the church authorities.
    by Ksenia Luchenko

  • On June 20 a Russian parliamentarian addressed the Georgian parliament in Russian, while seated in the chair of the speaker of the

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  • Public discontent over a plan to raise Russia’s pension age showed the weakness of Putin's rule. The governing elite is paralized

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  • On June 12 Alexei Navalny again succeeded in bringing people to the streets in Russia. But street protest is no political

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  • Since the anti-corruption protests of 26 March staff and teachers at some Russian schools and universities have held warning

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