Syava was once a thriving town of 10,000 people some 730 kilometers east of Moscow. But it’s dying. After the main factory went bankrupt, rail service stopped, the main hospital closed, and the streets are lined with abandoned houses
After Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny was sentenced to prison, there’s now speculation about where he will serve his time — with one prison-reform campaigner raising fears for his life. More broadly, with mass protests across Russia being brutally suppressed, other opposition leaders are also considering both how to prepare for the future — and how to ensure their own safety-
Russian security forces arrested more than 200 people outside a Moscow court on February 2, according to OVID-Info, while a hearing with opposition leader Aleksei Navalny was taking place inside. The court heard arguments on whether to convert Navalny’s suspended sentence to real prison time for a years-old conviction widely seen as politically motivated. People took to the streets across Russia on January 31 and January 23, demanding that Navalny be freed and protesting government-connected corruption
Russian police gave protesters electric shocks and beatings, grabbed bystanders off the streets, and detained a record number of people — more than 5,000 — during nationwide protests on January 31
Riot police in Moscow have been filmed while using a shock baton on a detained man at an anti-government protest. He was shocked several times as two officers were taking him to a police vehicle. Nationwide protests in support of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny were met with a large-scale crackdown on January 31
Law enforcement officers were out in force in downtown Moscow on the morning of January 31. People were being detained as protests had been announced to take place across Russia in support of jailed opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Aleksei Navalny
The arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has triggered international outrage and growing calls for his release. Navalny was detained Sunday upon his return to Russia nearly five months after he was nearly poisoned to death by a military-grade nerve agent
Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol has been detained for inciting protests in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the independent Dozhd news channel reported Thursday
2020 brought an unprecedented scene of protests in Belarus, after a presidential poll showed longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko getting 80 percent of the vote
For Russians, the past year saw a national vote to approve changes to their constitution … including an amendment granting longtime leader Vladimir Putin the right to remain president through the year 2036