Politics
Kremlin says criminals are “atoning with blood” on the battlefield in Ukraine PRO Members Public
With every passing week, more attention is being paid to the thousands of criminals, including brutal murderers, receiving pardons after being released from prison to serve with the Wagner private militia and other paramilitaries fighting in Ukraine. The problems stemming from the policy were inevitable. Unlike draftees, pardoned criminals are
Russian regions’ anti-abortion drive PRO Members Public
Russia’s war on Ukraine is proving to be no obstacle for the battle to promote “traditional values” – the conservative social program and messaging that Vladimir Putin has long placed at the heart of his domestic ideological agenda. The latest part of that agenda has now emerged, with the state
The Kremlin gears up to launch Putin’s re-election campaign PRO Members Public
President Vladimir Putin is preparing to announce his plans to run in the 2024 Presidential Election. The Kremlin is already assembling a working group of “social activists” who will officially announce and back his candidacy. The group may include the singer Shaman, who has become the latest symbol of Russian
Islamic fundamentalism and the antisemitic airport riot in Dagestan PRO Members Public
The recent riot at Makhachkala airport, which involved 1,500 people chanting antisemitic slogans and waving Palestinian flags, continues to be a major topic in Russian-language media eight days on. The Bell has looked into how anonymous Telegram channels orchestrated the events that led to a mob storming the airport
Putin blames the West after anti-Israel riot shocks Moscow PRO Members Public
In Russia’s North Caucasus, the weekend brought a series of antisemitic protests, culminating in a mass riot in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim republic of Dagestan. Angry crowds of protestors stormed the city’s airport, breaking through to the runway in a bid to get to passengers
Putin resurrects another Soviet tradition PRO Members Public
Last week, Vladimir Putin called for the return of sporting parades on Moscow’s Red Square. This long-forgotten Soviet ritual, beloved of the Stalin era, represents the latest staging point on Russia’s rose-tinted march into its Soviet past. * The first such sporting parades, which involved the so-called “Vsevobuchs” (men
Another US journalist arrested PRO Members Public
Last week, Russian police arrested journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service. Kurmasheva, who holds Russian and American citizenship, is accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent.” This is the first criminal case in Russia under laws that require anybody who “purposefully”
Pro-Kremlin media’s talking points on the conflict in the Middle East PRO Members Public
After the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants, Russian propagandists have scrambled to push the focus away from events in Ukraine and onto the situation in the Middle East. The Kremlin’s loyalists on TV and in print quickly started talking up the West’s role in the
Putin’s priest gets a Crimean flock PRO Members Public
Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the Russian Orthodox Church has been named the religious leader of occupied Crimea. Officially, the move to name Metropolitan Tikhon as head of the Church's Metropolis of Crimea represents a second successive demotion for Tikhon (whose secular name is Georgiy Shevkunov). That
Why Putin is backing Hamas PRO Members Public
The Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel were a rare boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian authorities – inasmuch as they pushed Russia’s war in Ukraine off the global front pages. For the first time in many years, Putin showed unambiguous solidarity with Palestine, and took more than
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The Bell was founded in 2017 by journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Irina Malkova and Peter Mironenko as a news outlet independent from the Russian authorities, after its founders have been sacked as top editors at the largest Russian news website RBC because of pressure from the Kremlin.
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