Politics
Opposition financier accused of ordering attacks on Navalny allies Paid Members Public
Russia’s opposition in exile has been hit by a monumental scandal, the likes of which may never have been seen before. Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation has accused Leonid Nevzlin, the billionaire former business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, of organizing a series of attacks on the group’s key
Russian army movie causes a scandal at Venice Film Festival Paid Members Public
At last week’s Venice Film Festival, Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova premiered her latest work, “Russians at War”, a documentary following the lives of Russian soldiers serving at the front. Its inclusion in the program caused a scandal, with Ukrainian politicians criticizing it as pro-Kremlin propaganda — claims dismissed by Trofimova
Russians calm in the face of Ukraine’s counter-offensive Paid Members Public
It has been more than a month since Ukrainian forces crossed the border into the Kursk region, launching a surprise offensive into Russian territory. In that time they have captured hundreds of Russian prisoners of war and occupied more than 1,000 square kilometers of land in the first invasion
‘Putin could fall if he loses the support of a few hundred people’ Paid Members Public
The Bell editor Viacheslav Dvornikov spoke to political scientist Marcel Dirsus, author of the acclaimed new book, "How Tyrants Fall," about what his study of dictatorships and autocrats suggests is in store for the Putin regime — and how his demise could come about. The full interview is available
Russians still tuning into YouTube despite block attempts Paid Members Public
Russia’s authorities are raising their game when it comes to blocking — or in their words “slowing” — YouTube. At the start of last week, users were complaining that it was almost impossible to watch clips on the platform in 4K resolution; by the end of the week several were finding
Repressive laws target immigrants, chatty soldiers and civil society Paid Members Public
Vladimir Putin last week signed more than 100 federal laws in a single day, several of which take Russia in an even more repressive direction, with new restrictions affecting migrants, servicemen, bloggers, individuals who work with foreign organizations and those who publicly report about protests. * Immigrants face a host of
Russia’s authorities distance themselves from Ukraine’s counter-invasion Paid Members Public
It has already been a week since Ukrainian troops and tanks crossed into Russian territory, opening a new offensive on the Kursk border region, a small territory in southwest Russia. Excluding some short-lived border raids by militia groups, this is the first full-scale military incursion by Ukraine’s troops since
Opposition leaders, newly freed, stoke controversy with first public comments Paid Members Public
The biggest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since Soviet times has freed two of Russia’s leading liberal politicians — figures with genuine ambitions to lead the opposition in exile. Tet far from garnering sympathy for the more than two years they spent in Putin’s prison system, their
