Oleksandr Shumkov has become the latest Ukrainian to be abducted to Russia and imprisoned.  There is a major question mark over how the 28-year-old civic activist came to be in Russia, but it would be difficult to dispute the surreal nature of the charges.  The Ukrainian is accused of involvement in a Ukrainian organization that only Russia calls ‘extremist’, and that is entirely legal in Ukraine

A museum was ceremoniously opened in Russia recently to Felix Dzherzhinsky, the founder of the notorious Soviet secret police, with the event attended by MPs and members of the FSB, Russia’s modern-day security service.  The week also saw an important development in the latest closed court hearing in the widely condemned trial of Yury Dmitriev, a 61-year-old historian who has devoted most of his life to uncovering the mass graves of the victims of the Soviet secret police and identifying the perpetrators. 

It is highly likely that Oleksiy Sizonovych, a Ukrainian pensioner, was taken to Russia by force after being captured by Russian-backed militants in the so-called ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ [LPR], with the methods used, and subsequent ‘trial’ as cynical as those against former Ukrainian military pilot and MP, Nadiya Savchenko. 

The European Court of Human Rights has given Russia until September 25 to provide medical documents for Pavlo Hryb [or Gryb], the young Ukrainian whom Russia is believed to have forcibly taken from Belarus and imprisoned

SOVA Center is known for its research on nationalism, religious freedoms, and political radicalism, and has been monitoring the Russian authorities’ abuse of vague and overly broad anti-extremism legislation.  Human Rights Watch has demanded that the Russian authorities drop the charges

13 days after 19-year-old Ukrainian Pavlo Hryb vanished after entering Belarus, Russia’s FSB [Security Service] has admitted that he is in Russian custody in a Krasnodar SIZO [remand prison]

If Mykola Karpyuk’s involvement in two nationalist organizations made him an obvious target for Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine, Klykh’s link to any nationalist group was fleeting and far in the past.  He was, however, Ukrainian and no more proved needed for a breathtakingly cynical ‘trial’ which disregarded not only alibis and evidence of torture, but even historical fact.

Russian lawmakers are examining possible new legislation envisioning the deportation of foreigners who engage in "undesirable" behavior deemed to be interference in the country’s internal affairs.

There is still no information about the whereabouts of 19-year-old Pavlo Hryb, ten days after he entered Belarus and vanished.  Given the strong grounds for fearing that the young man has been abducted by Russia’s FSB, and that his life could be in danger without badly needed medication, his family and lawyer have asked the  European Court of Human Rights to apply urgent measures under Article 39

At a ceremony in St Petersburg on September 1 marking the beginning of the academic year for future ‘investigators’, a little girl solemnly promised Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee that she would shop her mother if that were required by her work

Danis Safargali has been called "a victim of a persecution campaign against opposition activists of the Tatar national movement...that has been launched since 2014."

While the precise cause of his death remains unclear, Ivan Skripnichenko’s passing -- first revealed to the public by a fellow activist late on August 24 -- has made him a tragic symbol of what Kremlin critics call a state-sanctioned campaign of violence and harassment against the caretakers of the Nemtsov memorial.

PEN America has issued a statement condemning the arrest on August 22 of Russian theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov and calls it part of a concerted campaign to silence dissenting voices in the arts in Russia

Oleksiy Chyrniy, one of the three opponents of Russia’s occupation of Crimea arrested with renowned filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, has been moved to a much harsher prison regime and is being denied visits from the Ukrainian consul, making it next to impossible to monitor his treatment

In yet another move in Russia to silence those telling the truth about the Great Terror and Stalinism in general, Dmitry Kozlov has been fined for erecting a Last Address plaque, part of the civic initiative honouring the memory of individual victims of the Terror. 

While 19-year-old Artur Panov does not deny at least some of the charges, he was just 16 when arrested and there are grounds for doubting the seriousness of the grandiose plans he appears to have discussed. 35-year-old Maxim Smyshlyaev, who received a 10-year sentence, has long been recognized as a political prisoner by the renowned Memorial Human Rights Centre.

Two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot are facing administrative prosecution for a totally peaceful protest calling for the release of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov whom Russia arrested shortly after its invasion and annexation of Crimea.

There are very many unanswered questions as to how Russian opposition activist Vladimir Yegorov came to be taken by Ukrainian officials to the border and told he had been refused asylum in Ukraine.  The questions need answers since Yegorov has now been remanded in custody back in Russia, almost certainly for his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and opposition activities.

Everything about the arrest, ongoing detention and ’trial’ of Yury Dmitriev, the Russian historian who has dedicated his life to ensuring that the truth about the crimes committed is known and the victims honoured is of concern, and the Memorial Human Rights Centre is not alone in seeing the prosecution as politically motivated

Russia’s FSB may well consider the ‘trial’ and 11-year prison sentence passed on Ukrainian aviation enthusiast Valentyn Vyhivsky to be one of their successes. Other Ukrainians have also provided ‘confessions’ while held for long periods incommunicado, but they have later had real lawyers and a chance to expose the lack of any evidence and use of torture.