If the Kremlin hoped that the trials of Ukrainians held illegally in Russia would cause a brief stir, then be forgotten, it miscalculated badly on the people, like Nadiya Savchenko, Oleg Sentsov and others it dared to imprison, and the level of lawlessness demonstrated.

A group of prominent Russian dissidents has identified what it says are Russia’s 10 most harmful laws. Their project, "Sanatsia Prava," or Sanitation Of The Law, calls for the abolition of legislation that they say causes extensive harm to Russian society.

Amnesty International has published evidence indicating that Russian air strikes in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas - striking homes, a mosque and a busy market, as well as medical facilities - in a pattern of attacks that show evidence of violations of international humanitarian law

18-year-old Vlad Kolesnikov has killed himself 6 months after his defiant demonstration of opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea lost him his home, his place in technical college and led to a campaign of harassment against him

Russian state investigators turned up on Tuesday morning at the offices of the NGO linked with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and also searched the homes of employees and even their relatives. At least 10 homes are reported to have been targeted

Vladimir Ionov, the 76-year-old whose verdict on charges under Russia’s new draconian anti-protest laws was delayed after he was hospitalized with severe chest pains, has arrived in Ukraine where he plans to seek political asylum

A Krasnodar court has sentenced 26-year-old Darya Polyudova to 2 years imprisonment ostensibly over material posted or even just reposted on her social network page. The persecution, however, dates back to attempts to hold a peaceful march in favour of greater federalization for Kuban

Suspicions of connections with organized crime have dogged Vladimir Putin since his stint in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the early 1990s.The accusations have gained new momentum in recent weeks with two important developments

A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly stated that “we have never denied that there are people [in Ukraine] resolving various tasks, including in the military sphere”, his Press Secretary has claimed that the President was “misinterpreted”.

In a response where the Russian President admitted for the first time that Russian military personnel are ‘resolving issues’ in Donbas, he also spoke on the subject of an exchange of Savchenko, Sentsov and others in language more befitting a kidnapper than a President

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko have been moved to another remand prison in Rostov [Russia] and are likely to be sent to Russian maximum security prisons any day now

Yury Soloshenko, the 73-year-old Ukrainian pensioner with a heart condition whom Russia accuses of ‘spying’ has been sent away from Moscow to serve a 6-year sentence in a maximum security prison colony.

Vladimir Markin from the powerful federal Investigative Committee has appealed to Russians to "ignore" bad news about their country in the media, asserting that negative headlines can have a psychosomatic effect and increase the death rate.

32-year-old Ukrainian Valentin Vyhivsky has been sentenced to 11 years on spying charges classified as ‘top secret’. The trial was behind closed doors with a state-appointed lawyer, and there are very strong grounds for believing that the charges are trumped up

Just days after Russian riot police used violence against Russian citizens defending the Russian Constitution, President Putin has signed a law allowing Russia to breach that same document by flouting international court judgements when they don’t suit

The defence’s prediction that Russia’s ‘trial’ of Ukrainian MP and former military pilot Nadiya Savchenko would end before the end of December appears to have been premature

There is no evidence of terrorism against any of the four Ukrainian opponents of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and no doubt at all that all four men are illegally held and should be released under the Minsk Accords

Vladimir Ionov, the 76-year-old civic activist on trial in Moscow under Russia’s new anti-protest law is in a cardiology emergency care ward after experiencing chest pains

While the lack of any justice in Russia’s trial of Nadiya Savchenko is internationally recognized, the defence’s announcement that it will not appeal against a guilty verdict is worrying and possibly a dangerous mistake

Undeterred by the threat of prosecution for revealing ‘state secrets’, Russian human rights activists are demanding an official answer about the death of 159 Russian soldiers, and particularly note the sharp increase in unexplained deaths during the second half of 2014.