Putin’s decree classifying information about military losses in peacetime as ‘state secret’ is widely seen as linked with Russia’s undeclared military engagement in Ukraine and can be used as a weapon against those trying to provide truthful information about the conflict, including details of Russian soldiers killed in the fighting

Gennady Afanasyev, one of the four opponents of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, arrested by the FSB on terrorism charges was almost certainly beaten by an FSB officer after he retracted his evidence against renowned Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko

Russia’s destruction of sanctioned food items has rightly been called “a propaganda disaster” and aroused horror and outrage. The destruction is continuing unabated, however within days of Putin’s decree on Aug 6, pro-Kremlin media began trying to minimize the fallout

All evidence has now been presented Russia’s trial of renowned Crimean film director Oleg Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko. There is nothing against the defendants, plenty that incriminates the FSB and its methods, yet an acquittal is not expected.

Public anger over the botched operation to rescue the crew of the sunken submarine Kursk was a nasty wake-up call for Vladimir Putin in 2000, the first year of his presidency. But 15 years later, Russians are far less critical of the government’s response -- a change a leading pollster says reflects the power of state TV.

Nobody has any idea what, if anything, 73-year-old Ukrainian from Poltava Yury Soloshenko is charged with since the material is classified, and the FSB investigators illegally prevented him from even seeing the lawyer of his choice

A day after the bloody carnage on Maidan, journalist Lidia Pankiv used a live TV show to tell her colleagues that they had blood on their hands. 18 months later the same must be said of those working for Russia’s TV propaganda machine, and, judging by interviews taken by Colta.ru correspondents, some of them know it.

Crimean film director Oleg Sentsov and anti-fascist activist Oleksandr Kolchenko both gave testimony on Thursday, but refused to take any further part in the proceedings which Sentsov openly calls a “concert”, not a court trial. Both men’s account of FSB tactics, including torture to obtain ‘confessions’ coincided with that given by Gennady Afanasyev who last week retracted his earlier testimony as having been given under torture

The Kremlin is steamrolling over criticism of its decision to destroy banned Western food imports, literally.

Gennady Afanasyev has told his lawyer of the torture he faced after being arrested in Crimea on May 9, 2014, about the pressure and threats immediately prior to his appearance in court last Friday, and that he has faced since he retracted the testimony he signed under torture.

’Memorial’ has declared both Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and antifascist activist Oleksandr Kolchenko political prisoners. Its statement was issued on the same day that secret ‘witnesses’ made entirely unprovable allegations against Sentsov in court and main prosecution witness Gennady Afanasyev confirmed that his ‘confession’ had been extracted through torture

Hennadiy Afanasiev has refused to testify in the trial of Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko and stated that he gave testimony earlier under duress.

The lack of a remand prison in Russian Donetsk and need for Nadiya Savchenko to travel 300 kilometres every day were known from the outset, yet it required the grotesque performance on Thursday for the court to allow the defence’s application to have the place of trial reconsidered

In day 3 of the trial of Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and left-wing civic activist Aleksandr Kolchenko, the court heard a ‘key witness’ who spoke about his collaboration with the FSB in connection with the activities of Oleksy Chirniy, but said nothing that could be incriminating against the two defendants

Russian prosecutors have formally determined the activities of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to be "undesirable," paving the way for the nonprofit organization, funded by the U.S. Congress, to be outlawed on Russian territory.

According to one Russian legislator, the proposed criminal liability would cover “statements form some Russian human rights activists who openly speak of our soldiers being present in Donbas.” ’.

Two Russian activists holding a Novorossiya flag and a sign demanding that “the fascist scum be held to answer” set the tone for the second day of the trial of Ukrainian left-wing anti-fascist activist Oleksandr Kolchenko and film director Oleg Sentsov. The witnesses for the prosecution demonstrated similar confusion as to the meaning of words like ‘Right Sector’, ‘fascist’ and ‘Nazi’ though they used them constantly.

Forget hurtful words like ‘annexation’ and ‘invasion’. A new Russian legislative initiative has been proposed which would ‘remind’ people that Russia had been entitled to Crimea from the time of Catherine the Great.

‘Perm-36’, the NGO recently forced to give up running a vital museum about the Soviet Gulag has not only been forcibly registered as a ‘foreign agent’, but also fined steeply for not registering itself.

All possible illusions about the trial of well-known Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and left-wing activist Oleksandr Kolchenko have been dispelled. Sentsov really is facing a likely 20-year, or even life sentence on charges of ‘masterminding’ a ‘Right Sector’ plot in which fire bombs were thrown at two buildings housing pro-Russian organizations and a plan was afoot to blow up a statue of Lenin