Alexander Byvshev, the Russian poet dismissed from his teaching job and on trial for a poem against Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has now been added to Russia’s List of Terrorists and Extremists. Russian Wikipedia has also demonstrated the same contempt for the presumption of innocence and deleted their entry on the poet.

Nine Russian human rights activists and journalists have lodged an appeal with the Russian Supreme Court prompted by President Vladimir Putin’s decree classifying information about military losses in peacetime as ‘state secret’

Allegations have once again been made of strong links between the Kremlin and the neo-Nazi organization BORN [Militant Organization of Russian Nationalists], responsible for at least 10 killings, including that of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, with the links having direct implications for Russia’s undeclared war in eastern Ukraine

The 5-year sentence for an offence committed in Ukraine by a Ukrainian national and one on which a Ukrainian court has already passed sentence is totally illegal, and, defence lawyer Nikolai Polozov says, it will be appealed.

Nadiya Savchenko’s detention has been extended to Sept. 30, 15 months since her official remand in Russian custody. Any extension for so long needed to be and was not confirmed by the head of the Investigative Committee, but this was only one of the infringements which the judge chose to ignore.

Russia’s Investigative Committee says it has launched a criminal inquiry against Ilya Ponomaryov, the lone State Duma representative to vote against the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine

The Russian trial of renowned film director Oleg Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko whose arrests are widely viewed as politically motivated could begin within weeks. Both are facing sentences of 17-20 years effectively for refusing to ‘confess’ to non-existent acts of terrorism

A new Russian film on the 1968 events in Czechoslovakia has revived accusations that the Kremlin is twisting historical facts to forge a new ideology and justify some of its most controversial actions and policies.

A jury in Krasnodar has unanimously acquitted Khaiser Dzhemiliev of murder and found the son of veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev guilty only of illegal possession of a weapon and of manslaughter. As his lawyer, Nikolai Polozov notes, the jury’s verdict is virtually identical to that of the Ukrainian court which Russia’s prosecutor and court had chosen to ignore

On May 26, one of the country’s biggest scientific benefactors, 82-year-old Dmitry Zimin, canceled millions of dollars in funding after the Russian government branded his Dynasty Foundation a "foreign agent," a label commonly used to target organizations seen as unfriendly to the government

While Russia’s Minister of Culture waxes lyrical about this ‘patriotic camp’ entitled “I am a Citizen and Defender of a Great Country”, his first deputy is busy explaining why the Council of Europe, British Council and other bodies, funded from abroad, are plugging all the wrong values.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree classifying information about Russian military losses during “special operations in peacetime”, thus potentially enabling prosecution and imprisonment for divulging details about the deaths of Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine. As well as coinciding with publication of a second damning report this month about Russia’s undeclared war on Ukraine, the decree comes as another opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, lies remains gravely ill in Moscow with symptoms of poisoning..

74-year-old Ludmila Bogatenkova, head of a Soldiers’ Mothers committee in Russia, is facing charges potentially carrying a six-year sentence after she probed the deaths of nine Russian soldiers who were almost certainly killed in Ukraine

The report by the Atlantic Council also charges that Putin is using the decrease in hostilities that has followed a February cease-fire deal to reinforce Russian-backed rebels with troops and weaponry in order "to prepare for the next stage of fighting."

A prominent Russian opposition activist and grassroots political organizer who has lobbied U.S. officials to sanction Kremlin loyalists has been hospitalized in Moscow after suddenly falling ill.

While Ukrainians have either disappeared without trace after being taken prisoner in Russia over the last year, or are being denied access to lawyers and the Ukrainian consul, the Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to its own nationals travelling abroad that they could face arrest or detention

The discovery of poison from an exotic Asian plant in the stomach of Aleksandr Perepilichny, a wealthy Russian whistle-blower who died suddenly in England in 2012, has raised suspicions of a KGB-style assassination

Russia’s State Duma has passed a draconian law on so-called ‘undesirable organizations’ which gravely threatens Russia’s already beleaguered and weak civil society.

Russia has placed a book written by former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko on its list of extremist materials and forced an Internet library to remove it. This comes 3 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded a state honour to the man suspected of killing London-based Litvinenko with radioactive polonium

The U.S.-based online payment service PayPal has blocked an account set up by Russian opposition activists to raise funds for a report alleging Russian military involvement in the Ukraine war, citing the political nature of the donation campaign.