Prominent Russian lawyer Henry Reznik has held a one-man picket in Russia against the latest Russian media production purporting to ‘expose’ famous musicians and others who have criticized Moscow’s policy on Ukraine

There is more and more evidence that Russian soldiers are fighting – and dying – on Ukrainian territory, and that the so-called ‘humanitarian convoy’ may have been used to take the dead back to Russia

The suspicion that Russia’s ‘humanitarian convoy’ was being used to divert attention from other activities was probably confirmed on Aug 23. Western leaders concentrated only on that undoubted violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty while ignoring NATO reports of direct Russian military incursions

1960s Soviet propaganda was nothing in comparison to how children are being used now both by Kremlin-backed militants and to push Moscow’s extremely specific version of events in eastern Ukraine

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Beslan tragedy, Russia’s biggest provider Rostelekom is blocking the website Pravda Beslana which contains vital material including the report by explosives expert Yury Savelyev who concluded that the explosion used to justify the storming of a school and terrible loss of life did not, as claimed by the authorities, come from within the school

Only single-person pickets took place in Novosibirsk with those trying to organize a march interrogated, while in Omsk and Yekaterinburg peaceful protesters were arrested

Against a background of increasing anti-Western sentiment in Russia, the Levada Centre’s latest survey has found that a large number of Russians view all the actions of the Kyiv authorities as the result of western interference

After banning a peaceful march in support of greater Siberian autonomy and threatening to block websites that didn’t remove all information about it, the authorities have now banned a march defending the rights enshrined in Russia’s Constitution

The German company Hetzner Online AG has apologized for planning to block the Ukrainian information agency Glavkom on the demand of the Russian prosecutor. Glavkom had refused to remove information about a planned march for Siberian federalization. The Russian authorities have banned the event, and have also threatened at least 17 websites that they would be blocked if they did not remove the information.

From Aug 13 Russians will have to provide identification to use Wi-Fi in public places; Operators are now obliged to identify the equipment on which a person uses the Internet and employers whose staff have access to the Internet will have to provide their passport details to the operator

The Ukrainian information agency Glavkom may shortly be blocked over information posted about the (now banned) march for Siberian federalization. Hetzner Online AG, the German provider has been asked to block Glavkom and, bafflingly, has agreed to the Russian censor’s demand

With the Russian authorities banning a planned peaceful march in favour of Siberian autonomy and threatening media outlets who report the event, the BBC Russian Service has refused to give in to censorship

Federalization, which the Kremlin is so aggressively pushing for Ukraine, is clearly a dirty word closer to Moscow. Current feverish moves by the Russian Prosecutor General to block all mention of a march in support of Siberian federalization are proving spectacularly counter-productive.

Leonid Razvozzhaev, the Russian asylum seeker abducted in Kyiv and taken to Moscow has been convicted, together with Left Front activist Sergei Udaltsov of ‘organizing mass riots”. The men’s "patriotic position" in supporting the Kremlin-backed militants in Donbas did not prevent a guilty verdict which most observers see as politically motivated

Among the bills signed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on July 22 was one which seriously toughens penalties for “infringement of order” in holding or organizing public events. A person who has incurred administrative penalties more than twice in six months could face imprisonment for up to 5 years if charged with the same ‘offence’. Otherwise they face large fines.

Ales Bialiatski, renowned Belorussian human rights defender, has been released after serving almost 3 years of a politically motivated sentence

Russia’s parliamentary speaker, Sergei Naryshkin has asserted that it was Ukraine that annexed the Crimea, not Russia. Moscow, one senses, has understood that there’s no getting away from the word ‘annexation’ and is trying to hijack it.

The name of Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin may once again take prominent place on Russian maps. The move is purportedly linked not with the tyrant himself, but with the pivotal Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943, however it comes as part of a general trend in Russia revising the public image of a man responsible for the deaths of millions.

The human rights activist has been convicted in a trial which the Memorial Human Rights Centre calls politically motivated and, chillingly, on the dubious ‘testimony’ of four secret witnesses questioned behind closed doors

Two Russian court rulings on April 8 over the scandalous "foreign agent law" have left an important human rights NGO defending victims of racism and xenophobia with no choice but to terminate its activities