Human rights groups have said that the legislation, purportedly to combat child pornography and protect children from harmful internet content might increase censorship in the country.

A court in Velsk on Thursday announced that Platon Lebedev, jailed business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, would have his 13 year sentence reduced, however the Prosecutor may still appeal as has happened before

As reported, the law passed on Wednesday by Russia’s upper house introduces a dangerously broad definition of treason which could include contacts with foreign nationals and the receiving of information the person did not know was a state secret

A court hearing within the Mozyrska Prison Colony has ordered that Zmitzer Dashkevich, opposition activist and leader of the Youth Front be sent to a closed-type prison, i.e. maximum security prison for the duration of his sentence

Today we mark 30 October not only as Remembrance Day for the Victims of Political Repression, but as Day of the Political Prisoner – now in contemporary Russia. Events of the last weeks have shown that in dialogue with the opposition, the Russian authorities intend to primarily use the language of repression – arrests, trials, camps

Russian leftwing opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov has been charged with plotting mass disorder, and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted

Marina Hovorukhina suggests that the message to foreign security services from Ukraine’s Interior Ministry regarding the abduction of Leonid Razvozzhaev is that abductions are no problem with the authorities ready to call them special operations and turn a blind eye

The United States on Thursday expressed alarm over the case of opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhaev who claims he was abducted from Ukraine by Russian agents, as he retracted an initial confession made to Russian investigators.

A spokesperson for Catherine Ashton has expressed concern that the new law “would expand the scope for prosecution and reduce the burden of proof for charges of treason and espionage."

Open letter with demands to the authorities over the abduction of Russian opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhaev from outside the UNHCR office in Kyiv where he was applying for asylum

No criminal investigation can ensue over the abduction, a Ministry spokesperson says, since a foreign national was abducted by a foreign security service and such services should not share their plans regarding such activities.

For an asylum seeker to simply vanish while lodging his asylum claims and then reappear in the country he fled is profoundly shocking

The draft law expands the definition of high treason to include "granting financial, technical, consulting, or other help" to those seeking to harm Russia’s security, including its "constitutional order, sovereignty, and territorial and state integrity."

Under the proposed new law, high treason and espionage will include supporting "those seeking to damage Russia’s security".

And with Russia increasingly dangerous for members of the opposition, this new style of abduction and removal without going through any extradition procedure is extremely worrying

The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a proposal recommending a visa ban and freezing of EU assets of Russian officials involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

In a further cynical twist in the abduction of Russian opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhaev, the Russian investigators on Monday claimed that Mr Razvozzhaev had “handed himself in” on Sunday in Moscow

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is deeply concerned about the disappearance of Leonid Razvozzhaev from Kyiv, Ukraine on 19 October 2012.

Last week the lawyers’ plea for the two-year sentence to be deferred was rejected. They had argued that the women should not go to jail until their children had reached the age of 14.

Russian opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhaev has been remanded in custody for two months just two days after being abducted in broad daylight from outside the UNHCR Office in Kyiv