Robert Coalson is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL who covers Russia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.
Faced with a deepening demographic crisis aggravated by mounting war casualties and mass emigration, the Russian government is moving to label the nonexistent “international child-free movement” an extremist organization, likely tarring those who choose not to have children as unpatriotic or worse.
Gunmen killed at least 20 police officers and civilians in attacks on two synagogues, two Russian Orthodox churches, and police targets in two cities in Russia’s Daghestan region on June 23. Here's what is known about the attacks, and what could be behind them.
Participants in the June 15-16 Ukraine peace summit hailed the establishment of a process for potentially ending the war. But they acknowledged future steps must involve the participation of Russia, although there may not be an obvious way to involve Moscow.
For decades, Russia's government has been promising people in the coldest regions of Siberia and the Far East access to natural gas for heating. But the Ukraine war, which has eviscerated Gazprom’s profits and diverted public money to defense production, has many doubting they will live to see it.
Although President Vladimir Putin has declared 2024 the Year of the Family, activists and victims of domestic violence say Russian police and prosecutors routinely ignore complaints and even pressure victims not to pursue charges.
At least a dozen older Russian scientists in the field of hypersonic aviation have been accused of treason since 2018. Lawyers involved in the cases say they are connected to President Vladimir Putin’s well-documented interest in the topic.
Longtime Chechen strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been dogged by reports of failing health. And recent personnel changes in the North Caucasus region have fed suspicions a transition is in the offing. Is a rising star in Russia’s Defense Ministry the top pick to take over in the volatile region?
Following a disputed 2020 election, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets with calls for democracy and the resignation of strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka. A podcast series by RFE/RL's Belarus Service documents how the state has locked the country in a prison of fear ever since.
A rare cabinet shake-up is driven by the need to fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine and the confrontation with the West, analysts say. Putin named the government’s economic overseer as defense minister in a bid to bring “the power of Russia’s military-industrial complex and the economy” to bear.
Following massive pro-democracy protests in Belarus in 2020, the government has cracked down – targeting independent media, among others. Some of the many journalists who have fled their profession, or the country entirely, recounted how their lives have been altered forever.
A 23-year-old blogger was given a 10-month labor sentence this month for a social-media video that Russian authorities say amounted to “rehabilitating Nazism.” Experts say the law is being used to impose public conformity with the government’s jingoistic version of World War II history.
Longtime dissident Aleksandr Skobov is being held in St. Petersburg on a charge of "justifying terrorism." The 66-year-old, who spent years in psychiatric hospitals in Soviet times, makes no apologies for his outspoken opposition to Vladimir Putin. And he has no intention of backing down now.
Central Asian migrants in Russia have been the main targets in a surge of xenophobic incidents following the terrorist attack on a concert hall outside Moscow. But the country's ethnic minorities – numbering some 30 million people – are also bracing for the worst.
Of the more than 90,000 polling stations across Russia, RFE/RL has identified only three that reported a winner other than President Vladimir Putin – and one of them later changed its results. In one of the cases, it appears state efforts to boost turnout may have backfired.
Thousands of Russians joined the "Noon Against Putin" protest, and there were isolated acts of defiance during the voting. But the opposition is still sidelined under Vladimir Putin, struggling to counter the Kremlin's narrative of a country united behind his policies of aggression and repression.
Since the last presidential election in 2018, President Vladimir Putin has marched Russia faster than ever into authoritarianism. In the March 15-17 vote set to hand Putin a fifth term, the question is not who will win but what it will mean for the country and beyond.
It was his longest state-of-the-nation speech, coming just two weeks before Russians vote in an election in which he is set to win a new six-year term. Putin's address was heavy on domestic policy concerns, with ample saber-rattling and bellicose threats sprinkled in.
It may not contain surprises, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to a joint session of parliament on February 29 will set the tone for the weeks before a March 15-17 election -- and for the start of his fifth term in the Kremlin.
The number of Russians in custody over political stances or religious faith has been rising steadily, particularly since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Activists say the authorities use harsh conditions, the deprivation of medical treatment, and isolation to ruthlessly erode their health.
Days after Aleksei Navalny’s death in prison, his widow, Yulia, pledged to continue his fight against Vladimir Putin, urging Russians to share her “anger.” But amid the most severe repressions since Stalin’s time and the ongoing war against Ukraine, can Navalnaya find a way to make a difference?
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