This document was approved on October 5, 2009. In order to ‘fight against terrorism’, law-enforcement authorities have been constantly monitoring mass media and social networks since then, looking for extremist content. However, this term may refer to any VKontakte post unfavorable to the authorities. Hiding behind the idea of countering terrorism, the Government tightens its control over the citizens and restricts our rights and freedoms.

On September 9, 2009, the State Duma approved amendments to the Law on Defense. Now, the President can use armed forces to solve problems on the territory of other countries without declaring war — to protect the army already present in another country, secure Russian citizens travelling abroad, prevent the aggression committed by another country, etc. The President can also dispatch forces without any approval from the Federation Council, as it used to be in the previous version of the law. These amendments are considered by many in the world as conflicting with the Charter of the United Nations.

On July 16, 2010, the State Duma expanded the powers of the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation). Now the officers of the Federal Security Service can issue a so-called warning — if one cannot be charged with a crime, theirs actions are said to be ‘intolerable’ and the person is punished. The new law prescribes a RUB 500–1000 fine or 15 days in detention for the disobedience to FSB’s orders. It is expected that in the future FSB officers will be allowed to shoot at a crowd, cancel flights, prosecute people, etc. Thus, the authority of the FSB will supersede the Constitution and they will exist by their own code.

On February 7, 2011, a new Federal Law on Police came into effect. The Government of the Russian Federation decided that re-labeling ‘militia’ (the former Russian name for the police force) as ‘police’ would improve the professional skills of law enforcement officials. To eliminate inefficient workers, they had to take a specially designed competency test, which 20% of them failed. As a result, only their appearance changed with the new uniform and badges. The obligations and rights remained the same. It cost the Government RUB 1.5 billion to change the name ‘militia’ to ‘police’.

Signed by Dmitry Medvedev in 2011, this law opened the way for an ambitious healthcare reform in Russia. As usual, the plan was to minimize costs by closing inefficient hospitals and improving advanced healthcare facilities. However, this initiative resulted in countrywide shutdown of hospitals, reduction of number of patient beds, mass firing of healthcare staff, and increase in prices for medical services with a notable decrease in their quality. Some regions have suffered from a total collapse of the free healthcare system.

On February 21, 2012, a Russian punk-rock band, Pussy Riot, performed a ‘punk prayer’ in Christ the Saviour church. In March, three of the musicians — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich — were arrested. The two former women were jailed, and the latter was given a suspended sentence. Amnesty International recognized the members of the band as ‘prisoners of conscience’. Pussy Riot attacks dictatorship, chauvinism, Putin, and the political environment in Russia, and defends freedom of art, freedom of expression, the individual, and gender equality. The case of the feminist punk band was covered in 86% of mass media outside Russia as an example of breached freedom of individual, speech, expression and art.

The May Decrees were signed by Vladimir Putin on May 7, 2012, the Inauguration Day for his third term. They consisted of 218 orders to the Government covering a vast number of challenges in the fields of economy, healthcare, education, demography, science, foreign policy, public administration system, armed forces, etc. Active members from the All-Russia People’s Front stated that the Government had executed only 24 orders by the beginning of May 2016. However, the Government itself reported on 154.

In early June, Putin signed the law increasing the liability for violations happening at demonstrations. For example, the law increases charges for violations happening at demonstrations by ten times (up to RUB 300,000); it presumes community service for the breakers, prohibits masks at protests and introduces penalties for unauthorized public demonstrations under the guise of public gatherings. Besides, local authorities are now allowed to set a minimum distance between picketers, and courts can recognize several pickets against a common issue as a mass protest.

Implemented in April 2012, the new law restores direct elections of heads of regions. However, the law stipulates that the candidates should go through ‘municipal filtration’ to get nominated. It means that the candidate must receive support from at least 5–10% of the delegates (deputies) from the municipal units and elected municipal heads of different levels. This municipal filter has become a convenient tool to select candidates favorable to authorities. Since then, many opposition politicians have failed to overcome this threshold.

Signed on July 30, 2012, by President Putin, the new law provides a penalty for defamation, defined as communicating false statements about a person that injure the honor, dignity and reputation of the person in question. The defamation against such administrative officials as judges, jury members, prosecutors, investigators, inquiry officers, court enforcement officers, is covered by a separate article. The penalty for defamation against an ordinary person is either RUB 500,000 or 160 hours of community service. The penalty for defamation against an official from the above-mentioned category is RUB 1–5 million or 480 hours of community service.

On July 11, the State Duma passed a law to compile a list of websites banned in Russia. The legislation covers websites posting prohibited content. The sites will be monitored by a special entity (operator) informing the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media about undesirable information found in the Internet. The undesirable information involves child porn, instructions on purchasing drugs and committing suicide, etc. If detected, the Federal Service gives a notice to the site owner. If the latter does not fulfill the requirements to improve the site content within the given deadlines, the site is included into the list. This legislation received criticism from the Presidential Council for Human Rights and the Russian Associations for Electronic Communications. Wikipedia, VKontakte social network, Yandex and other popular resources shut down in protest.

Passed in November 2012, the law prohibits non-profit organizations from receiving financial assistance from abroad. If an organization has ties with international financial entities and is involved in political activity, it is recognized as a ‘foreign agent’. This law initiated mass prosecutions of non-profit organizations in Russia. These measures have led to many entities to be taken down. The ‘foreign agents’ list consists of 84 organizations. During the checks, the law-enforcement officials constantly went beyond their authority and violated the law. However, largely this remained unnoticed.

In 2013, the State Duma passed a law introducing administrative penalties for LGBT propaganda among children in the amount of RUB 50,000–1,000,000. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation defines ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations’ as dissemination of information that can be harmful for health and morality, as well as build a perverted view on social equality of traditional and non-traditional marital relations among youth. Generally, this means one can not refer to LGBT as ‘normal’, especially around an under-aged person. In June 2017, the European Court of Human Rights recognized this law as discriminative and emphasized that it contradicts Article 10 (Freedom of Expression) and Article 14 (Prohibition of Discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 2013, amendments were introduced into Article 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They refer to insulting religious feelings. Actions are recognized as criminal if they are aimed at offending the feelings of religious people or groups, or demonstrating disrespect to them and their religion. The Russian Law used to have an article covering cases of offending religious feelings; however, it was part of the Administrative Code and charged administrative penalties. Now this administrative offence has been turned into a crime. The Article itself gives no definition to such a ‘religious feelings offence’, which leads to prosecution for anything.

Since August 19, 2013, Russian administrative officials cannot have foreign bank accounts abroad or assets in other countries. The law covers chiefs of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Central Bank, government-owned corporations, executive agencies, RF regions, federal public services, the Government, as well as their wives and children. The officials had a chance to either close the accounts, or resign from service. Many top officials refused to close foreign funds. As a result, the Government stated that it could not trust such officials anymore and dismissed them. Meanwhile, some owners of foreign bank accounts remain in office.

August 24, 2013 saw the implementation of Article 282 on Incitement of Hatred or Enmity, as well as Violation of Human Dignity. The Article states that any violation of dignity of a person or a group of persons on the basis of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, etc. shall be punishable under criminal law. This Article followed the concerns of the Government about the growing extremist activity in the Internet. As nobody defined the term ‘extremist activity’, the law became a convenient way to fight against political opposition.

Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi from 7 to 23 February 2014. Preparation for the event included the construction of new facilities and creation of additional jobs. Official reports identified that the Winter Olympics cost a total of RUB 214 billion. In fact, it took RUB 1,500 billion to get ready for the Olympics. This amount came from government-owned corporations, such as Olympstroy, Russian Railways, Gazprom, Sberbank, FSK Development Group, Inter RAO, MRSK, etc.

According to the new law, State Duma Deputy Elections are held on the basis of a mixed election system stipulating that 225 deputies are elected in single-mandate electoral districts (one deputy per district) while the other 225 are elected within the federal electoral district proportionally to the number of votes cast for federal candidate lists. Political experts stress that the new system and electoral district division are aimed at lowering the influence of the more liberal population living in big cities. Another crucial element is the change of the election month from December to September. It reduces the duration and efficiency of election campaigns run by opposition parties because of the summer period.

On February 24, the court of Zamoskvorechie district, Moscow, sentenced eight people named in the Bolotnaya Square case investigation to 2.5-4 years in standard regime penal colony. While the verdict was being pronounced, over 200 protesters were arrested by the court house. That evening, those who disagreed gathered in Tverskaya Street. By midnight, the number of the arrested exceeded 600.

In March 2014, the USA, the European Union, Australia, Canada and a number of other countries imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation. The reason was the annexation of Crimea by Russia and Russia’s participation in the conflict in Ukraine. The West’s sanctions included visa restrictions on a number of officials, and sanctions on cooperation with Russian companies. The EU restricted access to capital markets for Russian state-owned banks and rejected exports of oil products. The overall result was a fall in oil prices and plunge in the exchange rate of the Russian rouble against the dollar and the euro.

In May 2014, FSB (Federal Security Service) arrested the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, claiming that Sentsov had participated in the Right Sector terrorist organization. The investigation reported that Oleg Sentsov and three other people had been preparing terrorist attacks in Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol. FSB also claimed that the Right Sector acted to undermine the political environment in Crimea and influence political authorities. In fact, Oleg Sentsov supported the Alliance For United Ukraine in Crimea in February–March 2014 and angered Russian Special Forces with this support. Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years in a high-security penal colony. On September 7, 2019, he was released as a part of prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

On April 22, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Federal Law on Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information. These amendments concern organisers of dissemination of information and bloggers. According to the amended legislation, they must notify the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of their activity, store the information about transmission of messages of users and information about these users for six months, and provide this information to the empowered state bodies. This law infringes upon the rights and freedoms of speech and information, and grants government agencies an easier access to citizens’ private information.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered the payment of EUR 1.86 billion in compensation based upon the Yukos complaint against Russian tax authorities. Later, the Russian Constitutional Court came to the conclusion that the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Yukos case violates the Russian Constitution and allowed the government authorities to reject the compensation payment. The CC stated that Russia could not pay EUR 1.86 billion because the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights provided by the ECHR contradicted the country’s Constitution.

Article 212.1 emerged in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by the United Russia's behest. It stipulates criminal liability for repeated 'violation of the settled procedure of organization or holding a meeting, protest, parade, demonstration, and picketing' described in Article 20.2 of the Administrative Offences Code of the Russian Federation. Breaching this article may result in a million ruble fine, community and compulsory service or imprisonment for up to five years. Human rights activists and advocates insist that Article 212.5 criminalizes protests and contradicts Article 50 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Article is titled after Ildar Dadin, the first convicted under it.

After the USA and the EU imposed anti-Russian sanctions, the Russian Government decided to meet them with counter-sanctions. Russian sanctions on the USA and the EU mostly concerned imports from these countries. Meat, dairy products, fish, vegetables and fruits were prohibited to import and sell. Sanctions also included restrictions for certain officials and legislators from the US and Canada. The embargo initiated by Russia resulted in the drastic increase in prices for products and substitutes used in production, and the overall financial crisis in the country.

In January 2015, Ildar Dadin, an opposition civic activist, was arrested and charged with repeated violations of the rules of organizing demonstrations and pickets. Dadin was the first person charged for violations during demonstrations described in Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code passed in 2014. Since 2011, Dadin had been an active participant in pickets and events organized by the opposition. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Amnesty International recognized Dadin as a ‘prisoner of conscience’.

On February 27, 2015, a prominent Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was killed crossing Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow. He had continuously expressed his discontent with Putin’s policy and was one of the leaders of PARNAS Party (Party of People’s Freedom). Nemtsov was shot in the head, stomach, liver and heart. The assassin fled the scene in a white car. Anzor and Shadid Gubashevs, Zaur Dudaev, Khamzat Bakhaev, and Temrlan Eskerkhanov were arrested on a charge of murder. The contractor has not been found yet.

This law stipulates that any foreign or international organization declared ‘undesirable’ will be prohibited from working in Russia. ‘Undesirable’ organizations are those posing ‘a threat to the foundation of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, the defense capability of the country or the security of the State’. The decision is made solely by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation without any charges or trial. In this case, affiliated companies are shut down, accounts are frozen, and their leadership, as well as employees, are threatened with criminal charges. Similar to the Law on Foreign Agents, this law has affected many non-profit organizations, including those criticizing Russian authorities, protecting human rights, monitoring elections, and engaging in educational activities.

On July 29, President Putin signed the decree to dispose of sanctioned products, such as agricultural goods, raw materials, and food imported from the countries that imposed sanctions on a number of Russian individuals and companies. The products destroyed by such a barbaric method could have been donated to the poor and the hungry. However, the idea itself was considered to be more important.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation ruled that it was from now on appropriate to ignore the orders of the ECHR if they contradict the country’s Constitution. According to the decision of the CC, a special procedure will be administered for such cases. The Constitutional Court claims that the Constitution has a priority. It will lead to cancelation of all decisions made by the ECHR in any way or another contradicting the Constitution, including compensations awarded by the ECHR to illegally charged opposition members.

On September 30, 2015, the Federation Council of Russia (Russia’s upper house of Parliament) authorized the Russian president to use armed forces outside the country. This decision allowed for the start of a military campaign in Syria on the same day. By September 2017, Russian Aerospace Forces had performed over 30 thousand combat flights and had administered over 90 thousand air strikes. According to the official Russian position, it fights against terrorists in Syria and supports Bashar al-Assad. The real aim of the Russian involvement in the conflict seems to be the desire to improve its position on the world stage and to use the Syrian issue when negotiating with other global powers. The achievement of this goal cost Russia billions of dollars and dozens of lives of its soldiers.

In July 2016, the so-called package of ‘Yarovaya laws’ was adopted. It obliges telephone and Internet providers to store all Russians’ phone calls and messages for six months and all metadata for three years. Upon the inquiry of FSB (Federal Security Service), all telecoms firms shall decode any data, either monetary transactions, or private messages. Parcels will be scanned too. The Law was approved in spite of the fact that it infringes upon human rights and the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

In November 2016, Mass Media published the letter by Ildar Dadin from IK-7 penal colony to his wife. The letter contained information about extremely brutal methods of tortures used against him by the warden and other officers. They took all his belongings away and put him into solitary confinement. Ildar responded with a hunger strike. To make him stop the strike, the ward and 10 other people beat him, shoved his head down a toilet, strung him up by his handcuffed wrists, and threatened him with rape. After this incident, he was transferred to a colony in Altay Region.

In February 2017, the State Duma adopted the Law on Decriminalization of Domestic Violence. Now injuries caused by a member of your family for the first time are considered as an administrative offence, but not a crime. Such violence is punishable by a fine of RUB 30,000, 15 days in prison, or community service. There is no exception for pregnant women. If their spouts beat them, it is still charged as an administrative offence. The statistics say that 93% of the victims of domestic violence are women abused by their husbands. The new law makes them wait for another beating to punish their offenders.

2017 saw the launch of a new renovation programme. Vladimir Putin and the mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, approved the demolition of 5,173 rundown blocks of flats. The plan is to move 350 Moscow families to new apartments. The voting for demolition had been held before the law was drafted and the programme was adopted. Thus, Moscow citizens knew nothing about the rehousing order and were afraid of getting ‘a pig in a poke’. It initiated protests and quarrels between neighbors, to say nothing of the violation of the right to private property.

In November 2017, a new Law on Media Foreign Agents was passed. Now media financed from abroad can be declared foreign agents. The adoption of this law followed the RT television network agreeing to the request from the US to register as a foreign agent. Russian authorities might think that Russia lacked the same law. The legislation of the US differs dramatically from the Russian legislation, though. The new law met criticism from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, international human rights organizations, and the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.

Adopted on November 1, 2018, the new law obliged the owners of VPN-services and anonymizers to ban websites with prohibited content. This purpose requires all owners of anonymizers to connect to a specially designed federal information system. Then, they will have to block the access to all banned websites. Any refusal to do so will be followed by its shutdown. The law focuses on popular VPN-services showing their readiness to meet the legislation. The measures taken will ramp up Internet censorship and be harmful for Internet freedom in Russia.

Former Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter were attacked in Salisbury. They had been poisoned by a nerve agent ‘Newcomer’, contained in a perfume bottle and sprayed against the Skripals’ door. British Government reported that the operation was performed by Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, two officers from Russia’s military intelligence service. The suspects were caught by surveillance cameras in London and Salisbury. British Prime Minister Theresa May stated in the Parliament that the Government was almost sure that ‘Russian leaders’ approved the attack. Russian authorities deny any involvement in the attack.

On March 25, 2018, a children’s zone in Winter Cherry shopping mall caught on fire. The exits of the cinema complex in the mall, reorganized from a confectionery factory, were all blocked from the outside, which caused the disastrous accident. The fire killed 60 people, with 37 children among the dead. The Winter Cherry tragedy triggered inspections in regional shopping centers and cinemas, while the rating of Aman Tuleev, one of the oldest governors, collapsed dramatically. He left the office in response to the protests. However, he was soon chosen a speaker in the Regional Council, and then designated as the Rector of Kuzbass Regional Institute of Advanced Training.

On April 16, 2018, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media blocked Telegram, a popular Russian messenger. It followed the refusal of the service owner to provide the encryption keys for the accounts, allegedly used to plan terrorist activities in Saint Petersburg. If the FSB (Federal Security Service) had received the ‘master encryption keys’, they would have been able to read all users’ messages. Telegram stated that this request contradicted Article 23 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guaranteeing the right to privacy of correspondence and telephone conversations. Despite the ban, Telegram still works in Russia.

In May 2018, the State Duma introduced a bill creating fines for storing and selling sanctioned products. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media stiffened penalties, since some products prohibited to import from the US and EU still come to Russia through third countries. Sanctioned products lay on the shelves of small shops, in online stores, wrapped in packages with markings of the countries allowed to import from. The new bill punishes any manipulation of the banned products, such as import, storage, disposal, repacking and any kinds of deals. This bill increased the prices for domestic products, which had been already rather high.

On May 7, while inaugurating, Vladimir Putin signed a new ‘May decree’. Its key goal is to improve living standards. For example, the Poverty rate shall be cut in half by 2024. The spheres of education, healthcare, economy shall also change to the better. Many aims of the decrees are quite vague and the funding sources are uncertain. By the way, Putin signed almost identical decrees six years ago. They must have significantly changed the living standards for Russians. Although, it must have happened by 2018, not by 2024.

In the middle of June 2018, Novaya Gazeta, an opposition newspaper, published a video showing tortures against Evgeny Makarov, one of the prisoners of Yaroslavl colony. The film recorded how 18 colony officers tortured him tied up with handcuffs. The incident took place on June 29, 2017. This post provoked strong public reaction. Makarov’s advocate Irina Biryukova, who released the video, moved from Russia applying for political asylum. The case is prosecuted by the Central Administration of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

Alexander Rastorguyev, Orkhan Dzhemal and Kirill Radchenko were killed on July 30, 2018, in the Central African Republic. They were investigating the activities of Wagner, a private military company headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman having firm ties with Vladimir Putin. Documents received by an investigation center from various sources stated that the journalists were tracked from the moment they arrived in CAR, and the people from PMC Wagner took part in it. The investigation reported it was Prigozhin’s employees who started to dispatch the information that the journalists were merely the victims of a robbery.

The Ministry of Communications suggested extending the Law on Information, adding a list of reasons to shut-down websites. Sites which ‘justify extremist activity’ shall be banned. To shut a site down, a few words will be enough, even without any incitements. It may lead to a ban of any resources posting content that is declared extremist by no clear criteria. At the same time, their owners will have no chance to assert their rights in court.

for the reform influencing the Poverty rate among senior citizens are pessimistic. In 2018, 4.2% of seniors were below the poverty line; by 2028, that figure is projected to be 7.3%.

On September 30, opposition media Dozhd published a video cut, insisting that it shows tortures against the prisoners of Penal Colony 7 in Omsk (be careful, the video may be disturbing). Former prisoners of IK-7 tell that the officers not only made them dance naked, but also used other methods, such as electrocution, suffocation with a plastic bag, making them stay naked outside in winter and urinating on them. In August, the Head of the Federal Service for Execution of Punishment in Omsk region Sergey Koryuchin was dismissed. Human right defendant from Omsk, Irina Zaytseva, says that he was aware of the tortures in the colony.

The election of the governor in the Primorye region is said to be the weirdest election in 2018. The first round did not produce a winner, so two candidates went forward to the second round of voting. They were Andrey Tarasenko (46.6%) from United Russia and Andrey Ishchenko (24.6%) from the Communist Party. On September 16, with 95% of the votes counted, the Communist was 6% ahead of his opponent. After 97.87% of the votes were counted, the Communist candidate remained the leader, but with a 3.3% advantage. Upon counting 99.1% of the votes, the United Russia candidate shot ahead with a 1.49% lead. The results were changing by the minute, and everyone could only talk about a communist winning (oh, now losing) the election. Ishschenko claimed that the polling board blatantly rewrote the voting results protocols adding thousands of votes to the United Russia candidate. The Central Electoral Commission recommended annulling the September results. The rerun of the election let ‘unaffiliated candidate’ Oleg Kozhemyako win. Well, was it a win...

On September 26, 2018, the leaders of Chechnya and Ingushetia sign a land swap deal on the border between the republics, leading to an exchange of territories in border areas. It sparked mass Ingush protests calling for the recognition of the deal as illegal and asking for a referendum. The demonstrations lasted for about a month. Finally, in December, the Constitutional Court of Russia invalidated this deal.

On the night of December 31, 2018, a large section of a high-rise building 164/2, Karla Marksa street in Magnitogorsk, collapsed. Officials say a gas leak caused the blast. 39 people were reported dead. By August 2019, the reasons for the explosion had not been announced.

Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist with the Open Russia movement, was arrested on suspicion of participation in the activities of an undesirable organization in January 2019, and put under house arrest. The accusation against Shevchenko was triggered by her promoting cooperation with protest organizations and display of anti-Putin signs during demonstrations. Alexander Soloviev, the Chairman of the movement, said that the organizations recognized as undesirable in Russia had no links with Open Russia. While under arrest, Anastasia Shevchenko was raising three under-age children. Her eldest daughter suffered from a severe disease and died during her mother’s house arrest.

On January 1, a new decree of the Government was enacted. It raised the VAT from 18% to 20%. The increase in VAT rate will bring the Federal Budget an average ₽620 billion of extra profit annually. The money will finance the national projects specified in the May Presidential decree. Their realization will cost RUB 8,000 billion within six years. The increase in VAT means an increase in expenses of each solvent citizen by average RUB 5,000 a year.

January 1 was the beginning of a gradual growth of utilities tariffs — from 1.7% to 2.4% by July. This is the first time when tariffs are adjusted according to an index twice a year. Earlier, it was done in July only. Utilities receipt obtained a separate line on ‘trash pickup’.

Russian politician Rauf Arashukov was arrested in the Federation Council of Russia (Russia’s upper house of Parliament) in the morning of January 30. The council meeting was closed to the media, and the exits were blocked by the Federal Protective Service officers. RBK channel reported that Yury Chaika, the Prosecutor General, and Alexander Bastrykin, the Head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, entered the upper house of Parliament. After the arrest, the Investigative Committee said that the lawmaker was charged with participation in a criminal organization, compulsion of a witness and murder — all three were articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva was charged with publicly justifying terrorism following her radio commentary about the explosion executed by 17-year-old Mikhail Zhlobitsky at the Arkhangelsk FSB (Federal Security Service) office. On February 6, local law-enforcement authorities came to raid the house of the woman. The journalist stated that it was the Government itself that provoked radicalization among the youth, as it had already happened in Russian history. Prokopyeva may spend 7 years in prison.

The State Duma passed a law providing that gadgets and social networks were prohibited for military men. The law prohibits military men to have any devices, such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and other electrical devices able to connect the Internet and store information. The law does not only cover professional servicemen, but also conscripts. It’s not clear how they will manage to keep in touch with their families and friends.

On January 1, 2019, a so-called ‘Trash Reform’ was introduced. It changed the rules for disposal and the charging procedure. After some preparation, the reform began but it was implemented in a curious way. The majority have already decided on the integrated operators and increased the tariffs, while only several regions could recycle. The reformers failed to build enough solid domestic waste recycling facilities, sorting and incineration plants. In the regions already covered by the reform, people are complaining about the increased tariffs and calling for their cancelation.

Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Kazan and a number of other Russian cities saw demonstrations called the March of Maternal Anger. People took to the streets showing their protest against political repressions. The event was provoked by the death of the daughter of the activist Anastasia Shevchenko. The girl died in a hospital while her mother stayed under house arrest. The symbol of the march was a black heart.

On March 29, a weird law on disrespecting the Government was enacted. According to the passed amendments, punishable will be ‘insulting information’ that expresses a ‘disrespect for society’ and ‘the State or the organs of State power’. Meanwhile, it is still unclear what ‘insulting’ and ‘disrespect’ are. In short, the new law places limits on freedom and increases the chances to go to jail for a like or a share.

In October 2018, mass demonstrations of thousands burst out in Ingushetia after the land deal on borders change concluded with Chechnya. A new phase of protest started in Ingushetia in the end of March 2019 and was triggered by the revision of a republican law on referendum. The new version eliminated the paragraph providing that the national referendum should decide upon the changes of the republic’s borders. The demonstration on March 26 gathered 10,000 participants. The protest in Magas was marked by disruptions in internet service. Part of the demonstrators stayed at the square overnight, where Rosgvardiya (National Guard of Russia) tried to break them up three times.

On January 9, 2018, the head of the Grozno office of Memorial Human Rights Center Oub Titiev was arrested in Chechnya. He was charged with drug possession and sentenced to 4 years in a colony. On June 21, 2019, he won parole.

The first person to be fined for disrespecting the authorities was Yuri Kartyzhev, a
34-year-old citizen in the Novgorod region. The court fined him RUB 30,000 for a post on the social media site VKontakte that ‘Putin is a fantastic *******’. Kartyzhev broadcasted the court session on his Vkontakte page, which consisted almost entirely of shared articles, videos, and memes criticizing the authorities.

On November 1, 2019, a Law on autonomous Internet, introduced by Andrey Klishas, will be enacted. The official version is that the aim of this law is to ‘ensure the safe and sustainable functioning of the Russian Internet in case Russia’s global Internet access is shut off from abroad’. Moreover, it was developed considering the ‘aggressive character of the US strategy on national cybersecurity adopted in September 2018’. This law provides that any website, service or content may be recognized as ‘illegal’ and banned. First of all, it will affect the websites and services hosted on foreign servers. The budget for the law realization is RUB 30 billion.

The protest started on May 13, 2019, after the installation of a fence around the Drama Theater, where the authorities wanted to erect a church. Hundreds of people took to the streets. They called for the governor to move to another city and began putting up tents to stay there overnight. After a while, people wearing sport suits came down on the demonstrators shouting, ‘For church!’ The anti-church protest resulted in 26 arrests and 3 participants injured and sent to the hospital. The authorities of Ekaterinburg abandoned the idea of building a church.

A burning Sukhoi Superjet-100 intended to fly from Moscow to Murmansk made an emergency landing in Sheremetyevo airport. 41 people died in the accident. The Sukhoi Superjet-100 is one of the key image-building projects for Russia. It is the first aircraft designed from scratch after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This plane used to be very promising, and was seen as a symbol of the Russian aviation industry's revival. However, the SSJ-100 hasn’t become commercially successful yet, because it has proven to be defective from technical point of view. Within the last 8 years, it has gotten into minor accidents at least 25 times.

The June 2 demonstration against the construction of a landfill for Moscow waste near Shiyes station was the largest within the last 10 years in Syktyvkar. Different reports count the number of participants from 5,000 to 8,000 people. Since July 26, 2018, the border between Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region is a construction site for the biggest landfill for Moscow waste. The population of the regions protested against the project, which hadn’t been approved by them, local authorities or experts. The response has been brutality, arrests, fines and criminal cases.

On June 6, Ivan Golunov, a journalist of an opposition media Meduza, was arrested for attempting to sell drugs. The law-enforcement officers referred to the photos of a drug lab said to be found in the journalist’s apartment. Later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) admitted that the apartment was not his. Meduza associated the arrest of Ivan Golunov with his professional activity. This case provoked strong public reaction. On June 11, the Head of MIA Vladimir Kolokoltsev closed Ivan Golunov case for a lack of evidentiary support. On June 13, two heads of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were dismissed.

The forest fires in Siberia started in July 2019 in remote areas of Krasnoyarsk region, Irkutsk region, Buryatia, Yakutia and beyond Lake Baikal. By the end of the month, they had covered 3 billion hectares all together. Authorities introduced a state of emergency in 5 regions of the Russian Federation. The coverage of the forest fires in Siberia in 2019 has been vast. Millions of tons of CO2 were emitted to the Earth’s atmosphere, which accelerated global warming. The fires were widely covered by social networks. The users actively promoted posts with the relevant hashtags and demanded for immediate fire-fighting operations.

District election committees denied unaffiliated candidates the right to register for the election to the Moscow State Duma. Among them were Lyubov Sobol, Ilia Yashin, Dmitry Gudkov, Alexander Soloviev, Yulia Galyamina and other opposition politicians. Almost all of them were refused because they exceeded the maximum allowable share of invalid voters’ signatures (10%). Neither independent handwriting analysis, nor voters’ applications managed to convince the election committee. Lyubov Sobol announced a hunger strike, and Moscow saw demonstrations calling for the registration of the candidates.

This is the name for the case regarding ‘civil disobedients’ initiated by the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation after the July 27 demonstration in support of the unregistered candidates. At first there were 15 accused in the case, but then the majority was charged only with violence against the policemen, and disobedients were charged only with two persons involved. The first sentences were pronounced a month after the rally: some of the defendants received from 2 to 3.5 years in prison, some were given suspended sentences and fines. The persecution of the five defendants in the case ceased. One of them is still under investigation.

The Investigative Committee brought a criminal case regarding laundering of 1 billion (or 75 million) rubles by Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. According to the investigation, from January 2016 to December 2018, Anti-Corruption Foundation members and those ’involved in its operations’ received a large amount of money generated from criminal activity, deposited them into their bank accounts and transferred to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Since then, Navalny’s offices have been regularly subjected to house-checks, while the accounts of members, volunteers and random activists are blocked.

On September 8, Saint Petersburg held elections for the governor and deputies to municipal councils. This election day is called the most scandalous in Russia, with splashes of zelyonka (bright green solution), stolen ballots, raids, bought votes, assaults at voting stations, box stuffing, pierced tires, fantastic home voting, and OMON (Special Purpose Mobile Unit). With a record low turnout, the ex-acting governor was finally put into office. The results of the municipal election haven’t been counted yet. Candidates had to guard ballots from election committees 24/7, while the election committees tried to quickly rewrite the protocols in favor of United Russia, who failed at this election.

A demonstration for the ‘Release!’ of political prisoners took place in Sakharov avenue, Moscow. ‘White Counter’ reported about 25.200 participants. The demonstrators demanded the closing of the criminal case regarding money laundering by Anti-Corruption Foundation and to support ‘those who were persecuted for their civil and political activities’.

The court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced 23-year-old Vladislav Mordasov and 20-year-old Yan Sidorov to 6.7 and 6.5 years of strict regimen, respectively. They were found guilty of attempting to organize ’civil unrest’. Sidorov and Mordasov were apprehended on November 5, 2017, near the Rostov regional Government building, where they demonstrated with ’Return land to fire victims’ and ’Dismiss Government’ banners.

The Ministry of Justice put Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation on the list of non-profit organizations acting as ‘foreign agents’. The Ministry of Justice states that the Foundation received RUB 140,000 from Spain and the USA. Political activity + money from foreign sources = foreign agent status.

Putin appointed Valery Fadeev, former state TV host, as the new Chairman of Russia’s Human Rights Council. At the same time, the most contradictory members were forced to retire. Among them were political expert Ekaterina Shulman, Head of the Agora International Human Rights Group Pavel Chikov, Ilia Shablinsky, a professor in the Higher School of Economics, Evgeny Bobrov, the head of the Sunrise Human Rights Group, and the former Chairman of the Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov. Experts expect this institution to become another propaganda outlet.

In the Zabaikalsky region, Ramil Shamsutdinov, a 20-year-old conscript, killed eight fellow soldiers. Both he and his father stated that the reason for the massacre was the bullying by other soldiers and officers, i.e. the humiliating treatment of juniors. During the inquiry, partly published by the Baza, Ramil said that the officers threatened to rape him after the guard duty was over. The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation denies his explanation. Shamsutdinov pleaded guilty and is awaiting a psychological examination.

The Supreme Court banned human right activist Lev Ponomarev’s movement For Human Rights. The Ministry of Justice believes that this human rights group violated the Constitution of the Russian Federation and a number of Russian laws, including the Law on Foreign Agents. Lev Ponomarev stated that the organization would continue working regardless of the court’s decision.

Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov demanded to punish Internet users who might ’injure someone’s dignity’ and ’ruin good relations between people, by spreading rumors around’. According to the translations by BBC and one of the Russian TV programmes, he called to ’kill, arrest and threaten’ such people. The leader of Chechnya emphasized that he was ready to persecute everyone injuring dignity even ’if it would violate all world’s laws’. The Kremlin refused to check Kadyrov’s speech.

On November 9, Sokolv, Associate Professor at the History Department of SPbU, was found in Moika River with a backpack containing woman’s limbs. Later, Sokolov was found to have killed his 24-year-old student Anastasiia Eshchenko, who he had lived with and supposedly wanted to marry. The scholar’s colleagues said that the university knew about his affairs with female students but did not fire him the lack of official complaints. More than 90 thousand people signed the petition demanding to punish the executive staff of the university. Putin responded by extending the term of SPbU rector Kropychev’s office ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯.

After the second reading, the State Duma adopted the amendment allowing recognition of individuals as ’foreign agents’. To get this status, a person must 1) distribute ’foreign agent’ media content or take part in its creation; 2) receive money or property from abroad or from Russian legal units financed from foreign sources. In fact, the Ministry of Justice can declare any person a ’foreign agent’ only writing anything online and getting money from abroad. Human rights activists, artists and scientists have already called this document ’ridiculous from the legal point of view and obviously anti-constitutional’.

The State Duma passed a law prohibiting the sale of ’any kinds of technically complex goods’ (smartphones, computers and smart-TV) without Russian software. It means that all new gadgets should have a number of particular apps defined by the Government. For example, those will include ’State Services’ app, Yandex package and others managed by the State. The bill is said to come to the Parliament from the Presidential Administration and its aim is to provide a ’sovereign Internet’.

Four thousand Russian patients suffering from cystic fibrosis found themselves without lifesaving medications. The ban of public procurement and import substitution policy led to most Russian hospitals buying cheaper equivalents of the expensive medicine. Producers from other countries found it unprofitable to sell certain medications in Russia and left the Russian market. The situation is the same with other drugs, for example, insulin. The Ministry of Health promises to find the solution and offers various options but cannot provide the most important thing — the high quality of foreign medications.

The Federation Council posted a draft of the bill regarding the prevention of domestic violence. It sounds rather strange, for example it states that beatings are not considered violence; it also only covers officially married couples with a common child. It will be the police who decide whether it is violence, or not. Regions will decide how to help victims on their own. The authors of the project called its final version ’a courtesy towards fundamentalists’. А wave of strikes occurred in the country.

At the end of January, Saint Petersburg welcomed Mikhail Dudin cargo vessel from Amsterdam. It brought 80 containers with nuclear waste, a by-product of natural uranium enrichment. The legislation prohibits the import of nuclear waste to Russia for its burial and deactivation. Thus, State Atomiс Energy Corporation Rosatom states that these ’nuclear tails’ are transferred from Gronau to Russia for treatment and enrichment. Experts have doubts about the relevance and feasibility of the corporation’s plans. Many Russian and European cities are flooded with protests against ’nuclear tails’ transportation. The parties to the deal deny the charge and talk about innovations and caring for the climate.

Vladimir Putin signed the law providing for 2-6 million rouble penalties against Internet companies for repeated denial to give FSB the keys to encode users’ chats. If a legal unit denies transferring Russian users’ data to Russia, it may be obliged to pay from 1 to 18 million rubles. In April 2019, Twitter and Facebook each received a 3,000 roubles fine.

The reason behind the protests involving over 100 people is the probable union of the two countries. The demonstrations took place during the meeting of Lukashenko and Putin in Sochi, where they discussed Russian-Belarus integration, including ‘road maps’ expected to be approved soon.

The World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from all international sports for four years, including the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Russian athletes can participate in the competitions if they prove to be ’clear’ and agree to perform under the neutral flag (for example, at the World Cup 2022 in Qatar). Besides, Russia will pay a USD 5 million fine, will not be able to host major championships or apply to do so, and Russian government officials will be prohibited from attend them.

Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the Administrative Offences Code of the Russian Federation. They provide that a legal unit violating the permitted procedure for ’foreign agent’ media performance twice within one year gets a penalty up to RUB 5 million. To avoid violating the law, such published works should be indicated as written and (or) distributed by ’foreign agent’ media. According to the law on ’foreign agent’ individuals, all people may be concerned. Citizens accused of this violation may become subject to a fine up to RUB 1,000 or sentenced to 15 days of arrest.

After the second reading, the State Duma adopted the law providing that the incineration of waste at special plants is equal to disposal. It happened exactly at the same time that numerous Russian cities held protests against new cases of waste dumping and incineration plants. Greenpeace considers the adoption of these amendments as promoting the construction of expensive incineration plants and aetting back waste treatment in Russia.

On December 23, the house of Ruslan Sheveddinov, a member of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, was searched. He was detained and taken for interrogation. On December 24, Shaveddinov was conscripted to serve at a military base in the Arctic. Nobody can contact him. The lawyers filed complaints against the illegality of the conscription, but Moscow Army Recruiting Office claims that everything is in order.

A miracle did not happen, Putin did not announce his retirement in his New Year’s appeal to the people. So sorry... But two weeks later in his appeal to the Federation Assembly he proposed a number of changes to the Russian Constitution: limit the supremacy of international law; exclude the clause limiting presidents to two consecutive terms; turn the Council of State into a constitutional body; grant the Federation Council the right to remove judges from the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, etc. А workgroup charged with turning the proposals into a State Duma bill included 75 people: author of multiple controversial Internet censorship bills senator Andrey Klishas, chief ataman of the Russian Federation Nikolay Doluda, athletes, musicians, astronauts, writers and only 11 lawyers. On January 15, 2020 the transition of power began in Russia (from Putin to Putin).

Two hours after Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia’s entire ministerial cabinet will formally resign. In a public statement, he said the resignation was necessary to ‘provide the president of our country with the opportunity to make all necessary decisions in these (Author’s note: adoption of amendments to the Constitution) conditions’. After dissolution of the Government, Medvedev was offered a non-existent position as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council which is led by the President himself. The new Chairman of the Government has become the former head of the Federal Tax Service, Mikhail Mishustin.

On February 10, the military court in Penza handed down the sentences to seven anarchists and anti-fascist activists. FSB associate them with a group known as ‘Set’ (meaning Network), officially banned in Russia. Those men were found guilty and sentenced to 6-18 years in penal colonies. The prosecution relied solely on the admissions of guilt signed under tortures. At the trail, all the accused recanted their statements. The investigation provided no other evidence. It did not prevent the court from passing the verdict of guilty.

The court in Yekatirenburg sentenced Maxim Vernikov to 300 hours of community service. He was the editor of Ural.MBK Media publishing house and former moderator of Open Russia Civic Movement in the Sverdlovsk region. Following his membership in the Open Russia and his broadcast featuring Mikhail Khodorkovsky, he was found guilty under the Undesirable Organizations Law. He became the first person convicted under this law.

The Moscow court fined Twitter and Facebook for they had refused transferring Russian user data to Russia. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media first demanded Twitter and Facebook to move Russian user data in 2018. Bureaucratic replies to the Service costed both companies three thousand roubles each. Following the new amendments in the Code of Administrative Offences, the same violation may now result in a fine of up to 6 million roubles. Thus, the Russian Government forces the enterprises to give it the access to the users’ private information.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration reinstates over $50 billion award for Yukos shareholders claiming that Moscow had expropriated the company’s assets. With the current exchange rate, it accounts to more than 3,000 billion roubles. The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation stated to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. This judgement may deliver no effect, though. It will depend on the expected amendments in the Constitution allowing the Government to ignore any decisions of international authorities.

On February 29, thousands gathered in Moscow to honour Boris Nemtsov. The demonstrators started at Strastnoy Boulevard and marched to Sakharov Avenue. Independent protest monitor White Counter reported 22.3 thousand people took part in the meeting, which was twice as much as previous year. 200 participants were stopped at metal detectors for they were ‘late’.

Early in March, Russia rejected OPEC’s suggestions to reduce oil production following the coronavirus -caused decreasing demand. It has led to a record for recent 11 years collapse in oil price. Prices for the rouble and Russian stock markets plunged down, too. Leonid Fedun, a co-owner of Russia's second-largest oil producer Lukoil, has estimated losses from Russian refusal of the deal between 100 and 150 million USD per day.

On March 11, the State Duma approved Constitutional Amendments in the third reading. 383 deputies voted for the amendments, 0 was against, and 43 parliamentarians abstained. A couple of hours later, the Federal Assembly supported the amendments too. 160 members voted for the bill, one was against and three people abstained. The next day, 2/3 of the regional parliaments approved the amendments. Only 67 votes from the total 3980 were against.

To consider the amendments, the Constitutional Court gathered for the emergency session on the weekend. Last time when such happened was in 2014, when the Constitutional Court discussed the annexation of the Crimea. The Court sat behind closed doors for two days and finally decided that zeroing out term limits did not contradict the Constitution. Sure!

With the pandemic spreading across Russia, doctors from numerous regions started to report on the lack of drugs and personal protective equipment (PPE) for dealing with coronavirus patients. There are no masks, uniform, shoe covers and gloves. Doctors are not provided with disposable surgical coats, which they must disinfect and use again. Some hospitals are not supplied with PPEs because they are not supposed to. Authorities claim that such hospitals only cures pneumonia, rather than COVID-19. Sooner or later, the doctors from such medical centers get infected with coronavirus. The independent trade union, charity and noncommercial organizations help health workers. Everyone does, but not the government.

In his first coronavirus speech, Vladimir Putin declared a week from March 30 to April 5 to be non-work. He promised to remain the salary at the same level, although by means of employers. No other measures were taken, and people went for picnics. It caused a significant surge in coronavirus. Mr. Putin promised all kinds of goodies, but they turned out to be nothing. The vote on amendments was delayed for an indefinite period. It should have occurred on April 22.

Mr. Putin signed the decree on spring conscription starting on April 1 despite the coronavirus. Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that the call-up was not delayed, but all the conscripts will be checked for COVID-19. Nobody speculated that the enlistment offices themselves might become a breeding ground for the virus. 135 thousand people will be delivered into army before July 15.

Late in March, the Federal legal internet portal posted a draft presidential decree significantly changing the Strategy Against Extremism. To put it short, almost all political or civil protests may be considered ‘extremism’, while any non-governmental organization and union may be called ‘extremist’. At the same time, the principle given to the law enforcement authorities provides for the more citizens they punish and the more sources they ban, the better.

In his second coronavirus speech, Vladimir Putin extended the period of non-work, so-called ‘self-isolation’ regime, until April 30. Employers still have to maintain the salaries at the same level. It has displeased and angered small and medium-sized enterprise owners. They suffer terrible losses because of the coronavirus and receive no governmental support. Many businesses have to shut down and fire employees. From the beginning of self-isolation, unemployment has rocketed by 45% in Moscow.

In his third speech either to the heads of regions, or to the citizens, Vladimir Putin remembered about the Cumans and Pechenegs, peoples attacking and invading Russia in the 11th-12th centuries. We have already beat them ones, we can beat the coronavirus, too. Mr. Putin enumerated the measures to support the citizens and business suffering from the extended vacation. They are not effective enough, though. The state of emergency was never introduced, the government refuses to make any commitments and help people. President acts like a helpless kitten.

On the night of 3/4 April, Russia stopped all international passenger flights, including those returning Russian citizens captured by the pandemic abroad. At that time, 25 thousand Russians stayed in other countries. Within a couple of days the authorities resumed the evacuation. However, the emergency operations center approved an algorithm causing half-empty airliners and crowded foreign airports.

The riot in penal colony No.15 in the Irkutsk region was sparked after one of the convicts had been mauled. Human rights ombudsmen told that some prisoners slit their wrists. The Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that a guard was attacked, but the reinforcement took the situation under control. Next day, fire engulfed several buildings of the colony. Human rights activists and families of the prisoners say that they could hear shots and explosions, convicts asked for help. After the fire was extinguished, a dead person was found under the ruins. The Investigative Committee initiated cases concerning disorders in the colony.

System of coronavirus lockdown passes was imposed in Moscow on April 15. Moscow citizens need a QR-pass to go outside or reach their offices. They can be checked by the police, the National Guard, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. On the very first day, such checks caused crowds in metro and traffic jams. All methods to obtain the pass failed, the authorities canceled numerous codes, frauds appeared. Agora International Human Rights Group calls this system illegal because freedom of movement is ensured by the Constitution.

On April 20, more than 2,000 residents of Vladikavkaz gathered on Freedom Square to protest against self-isolation and injustice. The demonstrators called for the resignation of Viacheslav Bitarov, the Head of the Republic. He had demanded to shut down all enterprises of the city, but for Bavaria Beer Company owned by his family. People are left unemployed, unsupported by the government and unable to pay for the living. Law enforcement officers tried to kick the protesters away from the square. Some demonstrators responded with throwing stones. The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case concerning acts of violence against public officials.

On April 20, following Rostov-on-Don, users from numerous Russian regions started to use chat of Yandex.Navigator for online demonstrations. Indicating their location near town halls, they wrote messages criticizing the government and the self-isolation. Yandex rushed to delete such messages. Then, the company settled a minimum distance between location marks, prevented unauthorized users from using the chat, and banned the messages posted from fake location marks.

In September 2019, Konstantin Kotov was sentenced to four years in colony under the case considering repeated violation of demonstration rules. He was the second person in Russia to be put in jail under ‘Dadin’s article’ (Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code). In April 2020, the Court of Moscow eased the term to one year and six months. MEMORIAL Human Rights Center recognize Kotov as a prisoner of conscience.

The exchange-value of rouble on the Moscow market dropped again following the falling of oil prices. It is the first time the dollar has exceeded 77 roubles, while the euro has risen over 83 roubles. Oil price decreased to new low and now it costs minus 38 dollars a barrel. The plunge in the prices has occurred despite OPEC+ member-states had agreed on reducing oil production by 9.7 million barrels a day. Analysts say that there is no room for oil storage as soon as no one needs it now. The future of the Russian economy is unclear.

In March 2020, Vedomosty Newpaper owners decided to sell the newspaper to avoid bankruptcy. Next owners promised to retain the editing policy of the publishing house. However, Andrey Shmarov, the new Chief Editor, immediately introduced censorship (eg. he prohibited to publish Levada polls and criticize the zeroing out term limits for the President). The editorial staff issued statements strongly condemning Shmarov's actions, which undermined trust in the newspaper. The new owner of Vedomosty Newspaper is Federalpress that is reported to actively cooperate with authorities and particular governmental bodies. The editorial staff told that after the newspaper was sold it was closed ‘for a private party’.

Vladimir Putin postponed the anniversary of the End of World War II from September 2 to September 3. This is the Remembrance Day for the victims of the Beslan school attack. We have nothing else to add.

Late in April, Victor Sadovnichy, Rector in Moscow State University, announced a major administrative reform in the University. The existing 42 departments will be joint into larger administrative structures, which are higher schools (14-16). Chairpersons assigned by the rector will head the schools. Meanwhile, the importance of the deans elected by the teachers will decrease. Although Sadovnichy promises to retain departments' self-sufficiency, it will obviously lead to the reduced independence of the university vital for its performance.

The persecution of Vladimir Vorontsov, establisher of a social media community named Police Ombudsman, started with a check for a criminal case concerning coronavirus fake news, where he had been reported a witness. Later, he was accused of extorting 300 thousand rubles from a former police officer to avoid disclosure of his personal photos. Late in May, the court brought a criminal case against Vorontsov claiming that he distributed pornographic content illegally and extorted money (30 thousand by now). In July, they added two other accusations concerning insult of representative of authority (Article 319 of the Criminal Code). Investigation was initiated on 7 cases in total. The Police Ombudsman call them a revenge for his public activity.

The Government introduced a bill to the State Duma extending powers of police officers. The new Law will let the police break into vehicles, fire at the unarmed during arrests, close off buildings upon the relevant decision of an executive authority, and cordon off mass gatherings. Moreover, the amendments include stipulation that police officers will not be punished for the actions performed while serving. Absolutely no punishment.

Vladimir Putin signed the Law banning the previously convicted for some medium-gravity crimes from standing in elections within five years. Particularly, under Dadin's Article for repeated violation of protest holding procedure. The blacklist also involves Article 280, Part 2, of the Criminal Code (public incitement to extremist activities via the Internet and mass media). Egor Zhukov, named in the Moscow Case investigation, was sentenced under this very article. The Human Rights Council announced this ban unconstitutional.

On May 13, the authorities of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area signed memorandum on the expected union of the regions and thereby started the procedure. The relative referendum on the union could have been hold on the single voting day (September 13), but the regions saw mass protests. Even some representatives of the United Russia stood against and the referendum was delayed.

Using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover, since the early May the State Duma has adopted a couple of laws concerning voting procedure. First, the Central Electoral Commission was entitled to introduce e-mail and online voting for any election. It is disappointing as soon as e-mail voting is unlikely to be anonymous and the voters can be easily bribed. Plus, it isn't that hard to break into a computer and change the results. Furthermore, the State Services website will allow collecting signatures for a candidate run in local elections (only). However, it will be only possible if the parliament of a subordinate entity of the Federation approves and it will represent up to 50% of the required number.

The State Duma adopted the Law for development of a unified federal information registry containing data on Russians. It will include full name, date and place of birth and death, Insurance Number of Individual Ledger Account, TIN, and other information about the citizens of the country. Marital status and family ties can be added and changed. Each person will be given an ID. Security services will obtain full access to the base.

On May 26, activist Victor Nemytov and journalist Ilya Azar were arrested near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Both of them were one-person picket protesters supporting Vladimir Vorontsov, the establisher of the social media community Police Ombudsmen. On May 28, the court sentenced Azar to 15 days in prison. At that moment, Moscow and St. Petersburg saw solidarity protests, but their participants were soon arrested. Among them were Sergey Smirnov, Chief Editor of Mediazona, Tatyana Felgengauer and Alexander Plyushchev, Echo of Moscow journalists, and others.

Vladimir Putin set the voting date for the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation for July 1, Wednesday. This day is announced a day-off and the authorities allowed to vote within six days before the voting date, that is on June 25-30. All participants of the voting and mass media representatives will be provided with safety masks, gloves, and disposable pens. Russians can also vote from home, while the citizens of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod can do so via the Internet.

On May 29, an accident took place at Plant 3 belonging to the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company. Depressurization of the reservoir led to 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into the rivers and the ground. At the accident scene, experts registered that the permissible concentration exceeded by tens of thousands times. Oil products filled almost all tributaries of the river. The authorities responded two day later, only after post in social media emerged. Specialists estimated the damage at 148 billion rubles. Greenpeace called the accident one of the most severe in the history of the Arctic Region.

Vladimir Putin ordered to develop Russian National Genetic Database. Its operation will be funded from the federal budget. Moreover, Rosneft Company will act as a partner of the program for establishing three genomic research centers in Russia. One of the project will be supervised by Maria Vorontsova. She is rumored to be Putin's elder daughter.

Yulia Tsvetkova, an LGBT activist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, was accused of distribution of pornographic content on the Internet. She posted an image of vagina in social media community called Vagina's Monologues, which addressed the issue of female body stigmatization. According to the Criminal Code, the punishment shall be two to six years' imprisonment.

On June 18, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media unblocked Telegram App in Russia. The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation approved this decision. The reason was that the app would be always accessible and civil servants employed it as their main information online resource. Besides, the Ministry of Communications reported that the Telegram team collaborated with them to fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.

Military court No. 2 of the western district in St. Petersburg sentenced 25-year-old software developer Victor Filinkov and 28-year-old industrial climber Yuly Boiarshinov to 7 and 5,5 years respectively in standard regime penal colony. Both of them were named in the 'Network' Case investigation. They were found guilty of participation in a terrorist association. Boiarshinov was also convicted of illicit possession of explosives.

After sentencing the people involved in the 'Network' Case in St. Petersburg, one-person picket protests emerged near FSB building in Moscow. The police immediately arrested some of the protesters. Journalists reported that over 130 people were delivered to police stations in Moscow. Approximately 30 people were arrested near the court house in St. Petersburg.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Vladimir Putin decided to carry out the 75th Anniversary of the End of Second World War on June 24. It was one week before the voting day for the amendments to the Constitution. 14 thousand military men participated without earing any protective equipment. Although guests were seated apart to keep distance, they soon sat side by side and many took their masks off. The President greeted high-level guests with handshake. He didn't wear gloves, though. He watched the parade sitting side by side with the veterans who had been quarantined for two weeks. Thousands watched the military hardware in the streets of Moscow. The same happened in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities that couldn't cancel this insanity.

On June 26, the court of Meshchansky district, Moscow, announced the 'Seventh Studio' sentences to Sophia Apfelbaum, Alexey Malobrodsky, Yury Itin, and Kirill Serebrennikov. They were accused of theft of public funds allocated for the Platform project. They didn't admit their guilt. Serebrennikov, Itin, and Malobrodsky were put on probation, while Apfelbaum was fined but it was later lifted because the statute of limitation had expired.

Yury Dmitriev, a historian, researcher of Stalin's terror and the Karelian Memorial, was accused of sexual assault on his minor adopted daughter. The prosecution's case consists of the talks to grandmother, psychologist, and the girl herself. Dmitriev's advocate states that the psychologist is linked to the prosecutor and influences the kid. The prosecution demanded 15 years' imprisonment for the historian. Earlier, in 2017, Dmitriev was accused of child pornographic material production, but in 2018 he was declared not guilty.

On July 15, in Moscow and St. Petersburg activists collected signatures to cancel the results of the constitutional voting. In St. Petersburg the line of people wishing to sign the claim was 600 m long. Total 3,000 and 2,000 signatures were obtained in St. Petersburg and Moscow respectively. The meeting was peaceful in St. Petersburg, while in Moscow Special Police Force detained many participants of the following spontaneous walk. OVD-Info reported about 103 arrested people.

On July 7, the police arrested Ivan Safronov. He is the adviser of the CEO of Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, as well as a war industry journalist in The Kommersant, The Vedomosty, and other newspapers. The Federal Security Service states that in 2017 the Check Republic recruited the journalist who should provide them with confidential information. Many Safronov's colleagues and human rights activists supported the writer and demanded that the trial should be public. Nevertheless, the case is still considered an official secret and held in closed sessions.

Alexey Navalny announced the shut-down of the Anti-Corruption Foundation established in 2011. This decision was forced by the 29 million fine that the Anti-Corruption Foundation must pay to Yevgeny Prigozhin's Moscow Pupil company following the respective court order. The Foundation does not have enough money for that. Instead of the shut down Anti-Corruption Foundation Navalny is going to build up another organization.

On July 24, the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation approved the three-day voting procedure. The main voting day will be September 13, while September 11-12 will be the period for early voting. A couple of days after Vladimir Putin signed the law allowing to hold such three-day votes in future.

Belarusian law enforcement captured soldiers belonging to ChVK Wagner, a PMC group associated with 'Putin's Chef' Yevgeny Prigozhin. Belarus initiated proceedings against them accusing of planned terrorist attacks. In August, 32 soldiers of 33 returned to Russia. It was 'a goodwill gesture regarding the bilateral cooperation and friendship instruments'.

The Investigative Committee brought a criminal case against Moscow Municipal Deputy Yulia Galyamina under Dadin's Article. She is accused of repeated violation of the settled procedure for organizing protests. The case is based on the fines for joining protests in summer 2019, one-person picket protest supporting Ilya Azar, and the protests against the results of the constitutional voting in July 2020. Galyamina called the criminal case 'politically driven'.

It is a story about how Putin promised to save Russia's natural resources and soon allowed clear-cutting to build railways. The signed law permits to cut forests while constructing or repairing the facilities of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian Railways. Russian Railways claimed hat they would only cut down small forest areas along the existing railroads. They also promised to plant five young trees instead of one cut. Numerous environmental groups have spoken against such plans of Russian Railways. They are worried with the canceled state environment impact assessment and public hearing. Environmental experts state that nothing will stop Russian Railways from building fuel oil storages on the shore of Baikal if they want to. WWF Russia office said that the law is a threat for specially protected nature areas and the habitats for rare species, including ones listed in the Red Book.

After almost six months of hearing, Moscow’s Lublinsky Court announced the verdict in the 'New Greatness' case. All seven defendants were found guilty of organizing an extremist group plotting to overthrow Russia’s constitutional order. The prosecution was only based on the evidence provided by an intelligencer or a part-time officer Ruslan D. Three defendants received prison terms: from 6.5 to 7 years in colonies. The other four were sentenced to 4-6 years probation. None of them pleaded guilty. Some of them told that they had been tortured and beaten by the officers of internal affairs agencies.

On August 9, Belarus was voting for a new president. After the polling stations were closed, protests broke out all around the country. People stood up against the frauds. The whole nation believed that it was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who was elected the new president of Belarus. The protesters were met with tear gas, sound bombs, and plastic bullets. They were arrested, beaten, and tortured by the officers. The Committee for State Security forced Tikhanovskaya to leave the country. Remaining in exile, she initiated the establishment of a Coordinating Council for the transfer of power. Now three members of its executive office are arrested, two are kicked away from Belarus, Svetlana Alexievich, a Nobel Laureate, has been called in for an interview. Maria Kolesnikova was kidnapped in Minsk on September 7. After the authorities failed to banish her to Ukraine (she tore her passport in the airport), she was put into detention facility No.1. She was accused of attempting to stage a coup d'eta. MEPs refused to recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the newly elected president. Now he is considered persona non grata in the EU. President Putin congratulated him on his victory.

In June 2020, Bashkir Soda Company (BSC) took a plot on Kushtau mountain on lease from the Bashkir Ministry of Forestry to run exploration. In August, active deforestation started there, even though local activists stood against it. During two weeks a number of conflicts occurred between the protectors of Kushtau, the police, private security companies, and gangsters. Tens of protesters were arrested, but the citizens won. Kushtau monadnock was recognized a natural monument.

Four days before the election, security officials got activists' apartments searched in a number of regions. The checked were members of the United Democrats Project, the Moscow office of the Open Russia, and the editorial office of MBKh Media. Investigation actions were carried out in the frame of the YUKOS case, though it was an obvious attempt to frustrate the work of the headquarters just before the voting day. During these searches the police stole the precious time of the candidates, their laptops, smart phones, and money. Activists estimated the damage from the security officials at 1,040,000 rubles.

On September 13, elections were held in 83 constituent entities of Russia. Governors were elected in 20 subjects; in 11 regions were elected deputies of legislative bodies of state power, in 22 cities - local government bodies. In addition, by-elections to the State Duma were held in four constituencies. For the first time, elections lasted three days. Early voter turnout in some regions exceeded 50%. For example, in the Jewish Autonomy 58% of voters voted in the first two days. "Voting on stumps", adopted by election commissions during the voting on Amendments to the Constitution, was widely used throughout Russia this time too. In most regions, the elections were held without surprises: in regional assemblies, United Russia won the majority, and the governor's chairs were occupied by the current regional leaders, receiving > 80% of the vote. However In Tomsk and Novosibirsk the coordinators of the local headquarters of Alexei Navalny were elected in the city councils. In total, the candidates supported by the system of "Smart Voting" launched by Alexei Navalny team won 141 deputy mandates.

Irina Slavina, the editor-in-chief of the Nizhny Novgorod news paper "KozaPress", set herself on fire near the building of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on October 2. An hour before the incident, Slavina wrote on Facebook: "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death." The day before, the journalist was searched in the case of an "undesirable organization", which was initiated against the Nizhny Novgorod businessman Mikhail Iosilevich. Over the past two years, Irina has been fined for a news item, a post on Facebook, and an action in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. The trade union of journalists demanded to investigate the self-immolation of Slavina under the article on driving to suicide.

On January 19, the Anti-Corruption Foundation released investigation into 'Putin's Palace' on their YouTube channel. This 'History of world's largest bribe' tells about a bribery scheme with Vladimir Putin at the head of it (as stated by the authors of the video). This film is mostly about a residence covering the area of 86 hectares in Gelendzhik, which is owned by Mr. Putin by proxy. The Anti-Corruption Foundation calculated that the palace cost 100 billion rubles (1.1 billion euros). By the end of March 2021, the video was viewed 115 million times.

On January 24, the next day after the protests raged through the whole Russian Federation, the Investigative Committee brought a case for breaching sanitary and epidemiological regulations. The investigation claimed that on January 18-23, 'unidentified persons' called people for participating in protests on Pushkinskaya Square to support Navalny. Thus, they posed risks for human health. Several days after the proceeding was initiated, the houses of many activists were checked. Total 10 people were accused. They are Lubov Sobol, Oleg Navalny, Oleg Stepanov, Maria Alekhina, Anastasia Vasilieva, Lusia Shtein, Konstantin Yankauskas, Nikolai Liaskin, Kira Yarmysh, and Dmitrii Baranovsky. All of them will stay in home detention till 23 June.

Beside the Sanitary Case, many other cases were brought by the Investigative Committee after the protest on January 23 and 31 – use of violence against security official, disorderly behavior, damage to property, block of roads, call for mass unrest, and involvement of minors in illegal acts. As a part of the 'investigation', officers regularly check houses of Navalny's allies, arrest and examine activists all over Russia. Check it out on https://zona.media/theme/23-january#more.

On February 1, 2021, amendments to the Law on Information, Informational Technologies and Protection of Information were imposed in Russia. From now on, social networks should identify illegal content and delete it themselves. This covers material calling for unapproved protests, insulting the State and its symbols, containing obscene language, and denigrating the dignity of another person in a form contradicting universally accepted morality. For violating the new rules, the administration of the social network sites will be fined with up to 4 million rubles. After a repeated violation, they should pay one tenth of the total annual revenues.

Bellingcat featuring The Insider and Der Spiegel published a new investigation about Federal Security Service officials suspected of poisoning Alexei Navalny, The authors state that the same people kept track of Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., the opposition-minded journalist who has been already put into the hospital with severe poisoning twice. Bellingcat reported that the suspects in the Navalny poisoning case had been taking the same flights with Kara-Murza during three months before he was taken to the hospital in May 2015 and in December 2016 in Nizhny Novgorod. During his second hospital stay, the doctors diagnosed multiple organ failure resulting from the exposure to an unknown substance.

A court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist of Open Russia (an organization registered in the UK and recognized as 'undesirable' by the Prosecutor General's Office in 2017), to four years of probation. Shevchenko is the first individual in Russia to be sentenced under the Undesirable Foreign Organizations Law. The Prosecutor General's Office requested 5 years in penal colony.

The Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow found Navalny guilty with defaming the World War II veteran Ignat Artemenko. Vera Akimova, the judge, fined the political activist with 850,000 rubles. Besides, she decided to send the criminal case file and the audio recordings to the Investigative Committee for checking them for contempt of court.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media switched from threats and fines against Twitter to slowing down traffic. The agency showed its discontent with Twitter ignoring requirements of the Russian legislation and refusing to delete 'illegal links and posts'. It became possible to slow down traffic only after DPI technology was implemented. The government set the relevant equipment on providers' networks once the so-called Sovereign Internet Law was adopted. It's ironic that within one-two hours after Twitter was slowed down, the websites of Kremlin, Russian Government, the Investigative Committee, and other agencies failed.

In the first reading, the State Duma approved a bill relieving civil officials, judges, prosecutors, and military men from any punishment for violating anti-corruption regulations if it happened for reasons beyond their control. Such reasons may be natural disasters, public health disasters, strikes, military actions, terrorist attacks or restrictive measures imposed by the authorities. Accidentally, this bill was supported by the United Russia party only.

The police entered the Forum of Independent Municipal Deputies called Municipal Russia established by the United Democrats. They burst therein 15 minutes after the event started. All participants were arrested (organizers reported about 190 people from 56 regions of Russia). Among them were political activists Andrei Pivovarov, Ilia Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. and Evgenii Roizman, Moscow City Duma deputy Mikhail Timonov, Moscow municipal deputies Ilia Sviridov and Yulia Galiamina, Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy Maksim Reznik. The Ministry of Internal Affairs explained that the arrested violated the current COVID restrictions and cooperated with the 'undesired' Open Russia organization (registered in the UK and recognized as 'undesirable' by the Prosecutor General's Office in 2017).

Госдума в третьем чтении приняла поправки в закон «Об образовании», которые предписывают согласовывать любую просветительскую деятельность с органами власти. Вся «деятельность, направленная на распространение знаний, умений, навыков и ценностных установок» будет регулироваться со стороны государства, чтобы в нее не вмешивались «антироссийские силы». Против законопроекта единороссов выступили деятели культуры, создатели и руководители 17 независимых российских просветительских проектов, все члены президиума Российской академии наук, а также 270 тысяч человек, подписавших петиции в интернете. Показательно, что законопроект был принят голосами самих единороссов — депутаты от ЛДПР, КПРФ и Справедливой России поправки не поддержали.

The State Duma passed a law that is meant to “protect the memory of our grandparents and great-grandparents”. The justification of nazism is now punishable with a fine of RUB 3,000,000 or up to three years in prison. The defamation of veterans of the Great Patriotic War is punishable with a RUB 5,000,000 fine or up to five years in prison.

Kept in a correctional facility, Alexey Navalny started to develop serious problems with his health such as loss of sensation in his limbs and severe back pain. The security officials didn’t let doctors visit him, instead they treated his condition with only ibuprofen and continued to torchure him by waking him up every hour at night.

Navalny’s Team launched a website to collect information about their supporters and announced the start of a big Free Navalny! campaign for Alexey Navalny’s exoneration. The opposition planned to announce the time and place of vast protests after collecting 500 thousand potential participants of those rallies. However, the circumstances turned out differently and the protests started sooner.

The Government initiated a criminal case for official misconduct against Yuri Zhdanov. The excuse was the fact that Yuri, while being a part of the town’s housing committee, recommended to assign an apartment to a woman that had already received the grant. The decision was made by an official who belongs to the United Russia party but he wasn’t charged with anything. 66 year old Yuri Zhdanov was put in jail despite his age and chronic illnesses.

Human rights activist Marina Litvinovich was removed from the PMC for “breaking of ethical and procedural rules”. (She was defending human rights and that’s a no-go).

ФFSB searched the office of Important Stories and the home of its Editor-in-Chief Roman Anin. He appeared to be a witness in a violation of privacy criminal case. The case relates to an investigation of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin’s ex-wife, on which Roman had been working in 2016 while working in Novaya Gazeta.

The Russian Government closed air travel between Russia and Turkey starting 1 June (later the ban would be prolonged) due to “the epidemiologic situation”. According to many analytics, half a million of Russians had to cancel their vacations, while domestic tourism and available foreign ticket prices went up by 50%. It is notable that before Erdogan had allowed USA warcrafts in Black sea Putin had not been that concerned with COVID-19.

Navalny’s supporters’ emails were leaked. People who had signed up for the Free Navalny! website started receiving emails containing threats and personal information which they didn’t put on the website. Later the Anti-Corruption Foundation made an investigation and found out that the leak was orchestrated through an email sending client Mailgun. The database was sold by an ex-employee of the Foundation Fyodor Gorozhanko who still had access to the service. This leak led to dozens of Moscow Metro employees being fired.

The office and journalists’ homes of the student mass medium DOXA got searched. The journalists were accused of “involving minors in protests”. Seven of them were banned from leaving their homes and using the Internet. The criminal case relates to a YouTube video in which DOXA explains that it’s illegal to expel students based on their participation in protests. More than 250 scientists, academics, students and college graduates voiced their support for DOXA. More than 1,5 thousands signatures in support were collected.

A former Anti-Corruption Foundation cameraman Pavel Zelensky was sentenced to two years in prison for tweeting about self-immolation of Irina Slavina, the Editor-in-Chief of the Nizhny Novgorod newspaper KozaPress. Later the sentence was reduced by one month. Zelensky has a wife and three children.

The City of Moscow Prosecutor's Office filed an action to declare ACF and Navalny’s headquarters extremist organizations. “The actual purpose of their activity is to create a situation in which it is possible to change our statehood, including the means of a ‘color-coded revolution’.” the press release said.

Meduza media outlet was included in the foreign agents list. The media lost its advertising money and was forced to mark all its content with a foreign agent mark. Other big media outlets, European Union, political and public figures voiced their support for Meduza. The media now has a sponsorship button.

The home of Ivan Pavlov, lawyer and head of human rights project Team 29, who defends ACF in court, was searched by the authorities. He was accused of divulging data from the preliminary investigation of Ivan Safronov’s case. Pavlov was banned from talking to the case witnesses and using the Internet. More than 40 lawyers filed complaints about this pre-trial restriction.

Vladimir Putin instructed the Government to create a list of countries which perform “unfriendly actions” towards Russia. Their diplomatic missions were restricted and they were prohibited from employing Russian citizens. The USA and Czech Republic were included in the list.

The ex-coordinator of Navalny’s headquarter for Arkhangelsk Andrey Borovikov was sentenced to 2,5 half years in prison for reposting Rammstein’s “Pussy” music video on VK social network in 2014. The video was deemed as pornography and Andrey was found guilty of its illegal distribution. He has a pregnant wife.

International human rights organisation Amnesty International acknowledged Alexei Navalny as a prisoner of conscience. Earlier the organization had recalled the status because of Navalny’s old statements about immigrants which had been considered hate speech.

19 year old Ilnaz Galyaviev was responsible for a mass shooting in a school he attended a few years before in Kazan. Seven students and two adults died, more than twenty people were injured. The criminal called himself a god and a few minutes before the shooting had made a warning on an empty Telegram channel. Following the attack, Putin ordered to tighten gun laws. Schools in Murmansk started creating lists of “suspicious students” in which Navalny’s protest participants were included.

The Ministry of Justice included VTimes in the foreign agents list which caused the outlet to shut down. It’s notable that VTimes had never had a mass media license yet had been proclaimed a foreign agent media outlet. Meduza and other media outlets voiced their support for VTimes.

The court in Moscow sentenced Nikolay Platoshkin, political analyst and the leader of the For New Socialism movement, to 5 years of suspended imprisonment and a RUB 700 thousand fine. He was found guilty of spreading COVID-19 fake news and riotous statements through his YouTube videos.

Police sabotaged the Zemstvo Forum organized by Yulia Galyamina and other independent politicians in Veliky Novgorod. The participants were charged for breaking COVD-19 regulations and Yulia Galyamina was jailed for 7 days for insubordination to the authorities. According to the police there were 31 people in the facility, while in reality there were only 25 in compliance with all COVID-19 regulations.

The Russian State Duma unanimously voted in favour of exiting the Open Skies treaty. This agreement allowed unarmed surveillance flights over member countries via special routes. The USA exited the treaty earlier accusing Russia of repeated violations. Russia withdrew from the treaty because it found the USA’s reasoning manufactured.

The Libertarian Party of Russia and Civil Society movement activists' homes were searched by the authorities on the grounds of being considered as witnesses in a criminal case of illegal road blocking at protests on 31 January. Computers, phones and other devices were confiscated from them and their roommates. Four libertarian activists were interrogated.

Former Open Russia Director Andrey Pivovarov was removed from a plane on which he had been planning to fly to Poland and arrested. He was accused of performing “undesirable organisation’s activities” and put in custody for two months. The case was opened after a Facebook post in support of independent candidates on Andrey’s page. Pivovarov’s allies connect the arrest to Andrey’s plans to run for State Duma.

The State Duma passed a law that prohibits lawyers to bring mobile phones, cameras and recorders to their clients’ visitations. The Duma representatives didn’t give an explanation for this decision. Human rights activists think that it’ll make documenting signs of torchure more difficult.

The State Duma passed a law that would prohibit the leadership (for 5 years), members of extremist organisations and their supporters (for 3 years) from running for office. The prohibition would apply even if a person managed the organisation 3 years prior the organisation’s recognition as an extremist one or supported it one year prior.

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko met in Sochi to discuss the integration of the two states (26 road maps have been agreed on, two are in process), as well as the second trance of the Russian loan to Belarus and the forced landing of RyanAir plane flying from Athens to Vilnius plane in Minsk, which led to the detention of the former administrator of NEXTA Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, a Russian citizen Sofia Sapega. Lukashenko received the promised USD 500 million and the promise of economic and other support from Russia following the imposed western sanctions, while Sapega still remains in Belarusian detention facility facing up to 15 years in prison.

The homes of a former Duma member Dmitry Gudkov, the head of his office Vitaly Venidiktov and his former assistant Alexander Solovyev were searched by the authorities. Gudkov and his aunt are witnesses in a case of rent debt from 2015-2017. Gudkov’s supporters link it to the upcoming elections for the State Duma.

Bellingcat and The Insider journalists discovered that the same group of FSB agents that poisoned Alexey Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza had been following Dmitry Bykov, a Russian poet. The investigators think that it was them who poisoned Bykov in 2019. At that time he fell ill on a plane and went into a coma.

Police searched the home of Yury Khovansky, a Russian youtuber. He was then detained and charged with terrorism. The case is based on a joke song about the Nord-Ost terrorist attack which he had performed a few years before during his stream. Youtubers Dmitry Larin and Andrey Nifedov were interrogated as witnesses of this case. Yury Khovansky was put in custody for two months.

ДACF Director Ivan Zhdanov has been placed on the wanted list by the authorities . He noted that he doesn’t know the reason for this, since there are about a dozen criminal cases against him.

The editor of the main media "Project" Roman Badanin, his deputy Mikhail Rubin and journalist Maria Zholobova were searched. They were made witnesses in the libel case against businessman Ilya Traber, which was initiated back in 2017. The journalists themselves associate the pressure with the investigation about Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, which was announced on the eve of the searches.

Putin signed amendments to Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which toughened the punishment for participation in the activities of an "undesirable organization", which recognized the (already liquidated) "Open Russia". Now the participants of such organizations will be imprisoned for 5 years after one administrative offense (and not after two, as before), and the organizers - immediately for 6 years. Also introduced a punishment for collecting money for "unwanted": sponsors also face up to 5 years in prison.

On June 17, the day after the election to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg was announced, the opposition MP Maxim Reznik was searched. He was accused of buying 18 grams of marijuana which was found in the March apartment of one of his relatives (Reznik was a witness in the case) and put under house arrest. Reznik had earlier said that unknown people had offered to withdraw support from Navalny, or the case would go forward. And this is what happened. Reznik could not run in the elections and lost his deputy mandate because of the arrest.

In the summer of 2021, the members of 'Pussy Riot' faced a lot of pressure, just like everyone else. Maria Alyokhina was on trial in the 'sanitary case', and on September 10 she was sentenced to one year in prison. Veronika Nikulshina was forced to leave Russia due to incessant administrative arrests, followed by Anna Kuzminykh and Alexander Sofeev.

Eight Russian planes crashed in three months in 2021. On July 6, an AN-26 passenger plane crashed in Kamchatka, killing 28 people. On July 24, R-2002 crashed a few kilometers from Khabarovsk, killing two people. On July 31, a SU-35 military plane crashed in the Sakhalin Oblast and on August 11, a MI-8 helicopter crashed in Kamchatka. On August 14, a Russian Be-200 plane, which was fighting forest fires, crashed in Turkey - eight people died. On August 17, the newest Russian Il-112B military transport aircraft crashed during a training flight near the Kubinka airfield near Moscow. On September 12, an L-410 crashed near Irkutsk, and on September 22, an AN-26 crashed near Khabarovsk. All the crew members on board were killed.

ACF and Navalny's headquarters were recognized as extremist organizations and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation. This was not enough, so the authorities came up with an anti-constitutional law, which banned all those involved in ‘extremist activities’ from participating in the elections. The new law deregistered Ilya Yashin, Oleg Stepanov, Irina Fatyanova, 12 of 17 candidates from the Berdsk 2021 coalition, and other independent candidates.

On July 18, Team 29 organization, whose lawyers had been defending FBK and Ivan Safronov, announced its closure. All because of accusations by the General Prosecutor's Office of connection to a Czech ‘undesirable organization’, which made the existence of the legal association impossible.

In May 2021, forest fires started in Yakutia, which became the largest fires in the world – smoke from them reached even as far as Alaska. In August air pollution in Yakutsk exceeded the WHO recommended norms 247 times. The situation stabilized only at the end of the summer. During this time, according to GreenPeace, 3.5 million hectares of forest was burned.

The CEC rejected public video broadcasts from polling stations because it is expensive ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The broadcasting was decided to be carried out in special observation centers under the Public Chambers of the subjects. Candidates and party representatives were also given access to it. What can't be done to hide the falsifications!

Before the next State Duma elections the Russian authorities launched a massive attack on the independent media. The Insider, Important Stories, Mediazona, Meduza, VTimes, Radio Liberty, Dozhd TV Channel, and dozens of Russian journalists were named 'foreign agents'. The Project was given the status of an undesirable organization. Many of them were forced to move their editorial offices abroad, change their names, or close down altogether.

A month before the State Duma elections, the courts began handing down verdicts in the ‘sanitation case’. The case against Moscow municipal deputy Konstantin Yankauskas was dismissed. Lyubov Sobol, Kira Yarmysh, Liusya Shtein and Dmitry Baranovsky were sentenced to a year and a half of restricted freedom; Nikolai Lyaskin, Oleg Stepanov and Maria Alokhina to one year of restricted freedom. Oleg Navalny was given a one-year suspended sentence.

On August 4, the websites of MBH-Media and Open Media were blocked by Roskomnadzor. Roskomnadzor cited a request from the Prosecutor General's Office, which reported that the sites contained calls for unrest and extremist activity. On August 5, both publications and Pravozaschita Otkatki, a project associated with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, announced that they had ceased operations due to increased risks to their staff and readers.

The Yabloko political party was obliged to label all campaigning materials for the State Duma elections because of the nomination of political prisoner Andrei Pivovarov as a candidate. Information that a candidate affiliated with a ‘foreign agent’ has been nominated on the party list must occupy at least 15% of the campaign material. An appropriate mention was made on the information boards and on the ballot papers.

On August 18 the Ministry of Justice included Golos (all-Russian public movement for protection of voters' rights) into the new register of unregistered public associations which perform the functions of a ‘foreign agent’. Golos was the first organization to be added to the register. Founded in 2000, the non-profit association Golos was recognized as a foreign agent NGO in 2013. A court decision in 2016 liquidated it, but it continued to operate as an unregistered organization.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs banned stand-up comedian Idrak Mirzalizadeh from entering Russia for life. His stay in the country was deemed threatening to public order and undesirable because of a joke about the Russians – for that Mirzalizade had previously received 10 days of arrest.

Two spoilers were brought against opposition MP Boris Vishnevsky in the elections for the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. Shortly before the election, they changed their first and second names, cut their hair and let their beards go. The poster, which was approved by the territorial election commission, shows three almost identical Vishnevskys side by side: the original Boris Lazarevich Vishnevsky and his competitors Boris Gennadyevich and Boris Ivanovich.

The anti-Lukashenko protesters Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak were sentenced to 11 and 10 years in prison, respectively. They were found guilty of calling for actions threatening national security, establishment of an extremist group and conspiracy to seize power.

Before the election, the Russian authorities launched a real war with the digital giants – all because of ‘Smart Voting’. Apple and Google were accused of interfering in Russia's internal affairs, and Russian employees were threatened with criminal charges. As a result, Google and Apple removed the Navalny app from their stores, and Yandex removed the ‘Smart Voting’ website from its search results. A YouTube video, a GoogleDocs file, and a Telegram bot recommending ‘Smart Voting’ were also blocked on election days.

Elections to the 7th State Duma and regional parliaments began with repressions against independent candidates and the media and ended in mass fraud. The State Duma included the same four parties (United Russia, LDPR, CPRF, SRFP) and a spoiler project, the New People party. In addition to the traditional stuffing and rewriting of protocols, the ruling party's success was significantly facilitated by electronic voting. Novaya Gazeta estimates that in Moscow alone the votes of a quarter of a million Russians were stolen and copied to the United Russia party.

The day after the election, there was a shooting at Perm State University. Six people were killed, while 47 suffered injuries of varying degrees of severity. A criminal case was instigated against the shooter, a first-year history student, under Part 2 Article 105 of the Criminal Code ‘Murder of two or more persons’. A few days later, Mr. Sarapultsev, head of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of RF for Perm Krai, who was in charge of the investigation, committed suicide.

On September 25 and 30, the CPRF held rallies in Moscow demanding to cancel the results of electronic voting. By different estimates, between 500 and 1000 people attended them. According to Meduza, the CPRF has no intention of contesting the Duma election results as a whole, while Gennady Zyuganov (CPRF Leader) only wants to gain status for some Communists.

Senator Andrei Klishas and State Duma deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov have introduced a bill in the State Duma that would allow regional governors to be elected for more than two consecutive terms. This would allow Sergei Sobyanin (Moscow), Rustam Minikhanov (Tatarstan Republic), Akhmat Kadyrov (Chechen Republic), and others close to Putin to keep their positions. Moreover, if the law is adopted, the president will be able to issue warnings and reprimands to governors, and the grounds for dismissal ‘due to loss of trust’ will be expanded.

The Investigative Committee initiated a case on the establishment of an extremist community against Alexei Navalny and his associates. According to the IC, Navalny, Volkov and Zhdanov created an extremist community (Anti-Corruption Foundation) and led it ‘to carry out extremist activities, which were aimed at changing the foundations of the constitutional order in the Russian Federation, undermining public security and state integrity’. Between 2014 and 2021, the (extremist, of course) community included Alburov, Shaveddinov, Sobol and others, as well as the heads and staff of headquarters in the regions. All of them could face up to 10 years in prison.

The independent human rights project OVD-Info was put on the register of unregistered public associations performing the functions of a ‘foreign agent’. The organization continues its work in spite of its new status and calls on its members to sign a petition against the law on ‘foreign agents’.

The FSB has published a list of information in the field of Russia's military and military-technical activities, which can be used against the country's security. Formally, this data does not constitute state secrets and is not classified information, but the collection of this information can now be recognized as a ‘foreign agent’. Such bans can apply to anything from journalistic articles about military hazing or corruption at Roscosmos to work with servicemen; they have forced the ‘Soldiers' Mothers’ of St. Petersburg, the oldest Russian human rights organization, to give it up.

Important Stories published information on Russian offshore owners, including Channel One CEO Konstantin Ernst, the family of Sergei Chemezov, head of Rostec, Sberbank CEO German Gref, head of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino, State Duma deputies and friends of Putin. The data was contained in the so-called Pandora's Archive, internal documents of 14 offshore registrars that an anonymous source provided to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). This is the largest leak in history of information about the owners of offshore companies.

The human rights project Gulagu.net published video recordings of torture and sexual violence in Russian prisons, which were provided to the organization by former prisoner Sergei Saveliev. He collected evidence of abuse for three years while working as a surveillance camera administrator at the FSIN tuberculosis hospital in the Saratov region. Fearing prosecution, Saveliev applied for political asylum in France, and a week later he was wanted and arrested in absentia. After the video was published, the FSIN and the General Prosecutor's Office began an investigation, and the Investigative Committee opened a total of seven criminal cases.

Marina Rakova, vice president of Sberbank, and Sergei Zuev, rector of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka), are accused of embezzling more than 21 million rubles under a state contract. According to the investigation, in 2019, when Rakova was deputy minister of education, she and her accomplices – Shaninka acted as a subcontractor – stole this money from the Foundation for New Forms of Education Development. Meduza journalists believe that this case is connected to the limit of the multimillion-dollar school textbook market, the largest player of which is Putin's close friend Arkady Rotenberg, and Marina Rakova's personal conflict with former Russian Education Minister Olga Vasilyeva.

The Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded Philippine journalist Maria Ressa and Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov for ‘efforts to defend freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace’. Muratov called himself an ‘improper beneficiary’ of the award, saying that it belongs to all Novaya Gazeta journalists who have given their lives for the profession.

On November 1, Russia suspended the work of its representation to NATO. According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, this is a response to the suspension of accreditation of Russian diplomats to the alliance. The work of the information bureau and the NATO military mission in Moscow will also be terminated.

Alexei Navalny became the winner of the 2021 Sakharov Prize. It has been awarded since 1988 by the European Parliament to people or social organizations that have distinguished themselves in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. Navalny, as Vladimir Putin's ‘main political opponent’, was nominated for the prize ‘for his courage in the struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights’.

The magistrates' court in Moscow sentenced 21-year-old libertarian Gleb Maryasov to 10 months in prison for blocking the roads at the January 23 action in support of Alexei Navalny. The court also granted civil claims against Maryasov for 2.7 million rubles filed by Moscow Metro and Mosgortrans.

The blogger Ruslan Bobiyev and his girlfriend, the model Anastasia Chistova, were sentenced to 10 months in Moscow on charges of ‘insulting the feelings of believers’. The reason was a photo published in social networks with imitation oral sex, with St. Basil's Cathedral in the background. This is the first real sentence under this article in Russia.

After a two-week break, the Ministry of Justice updated the lists of ‘foreign agents’, which included Ivan Safronov and FBK lawyer Ivan Pavlov and his colleagues from Team 29, as well as the Russian LGBT Network. Since 2006, this organization has been defending the interests of the Russian LGBT community, providing legal and psychological assistance to victims of discrimination and homophobic crimes, and evacuating gays and lesbians from Chechnya, where their lives are threatened. Despite its new status, the LGBT Network continues its work.

Lilia Chanysheva, former coordinator of Alexei Navalny's headquarters in Ufa, was arrested in the ‘extremist’ case against Alexei Navalny and his associates. Having satisfied the investigator's motion, the court sent Chanysheva to the pre-trial detention center, despite the fact that she might be pregnant. It took the judge 20 minutes to make that decision. Liliya faced up to 10 years in prison.

In November 2021, the Moscow department of the Investigative Committee decided to check the work of Russian rap singer Morgenstern for incitement to drug use (Article 230 of the Criminal Code, up to 15 years in prison). A week earlier, in an interview with Xenia Sobchak, he said that he did not understand why he should spend millions on May 9 events. ‘I guess [there's] just nothing else to be proud of’, the rapper said.

On November 25, 2021 there was an explosion at the Listvyazhnaya coal mine in the Kemerovo region caused by exceeding the permissible concentration of methane. 51 people died and 106 others were injured. In 2021, Listvyazhnaya was inspected 127 times. Rostekhnadzor identified 914 violations for a total amount of fines exceeding 4 million rubles. 9 times during the year, the mine suspended its work. The miners say that the Listvyazhnaya management covered the sensors to hide the real level of methane concentration.

The Moscow branch of the Yabloko Political party expelled or de-registered almost 700 of its members and then removed a hundred more. The party leadership called it a purge of ‘dead souls’, although it looks more like getting rid of unwanted members who support ‘Smart Voting’ or Maxim Katz. As a result, MP Darya Besedina, Moscow City Duma candidate Peter Karmanov, head of Gagarinsky municipal district Elena Rusakova, head of Ramenki municipal district Maxim Gongalsky and others lost their party tickets. A group of expelled Yabloko members announced the creation of a movement of the same name.

The Kommersant newspaper calculated that 14 of the 38 former leaders of Alexei Navalny's headquarters have left Russia, fearing criminal prosecution. Sergei Boyko, coordinator of the Novosibirsk headquarters and a member of the City Duma, and Irina Fatyanova, ex-candidate for the St. Petersburg parliament, were the last to leave the country. Only nine former coordinators are still in politics.

The Head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin opened a criminal case against the State Duma deputy from the Communist Party Valery Rashkin. Rashkin faces a fine of one million rubles or imprisonment from three to five years for illegal hunting.

The social network VKontakte was taken over by Gazprombank and Sogaz, a company affiliated with Vladimir Putin's friend Yury Kovalchuk. Changes in the composition of the shareholders led to a change in management: Vladimir Kirienko, the son of the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kirienko, became the new CEO of the company. Now VK is practically a state company.

The head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin instructed to check the rappers Oxxxymiron and Noiz MS for attempts to rehabilitate terrorism and extremism, as well as propaganda of a negative attitude towards law enforcement officers. The reason for the check was, as it turned out, a fake denunciation of a “group of patriots” published in the Live Journal.

The head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin instructed to check the rappers Oxxxymiron and Noiz MS for attempts to rehabilitate terrorism and extremism, as well as propaganda of a negative attitude towards law enforcement officers. The reason for the check was, as it turned out, a fake denunciation of a “group of patriots” published in the Live Journal.

U.S. and European media sources claim that Russia may be preparing for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to some experts, this is supported by the increasing concentration of Russian troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Sources of the German newspaper Bild in NATO and Ukrainian military intelligence, the offensive will take place in late January – early February 2022. The Russian leadership calls all reports of an impending war ‘rubbish’ and ‘propaganda’, but in the West, the threat seems to be taken seriously.

The television channel Russia Today (RT) sued the owner of the online store Feelosophy Store, which produced T-shirts with the inscription ‘foreign agent’ in support of Meduza. It turned out that in 2017, the media holding had registered the corresponding trademark and was now demanding 500 thousand rubles in compensation from the store. ‘Foreign agent’ is a legal term and the monopoly on its use seems questionable.

The website of the human rights media project OVD-Info (ovdinfo.org) was blocked by decision of the Lukhovitsy District Court of Moscow Region. According to the court, OVD-Info justified terrorism and extremism by publishing information about unsanctioned rallies and the activities of ‘undesirable organizations’. In particular, we are talking about materials that referred to the persecution of structures of Alexei Navalny, Jehovah's Witnesses, members of the recognized terrorist and banned organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

Kseniya Fadeyeva, former leader of Alexei Navalny's headquarters and member of the Tomsk City Duma, and Zakhar Sarapulov, former coordinator of the Irkutsk headquarters, are accused of organizing an extremist community (Article 282.1 of the RF Criminal Code, up to 6 years in prison). The court chose a ban on certain actions as a preventive measure for both activists. Shortly before their arrest, Kseniya and Zakhar once again refused to leave Russia.

The Supreme Court ruled to liquidate the International Memorial, the oldest human rights organization in Russia, which preserves the memory of victims of Soviet repression and keeps lists of political prisoners. The Moscow City Court issued a similar ruling against the Memorial Human Rights Center. The formal reason for the liquidation of both organizations was repeated violations of the law on ‘foreign agents’. In reality, the government simply does not like what Memorial does: according to the Prosecutor General, human rights activists create ‘a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state’. The government is defending its predecessors in order to justify its own repression.

The Main Department of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg demanded from the former head of Navalny's St. Petersburg headquarters Irina Fatyanova almost 4 million rubles. This is the amount the police estimated the damage caused to the agency as a result of the January 2021 rallies. The activist herself left the country in November.

On January 11, military exercises involving 3,000 servicemen began in the Smolensk, Belgorod, Bryansk, and Voronezh regions. A total of about 300 units of military equipment were involved. Ukraine and the West fear that Russia is preparing for a military invasion and urge it to withdraw its troops. The Kremlin denies plans for a military operation on Ukrainian territory and accuses the West of arming Ukraine and conducting exercises near Russia's borders.

HBO Max and CNN Films have announced the release of ‘Navalny’, a documentary about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The film was directed by Canadian documentary filmmaker Daniel Rohr. The film's slogan is ‘Poison Always Leaves a Trace’.

In January in Saint-Petersburg there was a garbage collapse against the background of the launched reform: the garbage disposal was taken over by the joint Nevsky environmental operator instead of managing companies. The company could not cope with the volume of garbage, so in many yards spontaneous landfills began to form, which no one cleaned up for a few days.

On January 20 Chechen policemen in Nizhny Novgorod broke into the apartment of Saidi Yangulbayev, a former judge of the Chechen Supreme Court, and kidnapped his wife, Zarema Musayeva. The pretext for the kidnapping was that she was allegedly a witness in a fraud case in Grozny, where she was to be forcibly taken. During her detention, Zarema Musayeva lost consciousness and was dragged from her apartment by Chechen police officers. Ramzan Kadyrov called Yangulbayev's family ‘terrorists' accomplices’ and called on them to be detained and, if they resisted, ‘destroyed’, while Chechen State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov promised in an Instagram video to cut off the heads of Yangulbayev's relatives. The Kremlin said that it was not aware of the details of the kidnapping and preferred not to believe it.

Listed services (Yandex.Food, Yandex.Micromobility, Yandex Go and Yandex.Lavka) are obliged to collect and store users' data and provide it to law enforcement bodies and special services upon request in accordance with the provisions of ‘Yarovaya Law’. A number of other company services have already been included in the register, including Yandex.Mail and Yandex.Disk in 2014, and Yandex.Zen, Yandex.Real Estate, Yandex.Market, and Auto.ru in 2020.

On February 7, politician Ilya Yashin launched a petition demanding that the Russian president dismiss Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. Yashin said that during his time in power, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has created an ‘autonomous state within the Russian Federation’, where Russian law does not work, and has created an army that is loyal to him personally. In 24 hours, the petition collected more than 100,000 signatures on the Change.org platform.

In the colony №2 in the city of Pokrov in the Vladimir region held a visiting session of the Lefortovo court of Moscow on two new criminal cases of Alexei Navalny. He is accused of fraud and contempt of court. Authorities did not explain why they decided to hold the hearing in a penal colony instead of transporting Navalny to Moscow. The opposition leader's supporters believe it was done to complicate the coverage of the trial.

The 1st Eastern District Military Court in Krasnoyarsk region sentenced 16-year-old Nikita Uvarov to 5 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of 30 thousand rubles. Two other defendants in the case were acquitted under Article 205.3 of the Criminal Code ‘Training for the purpose of terrorist activities’ and sentenced to 3 and 4 years probation. The teenagers were charged with possession of explosives and leaflets calling for the release of Azat Miftakhov, a graduate student at Moscow State University. During the investigation, correspondence was also found in their phones, in which the teenagers discussed the idea of blowing up the Federal Security Service building in the game Minecraft.

On February 7th, politician Ilya Yashin launched a petition demanding that the President of Russia remove the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, from office. The petition states that during his rule, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has created a 'separate state within the Russian Federation,' where Russian laws do not apply, and has formed an army loyal personally to him. In just one day, the petition has gathered more than 100,000 signatures on the Change.org platform

In penal colony No. 2 in the city of Pokrov, Vladimir Region, an off-site session of Moscow's Lefortovo Court was held for two new criminal cases against Alexey Navalny. He is accused of fraud and contempt of court. Authorities have not explained why they decided to hold the court session in the penal colony instead of transferring Navalny to Moscow.The opposition's allies believe that this was done to make it more difficult to cover the trial

The 1st Eastern District Military Court in Krasnoyarsk Krai sentenced 16-year-old Nikita Uvarov, a defendant in the 'Kansk teenagers' case, to 5 years in a penal colony and imposed a fine of 30,000 rubles. Two other defendants were acquitted of criminal liability under Article 205.3 of the Criminal Code, 'Undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities,' and received 3 and 4 years suspended sentences. The teenagers are accused of storing explosives and leaflets calling for the release of MGU (Moscow State University) graduate student Azat Miftakhov. During the investigation, correspondence was also found on their phones where the teenagers discussed the idea of blowing up the FSB building in the game Minecraft

On the evening of February 21, Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics—separatist entities on the territory of Eastern Ukraine. The president announced his decision during a half-hour address immediately following a captivating narrative about the artificial formation of Ukraine, its aggressive policy towards Russia, its intention to create nuclear weapons, and join NATO. Attached to the decree on recognition were also treaties of friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance between the Russian Federation and the LPR and DPR

The first package of sanctions was imposed immediately after Russia recognized the independence of the DPR and LPR. These sanctions targeted banks that fund the defense industry, as well as major oligarchs: Gennady Timchenko, Boris and Igor Rotenberg. Later, the European Union imposed sanctions against 351 deputies of the State Duma who voted for the recognition of the republics' independence. The second package of sanctions was introduced following the start of Russia's 'special operation' in Ukraine. These sanctions affected major state and commercial enterprises: Gazprom, Alfa-Bank, Tatneft, and others. Russia was also disconnected from the SWIFT payment system, and all of the Central Bank's foreign accounts were frozen. In all EU countries, Russian propaganda media outlets, such as Russia Today and Sputnik, were blocked

Against the backdrop of the 'special operation' in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, the ruble reached a historical low. In early March, it was trading at 120 rubles per US dollar, and the euro was close to 130 rubles. Due to the catastrophic fall of the ruble's exchange rate, Moscow introduced restrictions on the export of currency from the country and obliged exporters to sell a large part of their foreign currency revenue. The Central Bank also suspended some trades on the Moscow currency exchange and raised the key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% annually. This led to a significant increase in prices for domestic and imported goods

Western sanctions and the falling ruble led to mass currency purchases: long queues of Russians instantly formed at ATMs and exchange offices, wanting to offload their 'wooden' rubles. In early March, to ensure the stability of the Russian financial system, which had all but vanished after the start of the 'special operation' in Ukraine, the Central Bank restricted the withdrawal from accounts and purchase of foreign currency. By presidential decree, it was also prohibited to take currency out of the country if the cash volume exceeded $10,000. The restrictions were only lifted in mid-April

Since the start of Russia's 'special operation' in Ukraine, many foreign companies have decided to temporarily suspend or completely cease business in Russia. Companies that have left the country include ASOS, H&M, iHerb, IKEA, Netflix, Adobe, and many others. A full list can be found here

Since the beginning of the 'special military operation' in Ukraine, according to economist Konstantin Sonin, more than 200,000 people have left Russia. The majority of emigrants and relocators are leaving the country, fearing the political, social, and economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, as well as universal mobilization and repression against those who disagree with Kremlin policy. The most popular destinations for relocation are Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia. According to 'Bumaga,' about 50,000 people have moved to these countries

On March 1st, the General Prosecutor's Office demanded that Roskomnadzor block the websites of ‘Echo of Moscow’ and ‘Rain’ due to the publication of calls for extremist activities and false information about Russia's ‘military special operation’ in Ukraine. On the same evening, during a broadcast with political analyst Ekaterina Shulman (who was later recognized as a foreign agent), the radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’ was taken off the air. Two days later, ‘Rain’ announced the suspension of its operations: during a live broadcast, the channel's CEO, Natalia Sindeeva, stated that continuing to work after the passage of the Russian law on fake news would become impossible. In the final moments of its broadcast, 'Rain' showed excerpts from Tchaikovsky's ‘Swan Lake’

Amidst the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine, a new article on the discrediting of the army was added to the administrative code. Any actions or statements that a court deems damaging to the image of the armed forces of Russia are now subject to fines of up to 50,000 rubles. If there were calls for unauthorized anti-war rallies, the fine can be increased to 100,000 rubles. In the first month alone, more than 200 protocols were issued under the new article for banners, slogans on clothing, Kinder Surprise toys, and performances against Putin's actions in Ukraine. Repeat violations of this administrative article may lead to criminal liability

On March 4th, the State Duma unanimously passed a law in three readings, which was immediately signed by Vladimir Putin, regarding penalties for the dissemination of false information about the actions of Russian military personnel. Violating the new criminal article can result in a prison sentence ranging from 3 to 15 years. Currently, cases under this law are being pursued against bloggers Nika Belotserkovskaya and Ilya Krasilshchik, journalists Alexander Nevzorov and Maria Ponomarenko, activist Sasha Skochilenko, politician Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., and other Russian citizens with anti-war views

Alongside the laws on discrediting the army and fake news, the State Duma made amendments to the Criminal Code, establishing liability for calls for sanctions against Russia. Such actions can result in fines of up to 500,000 rubles or a restriction of freedom, or imprisonment for up to three years with a fine of up to 200,000 rubles

On March 5, 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a decree that expanded the list of countries deemed unfriendly towards Russia. The reason for issuing the decree was the sanctions imposed by almost the entire global community. In addition to the United States and the Czech Republic, all European Union states, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Norway, and other countries joined the list

The Ministry of Justice has added ‘Important Stories’ and the international association of investigative journalists OCCRP to the registry of ‘undesirable organizations.’ Journalists from this group were involved in investigating the Russian part of the ‘Panama Papers’ and received the Pulitzer Prize for it. They are now banned from working in Russia

A day before the all-Russian anti-war protest scheduled for March 6th, the police in St. Petersburg conducted searches at 80 addresses related to a case of phone terrorism. By a stroke of luck, among the members of the so-called ‘miners' gang’, which, according to the police, had disrupted the functioning of schools, courts, shopping centers, and hospitals for a week, were independent municipal deputies, political activists, and human rights defenders who had no apparent connections. All the suspects were interrogated and released as witnesses or suspects. Many of them were forced to leave Russia

On March 14th, during a live broadcast of the program ‘Vremya’ on ‘Channel One’ Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee of the channel, stood behind the host Ekaterina Andreeva with an anti-war placard. Immediately after the protest, Ovsyannikova submitted her resignation from the channel. Following the broadcast, she was detained and fined 30,000 rubles for an unauthorized public demonstration, and later, an administrative case was initiated against her for discrediting the Russian army. In April, Ovsyannikova left the country and became a freelance correspondent for Die Welt newspaper and Welt TV channel

On March 15th, Russia announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe. As a result, the Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits the use of the death penalty, will no longer be in effect in the country, and after September 16th, Russians will no longer be able to seek protection for their rights from the European Court of Human Rights

On March 21st, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow declared the company Meta an extremist organization. Meta owns the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, as well as the messenger WhatsApp. Both social media platforms were blocked. The reason for this decision was the platform's content moderation policy, which allowed threats and calls for violence against Russian military personnel, as well as wishes for the death of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko

On March 22nd, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow sentenced the politician Alexei Navalny to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony in a case related to fraud and contempt of court. The trial took place at the Vladimir penal colony, where Navalny has been serving a sentence since last year in the 'Yves Rocher' case. Combining both sentences, the politician will not be released before 2032

The State Duma passed amendments to the Administrative Code and the Criminal Code, introducing penalties for spreading false information about the activities of Russian government agencies abroad. The punishment is the same as in the law regarding the dissemination of false information about Russian military actions - up to 15 years in prison. To expedite the implementation of the new regulations, these changes were introduced as amendments during the second reading of bills concerning responsibility for the destruction or damage to forest plantations

The Main Department of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg demanded from the former head of Navalny's St. Petersburg headquarters Irina Fatyanova almost 4 million rubles. This is the amount the police estimated the damage caused to the agency as a result of the January 2021 rallies. The activist herself left the country in November.