The Moscow Times: Russia on Tuesday reported 25,110 new coronavirus cases and the new daily death record of 895 deaths.
The Moscow Times: Russian officials highlighted the need to develop the country’s own “sovereign” social media platforms after a massive outage at Facebook’s vast family of apps affected billions of users worldwide late Monday.
RFE/RL: A prominent Russian human rights defender says his team has obtained a large batch of videos that he claims show prison inmates being tortured by agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).
The Moscow Times: A prominent NGO that tracks abuses in Russia’s prison system says it has received “thousands” of leaked video clips showing inmates being beaten and tortured by guards in several prisons across the country.
The Moscow Times: Prominent migrant rights defender Valentina Chupik has fled to Armenia following a 30-year entry ban to Russia, she told The Moscow Times on Tuesday.
RFE/RL: A court in Moscow has ordered the Interior Ministry to reconsider a lifetime ban on a stand-up comic of Azerbaijani origin that prohibits him from entering and residing in Russia. Sergei Badamshin, a lawyer for comedian Idrak Mirzalizade, said on Telegram that the Zamoskvorechye district court “partially satisfied” his client’s appeal on October 5 and ordered the ministry to find “a reasonable ban term” for the performer.
Human Rights in Ukraine: Halyna Dovhopola has been able to pass a letter to Graty journalists in which the 66-year-old Crimean pensioner describes how she was seized by FSB officers in November 2019 and the torment she has since endured. She is now imprisoned in Russia, serving a 12-year sentence on a charge of ‘state treason in the form of spying’ which is almost certainly linked primarily with her pro-Ukrainian views.
The Moscow Times: Russia said Monday it has developed software that monitors social media to help authorities prevent young people from harming themselves and others, but which critics say could be used to silence dissent.
The Moscow Times: Russia on Tuesday stepped up the pressure on Facebook, threatening to hit the company with its largest fine yet for repeatedly ignoring requests to remove banned content.
