Week-ending 26 December 2025
Russia’s War against Ukraine
Since the start of Moscow’s full-scale war in Ukraine, Russian courts have convicted more than 1,000 people on charges of treason and espionage. In 2025 alone, courts handed down 468 such verdicts. (Meduza, 22/12/25)
Russia returned 60 Ukrainians to their home country last week, including people facing deportation and others with disabilities. (The Moscow Times, 22/12/25)
The EU Council says it has extended economic sanctions against Russia for six more months, in response to Moscow’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.. (The Guardian, 22/12/25)
Children and a dozen Ukrainian servicemen were among the 52 civilians snatched across the border by the Russian armed forces on December 20. (RFE/RL, 22/12/25)
Russia’s government plans to eliminate 45,000 state-funded university slots in the 2026–27 academic year. (The Moscow Times, 22/12/25)
Several Russian artists who have been labeled foreign agents or jailed for their performances appeared together at a concert in Vilnius, Lithuania. (RFE/RL, 23/12/25)
Mobile internet access will be restricted in annexed Crimea for the duration of Russia’s war in Ukraine as a security measure. (The Moscow Times, 23/12/25)
25 December will mark two years since journalist Nika Novak was first detained. She has spent some of her imprisonment in solitary confinement. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
The authorities revoked the citizenship of journalist Roman Anin for his 2025 conviction for spreading so-called “fake” news about the army. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
A Russian-backed court in occupied Ukraine sentenced Oscar Mauricio Blanco Lopez, a Colombian, to 19 years in prison for fighting for Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
Russia added 341 minors to its national register of “terrorists and extremists” in 2025. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
The Russian military recruited 417,000 contract soldiers in 2025, former President Dmitry Medvedev said. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
Moscow’s occupation of parts of Ukraine is accompanied by arrests or exile of critics, along with property seizures stripping Ukrainians of their property. (The Guardian, 25/12/25)
In dozens of Russia’s regions, the government has cut mobile internet service for months for security reasons linked to the war in Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 25/12/25)
The FSB said its agents shot and killed a man who opened fire on them as they tried to arrest him on suspicion of planning bomb attacks in Kaluga region. (The Moscow Times, 25/12/25)
A Moscow military court sentenced animal rights activist Yevgenia Konforkina to 15 years in prison on treason and terrorism-related charges. (The Moscow Times, 25/12/25)
Other news
Criminal prosecutions over donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) surged roughly 60-fold since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (RFE.RL, 22/12/25)
President Putin expressed his condolences to Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon over the killing last week of a 10-year-old Tajik student. (The Moscow Times, 22/12/25)
Aliya Ozdamirova, who died in unclear circumstances after fleeing an abusive household in Chechnya, was buried in the republic. (The Moscow Times, 22/12/25)
Since mid-December, the app Be My Eyes — designed to assist blind and visually-impaired people — has been barely functional in much of Russia. (Meduza, 23/12/25)
A group of WhatsApp and Telegram users in Russia has filed a class-action lawsuit over call restrictions on both messaging apps. (The Moscow Times, 23/12/25)
A judge in the republic of Mordovia has issued Russia’s first fine under a regional law banning the “coercion” of women into having abortions. (The Moscow Times, 23/12/25)
Russia’s state education watchdog suspended the license of Moscow’s Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences, better known as Shaninka. (The Moscow Times, 23/12/25)
The Supreme Court ruled that criticism of politicians, public figures and organizations does not qualify as a criminal offense under anti-extremism laws. (The Moscow Times, 23/12/25)
At least two streaming platforms have censored scenes from pro-Kremlin director Nikita Mikhalkov’s Oscar-winning 1994 film “Burnt by the Sun”. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
A Moscow court ordered the seizure of an additional 11.9 billion rubles ($152 million) from exiled Anatoly Chubais and 12 co-defendants. (The Moscow Times, 24/12/25)
A court in Russia on Thursday convicted Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front movement, of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison. (The Guardian, 25/12/25)
The Kremlin said Thursday that it had made a “proposal” to France regarding Laurent Vinatier, a French researcher jailed in Russia. (The Moscow Times, 25/12/25)
State prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison sentence for Galina Timchenko, on charges related to the outlet’s designation as “undesirable”. (The Moscow Times, 25/12/25)
The security services have begun an aggressive hunt for probiv operators, detaining several brokers and targeting the infrastructure they rely on. (The Guardian, 26/12/25)
