Week-ending 24 April 2026
Russia’s War against Ukraine
Russian educational institutions have spent a combined 16 billion rubles on drones and drone assembly and operation training kits in the past four years. (Meduza, 20/4/26)
Ukrainian Tofik Abdulgaziev, sentenced to 14 years for his Crimean Solidarity human rights activism, faces new charges. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 20/4/26)
Russian courts rejected appeals against 15-year sentences for treason imposed on two Ukrainian women, Niyara Ersmambetova and Oksana Ivanchenko. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 20/4/26)
Russian authorities opened a criminal case on charges of negligence following the death of pacifist blogger Vegan Khristolub Bozhiy at a prison in the Voronezh region. (Meduza, 21/4/26)
A Russian court sentenced Ukrainian Ruslan Chorny-Shvets, abducted over two years ago and held for long periods incommunicado, to 18 years in prison. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 21/4/26)
Crimean Tatar Diana Havryliuk, held incommunicado in Russia since October 2026, is believed to have been subjected to torture. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 22/4/26)
The EU confirmed the passing of the €90bn loan for Ukraine and the 20th package of sanctions against Russia. (The Guardian, 23/4/26)
President Putin has defended the wave of mobile internet blackouts. (The Moscow Times, 23/4/26)
Ukrainian Oleh Prykhodko, detained since October 2019, has been charged with ‘treason’ for opposition to Russia’s occupation of Crimea. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 23/4/26)
A Russian military court sentenced 26-year-old Ukrainian Victoria Kotliar to 22 years’ imprisonment. It is likely she was abducted and tortured. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 24/4/26)
A Russian court sentenced Ukrainian doctor Larysa Bieliaieva to 14 years’ imprisonment for buying Ukrainian war bonds. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 24/4/26)
The FSB tortured the defendants in the “Kherson Nine” case. One died in custody. (Meduza, 24/4/26)
Other news
Russia should test roughly one-third of its population for HIV each year to curb the spread of the virus, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. (The Moscow Times, 18/4/26)
Rapper Alisher Morgenshtern was fined in absentia under the ‘foreign agent’ law. (Meduza, 20/4/26)
Russian courts have begun fining residents for posting images featuring three sixes, treating them as propaganda for the “International Satanism Movement”. (Meduza, 20/4/26)
Major Russian companies have been conscripted into a “witch-hunt” against users trying to circumvent online controls. (The Guardian, 21/4/26)
A district court in Sochi fined a local resident 1,000 rubles for publicly displaying Nazi symbols by posting a picture of a cat ‘Kotolf Kitler.’ (Meduza, 21/4/26)
Russia’s state-backed messaging app Max has been renamed ‘Макс’ (Maks). (Meduza, 21/4/26)
Biographies of Vladimir Vysotsky and Mikhail Bulgakov are to be labeled under Russia’s law banning drug “propaganda.” (Meduza, 21/4/26)
Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, ordered a review of books by children’s author Grigory Oster. (Meduza, 21/4/26)
Law enforcement authorities detained Yevgeny Kapyev, CEO of Eksmo publishing house, in connection with an ongoing investigation into LGBTQ+ “extremism.” (The Moscow Times, 21/4/26)
Russia has taken down two decades’ worth of judicial statistics from public access, removing data widely used to track prosecutions and broader legal trends. (The Moscow Times, 21/4/26)
The FSB academy has been renamed after Felix Dzerzhinsky. (The Moscow Times, 22/4/26)
Schools in Russia have begun holding classes on the dangers of VPN services. (Meduza, 22/4/26)
Journalist and politician Yekaterina Duntsova announced plans to organize a “home protest” in support of a free internet in Russia. (Meduza, 22/4/26)
Prosecutors asked a Moscow court to sentence film critic and journalist Anton Dolin in absentia to 22 months in prison under the ‘foreign agent’ law. (Meduza, 22/4/26)
The queer media project Parni Plus has been designated an extremist organization. (Meduza, 23/4/26)
Russia’s Culture Ministry has refused to grant a distribution license for Hana Korea, which follows a young woman who flees North Korea for South Korea. (Meduza, 23/4/26)
