Week-ending 18 October 2024
Russia’s War against Ukraine
The late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny believed he would die in prison, excerpts from his memoir reveal. (The Guardian, The Moscow Times, 12/10/24)
Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of executing nine captured troops in the Kursk border region. (RFE/RL, 13/10/24)
Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter Yanina Sokolova was sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia for public calls to kill Russians. (The Moscow Times, 14/10/24)
A court ordered the arrest in absentia of CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh for reporting from Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk region. (The Moscow Times, 11/10/24)
Six Russian soldiers who fled the war in Ukraine have been granted temporary visas as they apply for political asylum in France. (The Guardian, 16/10/24)
Denis Leontovich, a Russian official outed as gay has fled the country and denounced Moscow’s war against Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 16/10/24)
The Defense Ministry has expanded the practice of recruiting inmates to the extent that dozens of penal colonies were emptied and closed. The ministry has also turned pretrial-detention facilities and immigration-detention centers — which hold hundreds of migrant workers mainly from Central Asian countries — into recruitment hubs. (RFE/RL, 18/10/24)
Released Ukrainian soldier Ihor Shyshko said of his two years of imprisonment that torture in Russian detention was routine,. He said detained US citizen Stephen Hubbard, taken prisoner in Ukraine, was subjected to the same treatment as the Ukrainians: beaten, humiliated and starved by their guards. (The Moscow Times, 17/10/24)
Other news
A Moscow court on Monday sentenced French researcher Laurent Vinatier to three years in prison for breaking Russia’s laws on “foreign agents.” (The Moscow Times, 14/10/24)
The UK government believes Russian president Vladimir Putin authorised the Salisbury novichok poisonings. (The Guardian, 14/10/24)
Razif Abdullin, chief editor of online independent media outlet Aspekty, resigned amid pressure from the authorities in Bashkortostan. (RFE/RL, 14/10/24)
Umed Bobozoda, Tajikistan’s human rights commissioner, voiced concerns over Russia’s mistreatment of Tajik migrants in a letter to his Russian counterpart. (RFE/RL, 14/10/24)
Aleksei Moskalyov sentenced to prison on a charge of discrediting Russia’s armed forces after an anti-war drawing by his teenage daughter was released. (RFE/RL, 15/10/24)
An independent examination shows activist Rifat Dautov died in January from internal bleeding due to multiple blows sustained after his arrest. (RFE/RL, 16/10/24)
Zhanna Nemtsova announced the creation of a non-profit foundation aimed at helping Russian independent media. (The Moscow Times, 15/10/24)
The State Duma passed a bill in its first reading to ban “childfree propaganda,” marking the latest expansion of the government’s efforts to regulate social discourse. (RFE/RL, 17/10/24)
Russia will deport more than 2,000 undocumented migrants following a recent series of police raids dubbed “Operation Nelegal 2024.” (The Moscow Times, 17/10/24)
Serbian authorities ordered Anton Bobryshev, a Russian expat involved in anti-Kremlin activist work, to leave the country. (The Moscow Times, 17/10/24)
Marina Yegorova, wife of opposition figure Leonid Gozman, was placed under house arrest on allegations of trafficking cultural goods. (The Moscow Times, 17/10/24)
