Crackdown in Russia | GlobalPost

Russia’s top blogger goes on trial

Dan PeleschukApril 14, 2013 06:16

MOSCOW, Russia — Some believe it’s remarkable Alexei Navalny remains free. Russia’s leading opposition activist has played a pivotal role guiding the protest movement and has almost single-handedly cast fresh light on Russia’s pervasive culture of official graft. But his luck may now be running out.

Russia’s J. Edgar Hoover aims high

Tom BalmforthDecember 30, 2012 07:00

MOSCOW — In most other European countries, the headlines Alexander Bastrykin generated last June would have surely been career-ending. The head of Russia's Investigative Committee ordered that a prominent journalist be bought to him alone in the woods outside Moscow, where he reportedly threatened to murder him for his critical reporting. Nevertheless, Bastrykin now looks on track to become one of the Kremlin’s top power brokers.

Russian parliament votes to restrict internet, speech and NGOs

Tom BalmforthJuly 14, 2012 06:00

MOSCOW — Parliament voted on Friday to recriminalize slander and libel the same day it passed a bill that would label NGOs receiving non-Russian funding "foreign agents" in a double blow to opposition activists who say the authorities are moving to stifle dissent before protests planned for the fall. The measures come two days after the ruling United Russia party rushed another bill regulating the internet through the lower house, which drew condemnation from online giants such as Google and spooked Russia's vibrant online community, which fears the legislation may pave the way toward internet censorship.