Contents tagged with protests in Russia

  • Russia’s State Duma discovers ‘foreign-funded protest training camps’

    The Russian State Duma committee for investigating foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs announced that it has discovered “camps” within Russia in which foreign financing is used to train protest organizers, Kommersant reports.

    The parliamentarians did not clarify what kind of “camps” they are, or give any indication of where these fifth column training centers are located or how they are financed. However, one commission member, Adalbi Shkhagoshev, did clarify that they had …

  • Kremlin uses Israeli software to hack Moscow protesters’ phones

    Russia’s security forces used technology developed by the Israeli company Cellebrite to hack the cellphones of participants in the demonstrations in Moscow, ITV channel 12 reported, citing anonymous sources in Russia.

    The channel cites comments made by Cellebrite representatives which emphasize that the company develops technology that enables law enforcement agencies to fight against terrorism and crime.

    The company sells its product only to licensed legal entities, rigorously complying with …

  • Media: Cossacks who broke up rally against Putin’s inauguration had fought in Donbas

    The Cossacks who dispersed the recent protest in Moscow previously fought on behalf of the separatists in Ukraine, Novaya Gazeta reports.

    According to reporters, the “Crimean Cossack Regiment” is part of the Union of Cossack Forces in Russia and Abroad, which is headed by Nikolai Dyakonov.

    Dyakonov and his subordinates are known to have extensive combat experience even from before the Ukraine-Russian conflict.

    “After the ‘Crimean Spring’, Dyakonov’s Cossacks went to fight in the Donbas. …

  • Massive protests against Putin's inauguration held in Russia

    On Saturday, May 5, supporters of Alexei Navalny held rallies in dozens of Russian cities under the slogan "He is not our tsar.” They were timed to the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will be held on May 7. The protest in Moscow was not authorized by the authorities.

    The protest rally was scheduled for two o'clock in the afternoon at Pushkin Square. Several hundred people had already gathered in the square an hour before. Many of them wore St. George ribbons and flags, …

  • Protests take place in Moscow against Russian military involvement in Syria

    On Sunday there were a series of solitary pickets against Russia’s military campaign in Syria outside the Ministry of Defense building in Moscow. Muscovite journalist Denis Styazhkin wrote in his blog that picketers held banners with anti-military slogans and criticism of the Russian government, the Echo of Moscow reports. The publication states that three days after US strikes on Assad’s forces in Syria, the Russian authorities have not reacted to the reports on the death of “possibly dozens …

  • More than 250 arrested during Russian opposition protest

    On Sunday, January 28, more than a hundred Russian cities saw protests organized by opposition leader Alexei Navalny in support of a “voter strike”, a strategy to boycott the upcoming presidential elections.  The Interior Ministry and the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights estimated that there were 4,500-5,000 protesters across the country, whereas Navalny’s supporters believe that there were considerably more. In Moscow the calculation is further complicated by the fact …

  • Amnesty International demands the release of people detained at protest rallies in Russia

    Amnesty International, an international human rights organization, demanded that the Russian authorities "immediately and unconditionally" release all detained protesters and investigate allegations of police abuse of power in St. Petersburg and Yakutsk, as reported by the Russian broadcast of Radio Liberty.

    The Amnesty International statement notes that the rallies took place in many cities in Russia on Vladimir Putin’s birthday.

    "The intention of the Kremlin is beyond doubt - to deprive the …

  • Protests in Russia call on Putin not to take part in elections

    On April 29, "Nadoyel" (Tired of you) protests took place in numerous Russian cities. The activists urged President Putin not to take part in the presidential elections of 2018. Through the president’s reception office they sent letters addressed to Putin, asking him to end his political career. The protest action was organized by Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s “Open Russia” movement. Founded in 2001, it was initially involved in educational projects. After Khodorkovsky’s verdict in the Yukos case, the …