“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights...

In the epilogue to Russian edition of his book “The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia” a famous American journalist David Hoffman writes that Putin preferred to tighten the screws slowly in relation to the oligarchs. The...

The scandal over “Moskovskij Komsomolets (MK)” and “political prostitutes” continues. The deputies of the factions “United Russia” and “Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)” made an appeal to...

The fight between the Ombudsman and the local election committees for 1.6 million suspicious votes brought in in remote voting boxes

Translation: Statement of Crime I hereby kindly ask you to investigate and bring to justice the persons who have abused the trust of employees of Yves Rocher Vostok LLC (registered at: 47/3 Leningradskoe shosse, Moscow 125167), having convinced the...

How a “provincial-scope” leader managed to become the Leader of a great country?

Member of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Civil Society and Human Rights Elena MASYUK talks with the members of Pussy Riot Nadezhda TOLOKONNIKOVA and Maria ALYOKHINA. NADEZHDA TOLOKONNIKOVA, born in 1989, a fifth year philosophy student at THE Moscow State University. Her daughter gera is 4 years old. MARIA ALYOKHINA, born in 1988, a fourth year student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow. She has a five-year-old son, Philip.

Gleb Pavlovsky is a former political consultant of the Kremlin. He is 61, almost the same age as the President, a coincidence of which once he used to be very proud. His reception room is decorated with a large portrait in primitivism style of the...

Who kept Anna Politkovskaya under surveillance at the initial stage of assassination planning and how

The well known presenter talks about herself after the search and about the country after the protests.

Talk given to Novaya Gazeta by the most well-know Russian prisoner on economic policy, government property, tax, resource rent and social inequality: «Broadly speaking, public opinion in Russia is remarkably united in its perception of liberal and right wing views. In many respects this is a flawed observation amongst liberals because many with a very ‘left’ (social democratic) viewpoint have also backed the notion of autocratic rule, putting them much closer to ‘right-wing’ bias, especially in terms of the economy».

Few people from the online community trust the current Prime minister. In the wider public he has many more supporters, but most Russians are reserving judgement. Protests in Moscow and other major cities this winter broke out on the internet, but soon spilled out onto the streets, or “offline”. In recent weeks, protest activity has calmed, but do not be tricked into thinking that the country has returned to a state of tranquility.

When Putin says that he “never does his friends in,” this is because he is afraid to get on the wrong side of the siloviki who are close to him. From the correspondence between the editors and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, inmate of Correctional Facility 7 of the Federal Penitentiary Service Directorate for the Republic of Karelia, the city of Segezha

Granted, Putin has been working hard all these years. No, not like a "galley slave". But, for example, on the the mysterious Olympia yacht, allegedly presented by Roman Abramovich. So now Putin and his entourage are protecting not an abstract power, but a way of life that is unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

December 2011 saw a change in the social and political situation in Russia. Society has awakened and is declaring its rights. Initially, the authorities had hoped to wait out the protests, but it soon became clear that that would not work and the storm would not just “blow over.” It was necessary to respond. There was probably a temptation to resort to the use of force, as before, but reason has prevailed. The authorities chose instead to maneuver, describing the massive protests as evidence of a mature democracy