Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev, a well-known Russian journalist who reported on human rights violations in the Caucasus, was shot dead near his house around 7am local time today. Andrei Aliaksandrau reports
Index’s Padraig Reidy speaks to two members of the Russian feminist punk group on a secret trip to the UK
In March the Russian authorities turned their attentions to online social networks — and the Kremlin proved adept at getting major international companies to comply with its directives: on 15 March Twitter blocked an account that promoted drugs and on 29 March Facebook took down a page called “Suicide School” rather than see its entire network blacklisted. On 25 March, reports surfaced that the ministry of Communications and Mass Media planned to transfer maintenance of the Registry of Banned Sites from communications regulator Roskomnadzor to a third party selected by Roskomnadzor. The ministry proposed changes to the registry; to maintain website owners’ information on the register but deny sites owners — as well as hosting and Internet providers — access to […]
Self-censorship has poisoned Russian media, art and other spheres. In the past few years, criminal prosecution of artists and new laws have made it...
Russian non-governmental organisations are facing a wave of state inspections, which some believe are taking place as revenge for united protests against a law classifying international NGOs as “foreign agents”. The list of NGOs visited by prosecutors and other inspectors during last days, is impressive: Transparency International, Amnesty International, Memorial, Moscow Helsinki Group, Human Rights Watch, Agora, For Human Rights (Za prava cheloveka), GOLOS, and numerous regional NGOs. Even regional organisation Shield and Sword of Chuvashiya, which actually appealed to the Ministry of Justice seeking “foreign agents” status, has received a notification of an inspection. According to the law, an NGO that receives financing from abroad, has to register as “foreign agent” or face criminal charges. “Foreign agents” are obliged to […]
It became clear in February that internet censorship in Russia could be expanded to include sites with gay content. The State Duma voted for a bill banning “propaganda” for homosexuality involving minors, the second reading of which is scheduled for 25 May. Many commentators believe that by then the bill will include amendments extending the list of conditions for blocking websites to include those containing information about homosexuality, which could be blocked without a court order. Current laws on protection of children could be similarly amended. Duma deputy Elena Mizulina stated: “No adult has the right to impose their sexual preferences on a person under 18 years of age. Propaganda for homosexuality should be considered information inappropriate for children.” The […]
January saw a dramatic escalation of internet filtering in Russia. The League for Internet Safety, an organisation backed by the Kremlin, launched an experiment in the Kostroma region in central Russia in which 29 local internet service providers signed new contracts with users, giving them access only to a sanitised internet – in other words, websites included on a “white list”. Those wishing to surf beyond the confines of the white list are required to notify their provider explicitly. At the start of the experiment the white list included about 500,000 sites; by the end of the experiment, scheduled for April, it is expected to include up to 1 million. The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media has stated that it […]
December provided further evidence that the Russian authorities’ prime targets in their quest to censor allegedly illegal websites are not those...
A Russian court yesterday dismissed the appeal of Maria Alekhina, one of the three members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot. Alekhina, 24, appealed...
It became apparent in November that internet filtering introduced in Russia under the pretext of protecting children is actually for a different...