Month: October 2017

Putin’s birthday

by Sarah Hurst At the end of a long day in which thousands of protesters took to the streets in dozens of cities across Russia, people are still shouting slogans such as “Putin is a thief!” and “Free Navalny!” on Moscow’s Manezh Square and St. Petersburg’s Palace Square. […]

Navalny’s appeal rejected

by Sarah Hurst Alexei Navalny was brought to a Moscow court in handcuffs for his appeal against his 20-day prison sentence today, surrounded by uniformed guards. A crowd of journalists tried to get into the courtroom, but only one or two were allowed in. The courtroom was already […]

Nationwide crackdown

by Sarah Hurst The crackdown on Navalny campaigners continued today, with coordinator of the St. Petersburg headquarters Polina Kostyleva appearing in court charged with organising an unauthorised rally on October 7. Kostyleva was detained on Tuesday when police raided the HQ, then released before trial. She was of […]

Stanislav Belkovsky searched

by Sarah Hurst Well-known liberal political scientist and Dozhd TV presenter Stanislav Belkovsky has told the channel that authorities searched his home in Moscow “in connection with the YUKOS case” this morning. The search was one of many being carried out today that target employees and supporters of […]

Leonid Volkov released – and arrested

by Sarah Hurst Unexpectedly, Alexei Navalny’s campaign chief Leonid Volkov was released from prison this morning, a few days into his 20-day sentence. Volkov was sentenced along with Navalny for “calling for unauthorised rallies” and had announced a hunger strike. There was speculation on social media that the […]

Searches hit Open Russia

by Sarah Hurst Early this morning teams of Spetsnaz officers in riot helmets burst into the homes and offices of employees and of Open Russia and their relatives and the home of Nikolai Levshits, one of the leaders of Alexei Navalny’s election campaign. To ensure that the whole […]

Putin’s leniency

by Sarah Hurst Today the Moscow city court reduced the sentence of Andrei Kosykh, who participated in Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption protest of March 26 in Moscow, from four years in prison to three years and eight months. Kosykh, a 30-year-old freight handler who had dreamed of becoming a […]

Navalny’s message from prison

Blog post by Alexei Navalny translated by Sarah Hurst Original: https://navalny.com/p/5576/ What’s happening and what to do In fact it’s clear. It really is possible to win an election against them. And this would have been obvious to anyone who travelled with us around the regions. To tell the […]

Raid in St. Petersburg

by Sarah Hurst This afternoon police in St. Petersburg raided Alexei Navalny’s campaign headquarters in St. Petersburg. They forced volunteers and journalists out of the premises and held coordinator Polina Kostyleva inside for several hours. Apparently they were trying to decide whether to charge her with disobeying police […]