Moscow today: people are chanting “not to war” on the day of Aleksey Navalny’s funeral. People hug
#Navalny
’s mother, who is crying and say: “Thank you for your son.”
Aleksey Navalny’s daughter has graduated from Stanford. Navalny, Russian political prisoner, died in jail earlier this year, after months in a tiny single cell. He would have been so proud
Here in
#Kyiv
people tell us they are now scared of Trump, worried about
#Ukraine
’s future and the entire civilization. As if Putin was not enough to terrify this country for years.
Trump yelled several times yesterday that all he's interested in is fighting corruption in Ukraine. Why then, is he berating those Ukrainians who exposed Manafort's corruption while Manafort was working for corrupt Ukrainian politicians?
The Roma people were considered enemies of the Third Reich, condemned to be isolated and ultimately murdered. Some 23,000 Roma & Sinti were incarcerated in Auschwitz. 91 percent of them perished.
Listen to our
#podcast
about Roma and Sinti in
#Auschwitz
:
Here is an illustration of Russia's non-existing politics: yesterday the country's ruling United Russia party unanimously supported their leader Dmitry Medvedev, today it happily voted for Putin's new appointment, a little-known technocrat Mikhail Mishustin.
With everything else that he said today, it may not get as much attention, but it still stands out that the president of the United States today said the Soviets were right to invade Afghanistan in 1979. Pretty sure that’s a first for an American leader.
Russia sentenced a human rights defender Khamroyev (#БахромХамроев) to 14 years in prison for “propaganda of terrorism.” His crime: 6 posts on Facebook. He is a member of
@MemorialMoscow
During the hearing he held a banner: “Russia is a police state”
#Ukraine
’s second city of
#Kharkiv
is full of students, hip coffee shops, independent theatre companies and interesting museums. I saw a brilliant exhibit dedicated to history of censorship, banned books, from USSR to modern days at the Literary Museum. There is no panic.
Awful tragedy in the city of Nizhny Novgorod: an independent & often persecuted journalist Irina Slavina, the founder of , set herself on fire outside the city’s police hq. “Blame Russian Federation for my death,” she wrote on FB. People bring flowers...
#Donbas
, the most effected region by the crises is the poorest region I have seen in
#Ukraine
.People here live on $80-100 a month.
#Luhansk
region is in horrible shape. Children here live in terrible conditions, schools run out of coal. People ask for help, for world’s attention
More than 200,000 Czechs protested today, demanding justice minister, President Zeman and PM Babis resign. This is the biggest protest in Prague, a city with 1,309,000 population, since Velvet Revolution of 1989. Backach
Dark: A group of Russian journalists, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry
#Muratov
, who is the editor-in-chief of
@novaya_gazeta
, interviewed the President of
#Ukraine
V. Zelensky yesterday. Today Russia’s last independent and legendary Novaya Gazeta stopped publishing.
#Oscars95
: Congratulations to the film crew and
#Navalny
family, the "Navalny" film about the Russian opposition leader, who's criticized Putin and called to stop the war in
#Ukraine
wins the award!
The anti-war resistance continues in Russia: Police detained 5935 people on February, 24-27 in more than 70 cities. These children were detained for bringing flowers to the
#Ukrainian
embassy in
#Moscow
Standing ovations
@carnegiehall
tonight:Russian-born musicians Polina Osetinskaya and Maksim Vengerov played Shostakovich and Chaikovsky for two thousand people in the heart of
#NewYork
city.
#Russia
has cancelled Osetinskaya’s concerts for her anti-war position.
@thedailybeast
"Putin does not have any other option to choose: if he does not bring down Prigozhin’s rebellion in the most brutal way, it will be the end of his power,”
@zygaro
, the author of "All the Kremlin's Men" says.
@thedailybeast
I am so happy that 6-y-o Alisa, a victim of Russia’s attack on
#Kherson
, has received help, that she goes to a summer school, dreams to become a vet. I wish all Alisa’s dreams come true.
@USATODAY
Neither arrests, nor bad weather stop
#Russian
opposition this weekend.Crowds take over
#Sakharov
prospect in Moscow’s downtown.Celebrity novelists,artists, rap musicians join the anti-government protest today. Many young people look forward to rapper Face’s performance tonight.
Истошные женские крики: "Не надо! Прекратите пожалуйста! Я ничего не вижу!" из-за забора с колючей проволокой.
Как будто смотришь документальную хронику Германии прошлого века и перед тобой нацистский Аушвиц, Дахау или Заксенхаузен. Но нет. Это Беларусь, наши дни. РУВД Минска
On February, 27, 2015 murderous criminals killed Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken opposition leader and father of four children. The mastermind behind Nemtsov's assassination has not been found. Nemtsov's son Anton had a baby boy today. To newly born Boris
#Nemtsov
!
My latest for the
@TheAtlantic
will always remember the words written on a piece of paper that Navalny held at one of his court hearings: ‘I am not afraid and you should not be afraid,’” writes
@annanemtsova
:
5 years in prison for one re-post on Vkontakte social media about the shelling of
#Kramatorsk
railway station. Russian court sentenced this police cynologist, Anastasia Zibrova, in spite of her pleas: she is bringing up her 6-y-o daughter alone and takes care of her grandmother.
#Russia
persecutes one more journalist. Police investigates Svetlana Prokopyeva, a journalist with
@EchoMskNews
, suspecting her of "justifying terrorism" for three words she said about authorities on the radio. If convicted, she can serve seven years of prison.
@IWMF
Anna
#Politkovskaya
, Anastasia Baburova, Natalia
#Estemirova
, Yuriy Shekochikhin and Igor Domnikov, five courageous journalists of Russian independent newspaper
@novaya_gazeta
, have been assassinated during Putin era. But the paper continues to break brave & important stories.
Here i
#Kyiv
people focused on reforming the country say they are shocked to see who Rudy Giuliani is working with- his Ukraine ‘Investigation’ Stars Some of Kyiv’s Most Dubious Characters через
@thedailybeast
Navalny’s defence lawyer,O.Kuznetsova,said earlier today that Navalny had been “transferred to a strict regime correction fasciitis,”IK 6 in Melihovo,252 km away from Moscow.The inmates of this penal colony sew uniforms for the army,get reportedly tortured
Alexei Navalny is missing from the Pokrov penal colony. He didn't show up for the meeting with his lawyers today. We have no further information on where Navalny is being taken.
Six years ago today ex-Russian PM, Putin critic Boris
#Nemtsov
was killed by the
#Kremlin
’s wall. The shooters are in jail but the instigators are still unknown. Putin said “the perpetrators and organizers have been found” but did not name them.
#Prigozhin
who called Russian chief of staff Gerasimov & minister of defense Shoigu “perverts” and “faggots,” shot down several Russian aircrafts, killed, executed a ton of Russians and Ukrainians seems happy. He us neither in Belorus nor in Africa but in his own hotel in St.Pete
Today’s the first day Muscovites need the QR codes to go to work. A friend sent me this: to use the metro people wait in a crowded corridor for a policeman to check their documents. Shocking.
#COVIDmoscow
I am travelling around former closed
#Soviet
towns in the
#Urals
, where scientists worked at secret nuclear laboratories, banned from travelling. Their correspondence was strictly censored. Parts of this territory is still radioactive after 1957 explosion. Locals keep secrets.
The list of
#Russia
’s political assassination attempts and assassinations stretches into the dozens. This morning
#Russia
woke to the news: Putin Opponent Aleksey Navalny Reportedly Poisoned by ‘Toxin’ in His Tea через
@thedailybeast
Police detained more than 600 at the anti-government protest in
#Moscow
today. Shops closed down in downtown. Thousands of people took part in the rally in spite of the rain.Small groups of the opposition continue to walk around the old town.
@csdickey
@thedailybeast
It’s been another horrific, heartbreaking day. More detained in Moscow for the anti-war protests. But people keep coming out every night. Now bankers and even a Communist deputy have spoken against the war.
Russian POWs claim they were threatened to be executed for disobeying orders in Putin's army. "We didn't have a choice," one of them says in the video.
Another group of Russians surrendered near Kreminna where Russia is throwing everything with little to show for it.
Now the men are safe, no one will shoot them for disobeying the criminal orders.
Biden calls Putin “a killer,” Putin wishes Biden “good health,” and adds a Russian children’s saying “whoever calls names is what is called.” Who wants to work as a diplomat today?
The
#Kursk
tragedy marked the beginning of Putin’s presidency in August, 2000: despite of daily promises on state television to star a rescue operation , 118 submariners died on the bottom of the Barents Sea locked in the nuclear-powered submarine. Tomorrow is the anniversary.
Russian ruling party offers parliament seats to ex-inmates fighting in
#Ukraine
. Still, according to Olga Romanova,founder of the independent prison observers group Russia Behind the Bars, the prison recruitment slowed down,”prisoners are not in a hurry to get to the front.”
“Heroes do not die,” protesters are chanting at the opposition protest in
#Moscow
. Dozens of thousands joined the protest on the 5th anniversary of Boris
#Nemtsov
’s assassination
Russia observers compared Prigozhin’s end to the death of Russian general Alexander Lebed, security chief during the first Chechen war, in a helicopter crash. It also reminded of the second Chechen war commander, Gennady Troshev’s death
in an airplane crash in September, 2008.
#Moscow
is out marching against political repressions, people are chanting: “Russia is without Putin” This March devoted to the 5th anniversary of
#Nemtsov
assassination is the biggest anti-government protest in years
@csdickey
@NoahShachtman
The U.S. embassy in Moscow did warn a couple weeks ago about “extremists plan to target big gatherings, to include concerts” - why didn’t Russian security elites pay attention?
Breaking news: some unknown men grabbed Maria
#Kolesnikova
in the heart of Minsk, put her in a minivan and drove her away. Kolesnikova is the inspiration of
#freebelarus
movement.
A Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna,
@IWMF
Courage, is missing. Her parents believe she has been captured on Russia-occupied territories. Journalism is not a crime. We hope Victoria will return home to her family soon.
@CPJ_Eurasia
Where the hell is Maria
#Kolesnikova
? She's been missing for more than 12 hours, since men in masks pushed her into a minivan in the center of
#Minsk
& drove away. Both
#Russian
and
#Belarusian
secret services often practice abductions, rights groups say.
Two men, two funerals. Moscow, 1989: Russians said good bye to the human rights champion, Andrei Sakharov. Moscow today: Russians honoring Aleksey Navalny.
There are too many shallow articles about Russia's political mess with zero reporting on the ground by authors based in comfortable Western capitals. Colleagues,if the lockdown prevents you from traveling to
#Russia
, please hire local stringers who actually see and hear things.
Russian Channel One has just announced Spec Efir, extraordinary life news.Mean that they have had some Security Council.Tass says that all Moscow's"most important objects" are under special forces guard. Are they actually expecting 25,000 Wagner guys to show up in Moscow tonight?
These women (Maria Alyokhina, Pussy Riot second left) were detained and spent last night in jail for throwing paper airplanes at Federal Security Service building in protest against Telegram ban.
I spoke with Anastasia, a brave 12-year-old girl from Saint-Petersburg, who challenged Russian Channel One's Version of ‘The Bachelor’ - she started a campaign, a dose of Her Own Feminist Reality via
@thedailybeast
@Uvazhenie_naTV
@InformNapalm
Мы проверили: видео действительно снято в Харькове, виден хвост ракетной части реактивного снаряда РСЗО «Смерч».
Ракетная система залпового огня (РСЗО) — неизбирательное оружие. Удары по населённым пунктам с применением такого оружия — военное преступление
What a show…Wagner was founded by the military intelligence service(part of Shoigu’s ministry,)has never been a”private” mercenary army. Shoigu has been providing Wagner with weapons.Putin personally congratulated Prigozhin last month. In this actPrigozhin is supposed to scream
It looks like Putin and Shoigu want to centralize the PMC's under their command. All voluntary fighters who are fighting for Russia have to sign a contract with the Russian Federation as of 1 July 2023. This also applies to Wagner, led by Prigozhin.
Shoigu pulls the strings.
#Putin
's critic Alexey Navalny is free after spending 50 days behind bars. He looks skinnier and younger. He walked 12,000 steps every day in jail, annoying other prisoners, he says; read tons of books & invented his 101st new way of fighting thugs and crooks.
I keep thinking of this tragedy. It took place in my home city of Nizhny Novgorod to an ex-U.S. Marine & intellectual, Catherine Serou. It is shameful to see how her life ended on the eve of Putin-Biden meeting, on the Volga
He smiled, even today. And they declared they would keep him under arrest for 3 more months. I don't remember ever seeing our friend and colleague
#EvanGershkovich
without a smile on his face. Hope Evan will walk free soon, so we could smile together with him.
The problem w
#FSB
's treason &espionage cases is that whatever evidence there is,it always remains secret. In 2 decades of
#Putin
rule, we've never seen an investigative reporter behind bars on suspicion of treason.Journalists demand transparency for the investigation.
@csdickey
One of Russia’s Leading Journalists is Charged With Treason: Ivan Safronov, under pressure for his coverage, hoped he would be protected when he went to work for the Russian space agency. But now he's been arrested as a spy for the Czechs.
@annanemtsova
My dispatch from
#Donbas
#Krasnohorivka
, where children go to a half-ruined music school, w constant soundtrack of artillery outside. A lot is at stake for them while world leaders think of peace deals.
@NoahShachtman
@Katie_M_Baker
Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize winner tells us: “This prize is for Dmitry Domnikov, Yuriy Shekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Natasha Estemirova,” the assassinated journalists of
@novaya_gazeta
Here is how people spend tonight at
#Kyiv
’s Central Station and not because their train is late but because of the violent war that Putin’s started without declaring it, for reasons he did not explain. Meantime Thousands of Russian protesters chant “
#notowar
!” in Russian cities
#Ukrainian
national flags fly at opposition rally in
#Tbilisi
,
#Georgia
, as well as white ribbons of
#Russian
opposition. Protesters speak of Russian aggression and occupation, poverty, armed criminals and "authoritarian rule" of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
@thedailybeast
KAREN,35 SAW FIRE ON THE ROOF OF THE CROCUS CONCERT HALL AND RAN TO RESCUE VICTIMS OF THE TERRORIST ATTACK. HE WAS SAVING PEOPLE ALL NIGHT LONG. HE DIED IN HOSPITAL YESTERDAY
Putin’s crony, Cheche leader Kadyrov brought his 15-year-old son Adam to prison, so the teen would have a chance to beat up one of his dad’s prisoners after the interrogation. Kadyrov lives life of a medieval baron and Putin allows that.
Police detained 20 journalists today in
#Moscow
, including
@AFP
reporters - all of them were doing their job: they were covering news; a protest by wives of men mobilized to fight in Ukraine. Women have been protesting outside the Kremlin wall for weeks.
Yulia Navalnaya: "My husband is in prison for just telling the truth. My husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Aleksey, I am dreaming of the day you will be free. And our country will be free. Stay strong, my love."
"Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: We cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head."
“Navalny” wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.
#Oscars
Five years ago today they ordered & murdered Putin critic Boris Nemtsov. Dozens of people gathered at Sakharov Center in
#Moscow
to remember the political leader, his unique vital energy. Optimistic Nemtsov is on the screen daying: “We’ll come to democracy eventually.”