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Michael Pröbsting — Some on the left still claim Russia is not an imperialist power (and hence a lesser evil than Western rivals). This is a discussion not just of theoretical interest but also of political importance.
Thousands of university students have left Ukraine since February and are now navigating different education systems, applying for temporary protection and preparing for the academic year -- all while dealing with the disruption and distress of war at home.
"I think they are trying a new tactic now," opposition politician and political analyst Leonid Gozman told Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. Earlier, he said, the police would detain 2 or 3 percent of the protesters at a rally and the rest would go home feeling relieved. "Now we have a different situation," he continued. "They are signaling to everyone: 'Go ahead and march, guys, but a year from now you can expect we'll come, expect a knock at your door. And we'll come or not as we wish....' Now they have placed everyone in that position."
share Print IRKUTSK, Russia -- On March 7, 37-year-old Russian convict Yevgeny Rylsky died in a prison hospital in Irkutsk, to which he had been transferred a few days earlier from the notorious prison IK-15 outside Angarsk. "His spleen had been ruptured," said Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the prisoners' rights NGO Gulagu.net, citing several confidential sources among both prisoners and prison staff. "His collarbone was broken, and other internal organs were injured. The doctors also found bedsores. That is, Rylsky had been beaten and had been lying in bed in life-threatening condition for a...
share Print TOMSK, Russia -- Sergei Petrochenko's family spent the early morning hours of January 28 frantically calling hospitals and morgues. Petrochenko was supposed to have arrived home from a construction job before midnight the previous night, but he had disappeared without a trace. The family's uncertainty continued until shortly after 6 a.m., when Petrochenko himself called from an unfamiliar number. In a short conversation, he was able to tell his wife, Nellya, that he was in police custody, that he had been beaten up, and that his car was damaged and left by the side of the road. Ne...