Stories from RuNet Echo
1 April 2019
Russians rejoice as their favorite Ukrainian presidential hopeful, a comedian with no political experience, wins first round
Ukraine’s presidential elections attracted intense attention from neighboring Russia, with state television channels -- usually extremely hostile to post-Maidan Ukraine -- attempting to paint a picture of chaos and disarray.
29 March 2019
Russian regulators ask VPNs to block blacklisted websites, but most have refused
This defeats the purpose of a VPN, a technology used primarily to help people access censored websites.
19 March 2019
Russian journalist forced to resign for Telegram channel critical of St. Petersburg authorities
Journalist Maria Karpenko says her editor confronted her about co-running a Telegram channel critical of St. Petersburg authorities.
18 March 2019
‘Blood feud’ against Chechen blogger is the culmination of a months-long, unusually frank conversation about a buried past
Heated exchanges provide a rare glimpse into painful and conflicted issues that are burning hot in today’s Chechnya, ten years after the official conclusion of the Second Chechen War.
15 March 2019
Teen theatre production banned by Russian authorities for promoting ‘non-traditional family relations’
Russia has recently passed a series of socially conservative laws targeting activists, advocacy groups and online media for anything that can be construed as "promoting homosexuality to minors."
8 March 2019
Russia sends an official implicated in a sexual harassment scandal to the 2019 UN Commission on the Status of Women
Leonid Slutsky’s appointment as the head of a national delegation to a global forum on the status of women can only be regarded as an act of cruel trolling.
7 March 2019
Russia’s latest ‘anti-fake news law’ is so bad even Kremlin pranksters hate it
Provisions of the new law make it clear that its real target are the online news outlets still not fully controlled by the state or its subsidiaries.
Queer women in Russia’s North Caucasus ‘face sexual violence, forced marriage, and murder’
Out of the 21 women interviewed by QWNC, eight knew someone among their friends, relatives, or neighbours killed by their male family members for behaviour that "humiliated the family."
3 March 2019
Russian rocket Soyuz launches the first OneWeb satellites, tethered to the ground by restrictive legislation
Russians' hopes for censorship-free online access crashed and burned after the authorities imposed strict regulations and full government control of the pioneering satellite Internet program.
27 February 2019
USCYBERCOM attack gives Russian legislators new justification for tighter internet controls
Both pro-Kremlin experts and their opponents see the USCYBERCOM's attack on the "troll factory" as ammunition for isolationist policies.
26 February 2019
Russian cathedral choir's performance of a song about US nuclear annihilation shows that parody doesn't quite work in 2019
As Russian state TV regularly airs segments simulating total or partial nuclear destruction of the United States, this was bound to raise a few eyebrows.
22 February 2019
As Putin preaches ‘sovereignty’ and tech modernization, experts lament loss of online freedoms
As Vladimir Putin promises Russians a faster, more reliable internet, two reports by independent expert groups paint an unrelentingly bleak picture of more crackdowns on online freedom of speech.
17 February 2019
Russian public sector workers ordered to ‘like’ social media posts promoting the 2019 Winter Universiade
This is not the first instance of Russian public officials acting as "human bots" to promote the government's agenda online.
3 February 2019
Russian ‘anti-fake news’ bill rushed through parliament despite vocal opposition
Both the "anti-fake news" bill and its twin initiative against offending the authorities use Germany and other Western countries' laws as inspiration.
26 January 2019
Russia's isolationist ‘sovereign internet’ bill worries experts and users alike
Experts have pointed to the colossal costs associated with building the infrastructure required, and lamented that this would only lead to further monopolization of the Russian internet provider market.
23 January 2019
Local radio station in Russia cancels interview with LGBT activists after threats to editor
Homophobic abuse online didn't put the editor off, but anonymous calls threatening violence against her guests did.
10 January 2019
Russian feminists flip the script on classic Soviet films
The generation of Russians now in their mid-30s is finding their parents' TV and film role models disappointing by the modern standards of relationships and gender equality.
14 December 2018
Russian reporter who faked his own murder named a ‘person of the year’ by TIME magazine
TIME ignored the murder of three journalists while including a staged one. Why couldn’t both be included?
6 December 2018
New internet laws in Russia — and US tech giants’ acquiescence — spell trouble for dissenting voices
These new laws and rules, along with other laws regulating the collection of online user data, makes it difficult to use online platforms to voice discontent in Russia.
27 November 2018
Russian rapper arrested and unexpectedly released after alleged Kremlin intervention
Husky is no liberal minstrel, but fellow rappers rushed to his support when he was arrested. Then a state TV executive bragged about the Kremlin's efforts to release him.
About our RuNet Echo coverage
Maxim Edwards is the RuNet Echo editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
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