Latest posts by RuNet Echo
16 February 2020
Russian pranksters target Bernie Sanders
Notorious Russian pranksters posing as Greta Thunberg and her father claim that they have called up Bernie Sanders to offer an endorsement. Then their conversation went downhill, fast.
14 February 2020
New report makes grim predictions for ‘Fortress RuNet’
The most recent annual report by Russian NGOs Agora and Roskomsvoboda draws some troubling conclusions about what lies in store for the RuNet in years to come.
21 November 2019
In Russia, individuals can now be branded ‘foreign agents’
The latest amendments expand the definition of "foreign agent" to individuals, at the discretion of the Ministry of Justice, which already maintains online lists of "foreign agent" media outlets and...
8 November 2019
Chechen leader suggests killing users who ‘insult honour’ online
For several years, human rights defenders have consistently cited Chechnya as one of Russia's most repressive regions, citing widespread torture, disappearances, and a complete intolerance of dissent.
14 October 2019
A Crimean Tatar journalist's defiant last words in court
"I am a citizen of Ukraine, a Crimean Tatar, a Muslim. I am a journalist, a father, a husband, and a son. With the grace of God, these will not...
27 May 2019
Russia: Kommersant staff walk out in protest of censorship, triggering journalism ethics debate
The entire politics desk of Kommersant, several dozen people in total, has since resigned out of solidarity with their colleagues.
25 April 2019
CEO of carpooling service disinvited from interview on Russian state media after producer found out she was a woman
Russia still has a long way to go in terms of gender equality.
23 April 2019
As a comedian wins Ukraine's presidency by a landslide, Russians watch with awe and envy
Russians have been glued to their screens as they watched a rare show: unpredictable elections where an incumbent can hold debates with an outsider, lose the vote, and concede peacefully.
8 April 2019
Moscow human rights activists sue a Russian far eastern republic over ban on migrant workers
Human rights activists will have to fight Yasen Nikolayev’s act on purely legalistic grounds, arguing that regulating the local labor market in Yakutia is not actually required.
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.
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.
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.
