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A pile of flowers blanketed a small memorial in the center of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius after the death of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny last month. The impromptu tribute at the memorial, an unassuming pyramid commemorating victims of Soviet repression, has highlighted Vilnius’s growing status as the center of Russian political opposition. In Vilnius, exiled Russian journalists have set up studios to broadcast news to millions of compatriots back home on YouTube. Russian activists have rented offices to catalog the Kremlin’s human rights abuses, and exiled Russian musicians have recorded new albums for the audience back home. The arrival of the Russian dissidents in Vilnius has added to a larger wave of Russian-speaking refugees and migrants from Belarus and Ukraine over the past four years.

Persons: Aleksei A, “ Putin, ”, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Lithuanian, YouTube Locations: Lithuanian, Vilnius, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Belarus

☆ Screams and Blank Stares of Shock: Horror at a Russian Concert
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Alina Lobzina | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Once they heard the shots ring out on Friday night at Crocus City Hall, Efim Fidrya and his wife ran down to the building’s basement and hid with three others in a bathroom. They listened as shots rang out and thousands of people who had come to a sold-out rock concert on Moscow’s outskirts began screaming and trying to flee. Horrified and scared, Mr. Fidrya did the only thing he could think to do: He held on tight to the bathroom door, which didn’t lock, trying to protect the group in case the assailants came to find them. “While we could hear shooting and screaming, I stood the whole time holding the bathroom door shut,” Mr. Fidrya, an academic, said in a phone interview from Moscow. “The others were standing in the corner so that if someone started shooting through the door, they wouldn’t be in the line of fire.”

Persons: Efim Fidrya, Fidrya, ” Mr, “, ” Organizations: Crocus City Locations: Crocus, Moscow’s, Moscow

How the Russian Government Silences Wartime DissentJust days after invading Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed a censorship law that made it illegal to “discredit” the army. The indignities of the crackdown, and the long arm of the Russia law, is being lost in the numbers. Nanna Heitmann for The New York TimesIn dry legalese, the court documents recount the Russian state’s case against these statements and protests. People’s “negative assessment” of the Russian military could adversely affect its performance, the court said, presenting a national security risk. And I very much don’t want this.”Sergei Platonov at district court in Moscow listening to his guilty verdict in November.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ”, — schoolteachers, —, That’s, Ukraine —, pollsters, Andrei Kolesnikov, Demyan, Aleksandr T, Olga V, ” Maksim L, Omsk Diana I, Denis V, Russia ”, “, Maksim P, Anna S, Maria V, people’s “, Russia’s, Zaynulla Gadzhiyev, Mr, Bespokoyev, Marina Tsurmast, scrawled, Nanna Heitmann, Tsurmast, Gadzhiyev, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Aleksandra Y, Skochilenko, Selimat, Vladimir A, Rustam I, ” Yelena L, Aleksandr K, Olga P, Dmitri D, Sergei V, Eve, Daria Ivanova, Ms, Ivanova, “ you’ll, Anton Redikultsev, Redikultsev, Jan, Marina, Sergei P, ” Yuldash, ” Dmitri S, Peskov, Putin’s, Sergei Platonov, Platonov, Russian Gestapo ”, Polina, Kolesnikov, Anna Sliva, Sliva Organizations: New York Times, Times, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, OVD, Penza Yuriy V, Russia, ”, Ukraine ” “, YouTube, Bucha, Ukraine, Police, The New York Times, Armed Forces, Russian Federation, VK, Russian Gestapo, The New York Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine, “, Omsk, Peace, Ukraine ” “ Ukraine, Bucha, Moscow, St, Petersburg, Iglino, ”, Novosibirsk, Siberia, Crimea, Ukrainian, Kalga, Russia’s, OVD, Coast, Primorye, Soviet

Convicted of selling drugs and ostracized by his family, he endured abuse from guards and frequent spells in solitary confinement at a high-security Russian prison. He told a friend he felt alone and racked with guilt. Then, in the summer of 2022, Mr. Mokin and other inmates in Penal Colony No. He offered freedom and money, even as he warned that the price for many would be death. Mr. Mokin and 196 other inmates enlisted the same day.

Persons: Aleksandr Mokin, Mokin, Yevgeny V, fatigues, Wagner, “, ” Mr Organizations: Penal, The New York Times Locations: Chelyabinsk, Ukraine

Four former Russian inmates who fought with Wagner in eastern Ukraine said they had received calls and messages offering new military contracts in recent weeks, confirming recent reports by Russian military bloggers. Three former fighters said they were specifically urged to join Rosgvardia, Russia’s militarized national guard. Originally envisioned as a rear-guard force, Rosgvardia has gained prominence since the invasion of Ukraine under the leadership of Victor Zolotov, a former bodyguard of President Vladimir V. Putin. “Wagner is officially becoming a unit of Rosgvardia,” read a recruitment text received by a former Wagner fighter last week and seen by The New York Times. “The entire structure, methods of work and commanders remain the same.”

Persons: Wagner, Rosgvardia, Victor Zolotov, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, “ Wagner, ” Organizations: Kremlin, Rosgvardia, The New York Times Locations: Ukraine

Online, the Defense Ministry published a splashy video ad focusing on two central motivations: machismo, and money. It defines military service as more meaningful — and manly — than what’s depicted as the Russian man’s typical, humdrum existence. Since the invasion’s beginning, state television newscasts have been offering viewers a sanitized view of the war. “I got all the payments that contract servicemen are entitled to if they’re wounded,” the veteran, Nikolai Karpenko, says. “Contract military service, Nikolai says, gave him the chance to show that he’s a real defender of the fatherland,” the reporter intones.

Persons: “, Nikolai Karpenko, Nikolai, intones Organizations: Defense Ministry, Russian Defense Locations: Russian, Irkutsk, Siberia, Ukraine

☆ In Urgent Need of Ammunition, Ukraine Speeds Its Own Production
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Gaya Gupta | Alina Lobzina | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

When an office building next to her gleaming glass residential skyscraper in Moscow was hit by a drone filled with explosives early on Sunday, Mari Kletanina seemed worried. “People are consciously or unconsciously ignoring it,” wrote Aleksandr Kynev, a Russian political analyst. “This is the time of сonflict, a conflict of interests, so this is a natural procedure,” Mr. Yzakov said. “We live in a difficult time.”Russian government officials seemed to be more serious about the threat. “If attacks continue, then there will be no new sales at the current prices.”

Persons: Mari Kletanina, Kletanina, ”, Aleksandr Kynev, “, Mirlan Yzakov, Mr, Yzakov, Maria Zakharova, Dmitri S, Peskov, ” Andrei Perla, Vladimir V, Putin, Maksim Khodyrev, Khodyrev Organizations: Russian Foreign Ministry Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Kremlin

☆ Erdogan Hosts NATO Talks on Sweden Bid: Ukraine-Russia Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Ben Hubbard | Safak Timur | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Mr. Putin touched on virtually every aspect of the conflict in recent weeks. At one point he also suggested that the Russian army might have to again march on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. More important, Mr. Petrov speculated that the remarks could be a prelude to seeking negotiations by implying that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was doomed. Mr. Putin said he backed the call for paramilitary organizations to sign such contracts. “It is his style before any negotiation to let his guy say something horrible in order to look better,” Mr. Petrov said.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Nikolai Petrov, Petrov, ”, Wagner, Sergei K, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Alina Lobzina Organizations: Tuesday, Ministry of Defense, Defense Ministry Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukrainian, Kharkiv

More recently, he has tried to wrap Ukraine into that narrative, falsely depicting it as a Nazi redoubt. Image Smoke rising above a fuel depot in the Russian village of Volna, near the bridge linking Crimea to Russia, last Wednesday. In Russia, various regional governors have cited security concerns in canceling Victory Day events. “No neo-Nazi scum will be able to mar the great Victory Day. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said the march was canceled as a “precautionary measure” against possible attacks.

More recently, he has tried to wrap Ukraine into that narrative, falsely depicting it as a Nazi redoubt. Credit... ReutersUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, staked his nation’s own claim to the holiday, with an address on Monday drawing a parallel between World War II and the current war against Russian invaders. In Russia, various regional governors have cited security concerns in canceling Victory Day events. Igor Artamonov, the governor of the Lipetsk region, which is also near Ukraine, said his decision should not be misinterpreted. “No neo-Nazi scum will be able to mar the great Victory Day.

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