Valentin Baryshnikov is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Russian Service in Moscow.
On a frigid December 21, 1980, a few hundred Beatles fans gathered in the Soviet capital to mourn the death of John Lennon. A student who captured the event in photographs recalls that it was a time of sadness, fear, and anger.
The arrest of Russia's economic development minister could signal a significant victory for former KGB operative Igor Sechin -- and a costly defeat for investor confidence in the country's battered economy.
A Russian statistician has released an election analysis that he claims shows the ruling United Russia party was given as many as 12 million extra votes in the September 18 State Duma elections.
Anger is mounting in Russia after more than 80 people whose cars were stranded on a snowbound highway waited 16 hours to be rescued, resulting in one death and numerous cases of frostbite. One of the survivors voiced his outrage in a video appeal to President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian government has repeatedly pledged to return scientific research to its Soviet-era glory days. But by attacking one of the field's main benefactors, it may have done just the opposite.
Ukrainian Vladimir Talashko starred in one of the best-loved Soviet World War II films. Now he's angry about how the Kremlin downplays the role Ukrainians and others played in defeating the Nazis.
Former chess champion and Russian pro-democracy activist Garry Kasparov talks to RFE/RL about his friendship with slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov -- and what his killing means for President Vladimir Putin and the country's embattled opposition.
The investigation into the February 27 killing in Moscow of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov is under way, being overseen at the highest levels of Russian law enforcement. Yet security analyst Andrei Soldatov feels confident the killers will never be brought to justice.
Russian free-press advocates are reeling from the sacking of the longtime editor of the country's popular Lenta.ru news site after it published an article that linked to Ukraine coverage that Kremlin authorities deemed "extremist." RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Valentin Baryshnikov spoke to Lenta.ru correspondent Svetlana Reiter about Russia's shrinking independent media.
The standoff over Crimea is creating bitter rifts in Russia's artistic community. Russian cultural luminaries have published rival open letters – one backing their country's invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula, the other condemning what they call an act of aggression against Ukraine.
Russian chess grandmaster and opposition activist Garry Kasparov announced earlier this month that he intends to remain outside of Russia for the foreseeable future because he fears a politically motivated prosecution. But that does not mean he intends to back away from his opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
