Alina Pinchuk is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Russian Service.
The Russian authorities continue to pressure opposition figures in the run-up to parliamentary elections in September. In two prominent cases, the official reasons were events from months or even years ago, sending a chilling signal through the democratic opposition.
Russian journalist Roman Anin says his recent interrogation was intended to accuse him of illegally obtaining photos published on Instagram, and raids on his home and office appeared to be done to "find something else," including documents related to recent critical coverage of high-profile figures.
Artyom Vazhenkov, a coordinator of Russia's Open Society opposition movement, is back in Moscow after being detained in Minsk during the aftermath of the disputed presidential election. He spoke of the torture and other abuse he endured and witnessed at the detention facility where he was held.
About 37,000 people died in Russia of AIDS in 2019, the most ever in a single year. The 2020 figure could be worse, activists say, as the country and donors devote their resources to fighting COVID-19. And HIV-positive people run heightened risks of contracting the coronavirus as they crowd Russia's relatively few treatment centers with other immunocompromised patients.
Although the drug charges against journalist Ivan Golunov have been dropped, critics allege that the practice of planting drugs on activists and journalists and imposing stiff prison terms is endemic in the Russia of authoritarian President Vladimir Putin.
A teacher uncovers evidence that questions in the math section of Russia's unified graduation exam were leaked ahead of time on the Internet. Instead of investigating the alleged source, the government plans to sue the teacher.
A ruling-party lawmaker has proposed a bill under which graduates of state universities would have to work in state organizations after school or repay the government the cost of their schooling.
