Russian journalist David Frenkel was trying to cover voting at a St. Petersburg polling station on June 30 when a police officer roughly attempted to remove him, breaking his collarbone in the process. The frightening incident was caught on video, and authorities say they are investigating. From the hospital where he is recovering after surgery, Frenkel described the incident in interviews with RFE/RL and Current Time.
Multiple independent and opposition analyses have exposed evidence of widespread falsifications in the vote on constitutional changes that Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated and promoted, and which open the door for him to be in office until 2036. But faced with accusations of fraud, the Kremlin insists the vote was free and fair.
The Kremlin has claimed victory after a landslide vote for constitutional changes that could enable Vladimir Putin to remain president until 2036. But the process leaves him on shakier ground than before, in terms of perceived legitimacy, and exposes the Russian people to the whims of the state and its security apparatus under a constitution one analyst said is now “meaningless.”
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Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told a doctoral student in 2016 that criticizing him was not a crime. Four years later, the former student has been given a suspended prison term for mildly criticizing Khamenei.
According to official results, only one region in Russia recorded a majority vote against the constitutional amendments that give President Vladimir Putin the option of seeking two more terms. Kremlin allies swiftly suggested that it was a protest vote over a local issue and not a rebuke to Putin, and the elections chief claimed the result proved that the vote count was credible.
A spike in new coronavirus infections in Central Asia has forced authorities to reimpose restrictions just weeks after starting to reopen their economies. But not all governments acknowledge the coronavirus reality.
Russia’s opposition has long been riven over strategy, and this ballot exposed a major split over whether to vote against Putin’s constitutional overhaul - or to boycott the process altogether. Some opponents mounted a campaign to get out the “No” vote.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington are likely to center in the coming weeks over an arms embargo included in the 2015 nuclear deal due to expire on October 18.
After Serbia's official COVID-19 death count is challenged, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic suggests it's actually inflated and includes "XY" accident victims.
The social-media reaction was swift when eagle-eyed viewers of Mordovian public television spotted a gloved hand appearing to stuff ballots during coverage of Russia's nationwide vote on constitutional amendments enabling Putin to seek 12 more years in office.
July 1 is the final day of voting on constitutional changes initiated by President Vladimir Putin, and few see its conclusion as anything but foregone. But how will the new, overhauled constitution alter Russia and its political course, as well as the status of a longtime leader poised to win the option of securing several more years at the helm?
When a Moscow couple arrived at their local polling station to cast their ballots in Russia's weeklong vote on constitutional amendments, they were surprised to hear from election officials that their whole family had already voted, even though they hadn't. The incident has added to scrutiny of the vote, which has been marred by evidence of irregularities.
Property records reportedly tie Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to a Moscow apartment in the same building where Movsar Barayev, head of the gang that carried out the deadly "Nord-Ost" hostage-taking at a Moscow theater, lived in the days before the attack in 2002.
Amid major controversy over allegations that Russia offered incentives to Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers, we take a look at Russian-Taliban relations through the years and the Kremlin's motives in Afghanistan.
Russian state TV journalist Vladimir Zharinov has quit to protest the process by which President Vladimir Putin is pushing the adoption of hundreds of constitutional amendments -- including one that could enable him to remain in the Kremlin until 2036. Zharinov denounced the process as "madness" and "a historic crime."
With Beijing unwilling to come to the table, Washington’s approach could see the expiration of a foundational piece of arms-control infrastructure.
Villagers in two badly hit Turkmen provinces still face ruined homes, electricity shortages, and phone and web cutoffs two months after devastating storms.
Polling stations in car trunks and tree stumps used as tables are among the stars of viral footage that has emerged since Russians began voting on June 25 on constitutional changes that could keep President Vladimir Putin in power until 2036. Early in the weeklong vote, such images are fueling critics' claims that the whole thing is a shameless power grab.
Russian President Vladimir Putin rarely, if ever, utters his name, but Kremlin archfoe Aleksei Navalny and his criticism of the government were featured briefly on state TV this week, shocking supporters and opponents alike.
