Valery Pavlukevich - openDemocracy

Samizdat in Samara

Valery Pavlukevich, who recently passed away, was a regular contributor to oDR. In his last appearance on these pages, he tells Michael Lawrence about the samizdat scene in his home city of Kuibyshev, now Samara.

By Valery Pavlukevich and Michael Lawrence

/ 3 Jun 2015

Journalism has become a form of ‘prostitution’ in Russia

The Samara region has one of the highest numbers of media outlets in Russia, but local journalists find it hard to write the truth.

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 6 Jan 2015

Jehovah's Witnesses go underground in Samara

The branding of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Samara as an extremist organisation has turned them into religious dissidents. на русском языке

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 2 Dec 2014

Samara’s election: the 198 million rouble show

On 14 September, voters in Samara Region were able to vote for their governor, for the first time in many years – an electoral show choreographed by United Russia. На русском языке

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 17 Sep 2014

Samara: ripples from the Ukrainian storm

Some 5000 people have fled to Samara, from the fighting in Ukraine, but many say they have been victims of Kremlin propaganda.

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 12 Sep 2014

Punitive psychiatry in Samara

Punitive psychiatry is being revived in the Samara region. Doctors are hospitalising healthy people in psychiatric hospitals, in order to take over their flats.на русском языке

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 31 Jul 2014

LGBT in Samara – pederasts and paedophiles

In Samara, LGBT people are seen as paedophiles. They face aggressive homophobia, harassment, and public incomprehension.

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 4 Jun 2014

Sorting out the opposition in Samara

People protesting against the Russian annexation of Crimea in the Russian city of Samara have been subjected to harassment and death threats from ultra-nationalist thugs – a sign of things to come? на русском языке

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 4 Apr 2014

The serfs of the Volga Car Factory

The Volga Car Factory in Togliatti is the biggest in Russia. The management recently announced 7,500 redundancies, all before the end of the year. How are the city and its inhabitants coping? на русском языке

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 19 Mar 2014

Letter from Togliatti: ugly brides go to the polls

The car-manufacturing city of Togliatti will this Sunday go to the polls for a second time to elect its new mayor. The choice is between an unofficial candidate from the ruling party and a cosmopolitan fomer regional minister for ecology. Valery Pavlukevich, a journalist from nearby Samara, travel

By Valery Pavlukevich

/ 16 Mar 2012