Experts agree modernisation and liberalisation present Russia's only chance of enjoying continued economic growth. There is little indication such a programme should be expected in 2014 as Russia's elites value self-preservation above all else.
The amnesty, presidential pardon and resulting ‘celebrity releases’ might understandably overshadow the rest of 2013, says Tanya Lokshina. But it's far too early to suggest they underpin a significant improvement in the rights situation in Russia.
President Putin’s amnesty which has seen Pussy Riot’s Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova released, as well, perhaps, as the Greenpeace 30, is by no means extended to everyone. Young activist Taisiya Osipova also has a young child, but she remains locked up with no apparent chance of release, says Marc Be
Viktor Yanukovych has fled from Europe into the welcoming arms of Mother Russia. But as Valery Kalnysh reports, the cost to Ukraine could be high.
Many young Russians brought up in institutional care have ended up homeless because regional authorities are ignoring their responsibility to house them. Georgy Borodyansky reports from Omsk.
Pyotr Pavlensky is the performance artist who nailed his scrotum to the cobblestones of Red Square. Pained, the government reaction was to institute criminal proceedings against him. Yelena Kostyleva talked to Pavlensky the night before his first interrogation.
President Yanukovych has done a deal in Moscow, and the protesters on the streets are holding their ground. But what about the oligarchs, who hold sway over so many areas of life in Ukraine? Their recent behaviour has been akin to equivocation, says Oleksander Andreyev.
Over a century after Maksim Gorky’s famous play about homeless people – ‘The Lower Depths' – Ekaterina Loushnikova has been looking around her home city of Kirov to see if anything has changed.
What does a multinational company do when a country where it operates has laws that run counter to international human rights norms? Kathryn Dovey suggests how IKEA could honour its rights commitments while protecting its Russian profits.
Nine ordinary Ukrainians – ‘The Nine’– are currently sitting in jail in Kyiv. They were part of a peaceful protest near the Presidential Administration building; they paid for this with their health and their freedom.
In the West we talk metaphorically about ‘losing our heads;’ in Ukraine, it has been a state-ordained punishment. How have Ukrainians been denied the free journalism that the end of Soviet imperialism was meant to bring about?
On 8 December, Kyiv witnessed the largest opposition demonstration in recent memory. Iryna Solomko presents the day’s most arresting images.
