Author: RFE/RL’s North.Realities

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – It was a small protest, and a short one. When it was over, long-stemmed carnations left by participants lay on the stone surrounding the eternal flame memorial in St. Petersburg, Russia, along with a white ribbon bearing an inscription: “It is time to bring the mobilized soldiers home.” The January 20...

He’s remembered on the Russian social-media platform VKontakte as “a son, husband, father.” But 43-year-old Yevgeny Stanovoi, a deputy platoon commander in Russia’s elite 61st Marine Infantry Brigade, was also part of a trend – another native of an indigenous-populated, impoverished village in Russia’s Far North, Lovozero, who joined the military and was killed in...

“I am pathologically incapable of betraying my conscience,” said St. Petersburg artist and musician Aleksandra Skochilenko in an interview from pretrial custody with RFE/RL’s North.Realities. “I have no hope. The Investigative Committee and its head, Aleksandr Bastrykin, personally, have selected me for the harshest possible punishment.” The 32-year-old who often uses the first name Sasha,...

Funerals are being held for soldiers. Shopping malls have more and more vacant storefronts. Prices are rising, and goods are disappearing from store shelves. These are some of the stories that Russia’s non-state regional media outlets have reported on in recent weeks. But what they can’t tell their audiences is the story behind all of...