Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Russia Report 31.07.2012 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about domestic and foreign-policy developments in Russia. For more stories on Russia, please visit and bookmark our Russia page .

 

Discovery In Tatarstan Prison Raises More Suspicions Of Abuse Rights activists in the Russian republic of Tatarstan have discovered a baseball bat at a prison hospital that they say could have been used to abuse inmates. The accusations deal another blow to law enforcement authorities in the republic, which have been hit by a series of torture scandals in recent months. More   Navalny Vs. Bastrykin: Head Games And Power Plays The long and winding Navalny case is a metaphor for the ambiguity in the elite over how to deal with the opposition. More   Target: Bastrykin Investigative Committee chief Aleksandr Bastrykin has made some enemies during his rise to the top of Russia's law-enforcement community. Is it payback time? More   Pussy Riot: The Punk Band That Isn't And The Concert That Wasn't Pussy Riot isn't really a punk band and they didn't really play a concert in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. So what exactly did they do that has gotten them into so much trouble? More   Russian Feminist Punk Group On Trial The three members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot who are on trial in Moscow have pleaded to the court that they have not broken any laws. More   Podcast: Fighting The Power -- Russia's Musical Uprising Russia's musicians are getting more and more politicized. What does it mean? And why does it matter? More   Russia's Top Investigator, Aleksandr Bastrykin, In Hot Water Again For the second time in just a month, Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee and longtime friend of Vladimir Putin, is in hot water. RFE/RL takes a look at Bastrykin and why he's in the headlines again. More   The Som Total Of Uzdunrobita's Problems If Uzbekistan's prosecutor-general has anything to say about it, the country's largest mobile provider will not be back online for a while. More   Russia To Launch Islamic TV Channel Russia plans to establish a new Islamic television channel for the country's Muslims in August. More   What A Bio Putin Is Creating For Pussy Riot What a biography the Kremlin is creating for Pussy Riot. You'd think they had hired them. More   Olympics Website Places Armenia In Russia The Soviet Union is dead, long live the Soviet Union! More   Following Mufti Attacks, Tatar Officials Seek To Control Narrative In the wake of two separate terrorist attacks against leading pro-Kremlin Islamic figures in the Tatarstan capital, Kazan, the authorities have advised the media to quote only seven officially approved experts on all issues related to "Islamic life in the republic." More   Tatarstan's First Graffiti Festival Graffiti artists from a dozen countries took part in a festival of street art in Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan. The event, the first of its kind in Tatarstan, gave a face-lift to some 40 sites around the city. More