Can't be having any of those LGBT flags, eh Putin. In First, Russian Stands Trial for Displaying ‘Extremist’ Rainbow Flag https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024...-for-displaying-extremist-rainbow-flag-a83915 A Russian photographer went on trial Tuesday for posting a rainbow flag online, marking the first case of a person being charged for displaying the LGBT symbol since Russia banned the so-called “international LGBT public movement” as an “extremist” organization. Russia’s Supreme Court in November outlawed the “international LGBT movement,” with individuals facing up to six years in prison if convicted of involvement. Earlier this month, media outlets published the full text of the Supreme Court ruling, which describes the six-color gay pride flag as an “extremist symbol.” The document was attached to a misdemeanor case involving “the display of extremist symbols” in the southwestern Russian city of Saratov, according to the local news website FreeNews-Volga. Russia Labels LGBT Community ‘Extremist’ in Prelude to Sweeping Crackdown Read more The independent news website Mediazonaidentified the defendant as 33-year-old photographer Inna Mosina, who had allegedly posted a rainbow flag on her Instagram page a month before the Supreme Court ruling went into force. Mosina told Saratov’s Leninsky District Court on Tuesday that the rainbow flags on her Instagram page are “creative solutions” and do not represent LGBTQ+ symbols, according to Mediazona. Mosina faces up to 15 days in prison or a fine of up to 2,000 rubles ($22) if found guilty of “displaying extremist symbols,” according to the human rights group Pervyi Otdel, whose lawyers represent her in court. Perviy Otdel argued that the case against Mosina violates Russia's Constitution, which guarantees freedom of opinion. Mosina’s court hearing was adjourned until Feb. 5, when the judge is expected to question the police officer who opened the country’s first case for the “display of extremist symbols,” according to Mediazona. ============================ So Pootie Poots... are you going to send them to special camps. How Russia Is Erasing All Traces of Its Queer People Since Russia’s Supreme Court labelled the LGBTQ+ movement as extremist, the country has unleashed a witch hunt against its queer people. https://www.vice.com/en/article/88xb7k/how-russia-is-erasing-queer-people-lgbtq-rights
Don't be wearing rainbow earrings in Putin's Russia. Russian Court Jails Woman for Wearing 'Extremist' Rainbow Earrings https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024...for-wearing-extremist-rainbow-earrings-a83938
I am sure Putin will be locking all of them up shortly. Record Number of Russians Would Reverse Decision to Invade Ukraine – Poll https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024...everse-decision-to-invade-ukraine-poll-a83961 The share of Russians who view the invasion of Ukraine as a mistake has reached a new high, according to survey results from the Russian Field polling agencypublished Thursday. For the first time since the start of the war, 37% of respondents say they would reverse Moscow's decision to launch its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine if they could go back in time. When Russian Field first asked that same question in March 2022, the number of respondents favoring a reverse decision stood at 28%. However, the share of those who would not end the war if they were able to go back in time still makes up the majority. In the latest survey results, 53% of respondents indicated that they did not believe the decision to invade Ukraine was a mistake, down from 57% in March 2022. Women and younger respondents were slightly more likely to favor reversing the decision to launch the war. Unsurprisingly, supporters of pro-Kremlin political parties were more likely to answer “no” when asked if they would change their minds about the invasion. Russian Field surveyed 1,600 Russian respondents by phone between Jan. 11 and 19.
Dictator Putin does not want an reporters covering protests against his war. Dozens detained as Russian soldiers’ wives call for their return from Ukraine https://apnews.com/article/russia-u...flowers-tomb-2696878afc7d7b2b357d2f682343de4f More than two dozen people, mostly journalists, were detained Saturday at a protest in central Moscow, as wives and other relatives of Russian servicemen mobilized to fight in Ukraine called for their return, according to independent Russian news reports. The relatives gathered to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, just outside the Kremlin walls. They marked 500 days since Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2022 ordered a “partial mobilization” of up to 300,000 reservists following battlefield setbacks in Moscow’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The call-up was widely unpopular and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee abroad to avoid being drafted. Wives and relatives of some of the reservists called up in 2022 have campaigned for them to be discharged and replaced with contract soldiers. Saturday’s demonstration was organized by one such campaign group, The Way Home, that on Friday posted on Telegram calling on “wives, mothers, sisters and children” of reservists from across Russia to come to Moscow to “demonstrate (their) unity.” “We want our husbands back alive,” one of the protesters, who only gave her name as Antonina for fear of reprisals, is heard saying in a video published by independent Russian news outlet SOTAvision. Antonina insisted she does not want compensation from the Russian government if her husband is killed, and said she would instead “either go to a convent or follow him.” “I don’t want to live alone! And if (Russian authorities) don’t understand this … I don’t know. God be their judge,” she told a SOTAvision reporter, struggling to hold back tears. Saturday’s demonstration was the ninth and largest of similar weekly gatherings organized by The Way Home. One popular Russian Telegram news channel estimated that some 200 people turned out. Allies of jailed Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny and Russian opposition politician Maksim Kats voiced support for the protest on Friday, while the Moscow prosecutor’s office early on Saturday warned Russians not to participate in “unauthorized mass events.” According to OVD-Info, an independent website that monitors political arrests in Russia, police detained 27 people during the protest, mostly journalists. According to Sota, most were later released, although a male protester, Yaroslav Ryazanov, was still in detention Saturday evening. Aware of the public backlash, the Russian military has since late 2022 increasingly sought to bolster the forces in Ukraine by enlisting more volunteers. The authorities claimed that about 500,000 signed contracts with the Defense Ministry last year. Still, the wives’ and relatives’ calls to bring mobilized reservists home have been stonewalled by Russia’s government-controlled media, and some pro-Kremlin politicians have sought to cast them as Western stooges. Protesters on Saturday angrily rejected the accusation. Maria Andreyeva, whose husband and brother are fighting in Ukraine, told SOTAvision that she saw the fighting in Ukraine as “a great tragedy that happened between two brotherly peoples.” “Almost every Russian has relatives in Ukraine, close and distant, so… this is a situation that has struck us to the core. After the Second World War, it seemed to us that our grandfathers died so that there would never be another (conflict),” Andreyeva said. The protest came just weeks before the Russian presidential election, scheduled to take place over three days on March 15-17, that Putin is all but assured to win. After Andreyeva and others laid flowers at the monument, they headed to Putin’s campaign headquarters to present their demands to him. Last month, another Russian presidential hopeful met with Andreyeva and other soldiers’ relatives campaigning for their return. Former local legislator Boris Nadezhdin, who openly opposes the war in Ukraine, criticized the Kremlin’s decision to keep them in the ranks as long as the fighting continues. “We want (the authorities) to treat people who are doing their duty in a decent way,” Nadezhdin said.
At least 83 journalists killed in Israel-Hamas war, watchdog says The Israel-Hamas war has seen more journalists killed in the first month of conflict than any other conflict since the CPJ first started collating statistics for journalists covering conflict in 1992. By comparison, 63 journalists were killed in the Vietnam War that lasted two decades, and a total of 69 killed in World War II (1939-45) – the bloodiest war the modern world has seen.
Someone should advise him not to drink the tea or stand near windows. Putin challenger Boris Nadezhdin barred from Russia's election https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68237791 Russia's election commission has rejected anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate in next month's presidential vote. Mr Nadezhdin has been relatively critical of Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine when few dissenting voices have been tolerated in Russia. Election authorities claimed more than 15% of the signatures he submitted with his candidate application were flawed. He had tried to challenge this, but the commission rejected his bid. Refusing to give up, Mr Nadezhdin, 60, said on social media that he would challenge the decision in Russia's Supreme Court. The Central Election Commission said that of the 105,000 signatures submitted by Mr Nadezhdin, more than 9,000 were invalid and they cited a variety of violations. That left 95,587 names, meaning he was just short of the 100,000 required signatures to register as a candidate, commission member Andrei Shutov said. "There are tens of millions of people here who were going to vote for me, " Mr Nadezhdin complained to the commission. "According to all polls, I am in second place after Putin." "The decision has been made," declared commission chairwoman Ella Pamfilova. "If Nadezhdin wants, he can go to court," Tass news agency quoted her as saying. Russia's presidential election is due to take place from 15-17 March, although the result is not in doubt as only candidates viewed as acceptable to the Kremlin are running. A final decision on who can take part in the election will come on Saturday, but the election commission chairwoman said it was already clear there would be four candidates on the ballot. Other than Vladimir Putin, they include nationalist leader Leonid Slutsky, parliament deputy speaker Vladislav Davankov and Communist Nikolai Kharitonov. All their parties have broadly backed Kremlin policies and none of the trio is seen as a genuine challenger. "Running for president in 2024 is the most important political decision of my life. I am not retreating from my intentions," Mr Nadezhdin wrote on Telegram. "I collected more than 200,000 signatures across Russia. We conducted the collection openly and honestly." Boris Nadezhdin is one of the few government critics whose voices have been heard on the ubiquitous talk shows on state-run TV since the invasion on 24 February 2022. He has appeared as a type of anti-war "whipping boy" that other guests would target for criticism. In the 1990s he worked as an adviser for Putin critic Boris Nemtsov who was assassinated a stone's thrown from the Kremlin in 2015. But he also has ties to Sergei Kiriyenko, a key Putin political overseer. Although Mr Nadezhdin's run for the presidency was viewed initially with suspicion by some opposition figures, Russia's main opposition leader Alexei Navalny gave his backing to the Nadezhdin campaign from his jail cell inside the Arctic Circle, as did exiled former business magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mr Nadezhdin appeared on the BBC last month promising to end the war in Ukraine on his first day as president, although he was realistic about his chances of success. "My first task will be to stop the conflict with Ukraine, and then to restore normal relations between Russia and the Western community." He is not the first presidential hopeful to have run on an anti-war platform. In December, former TV journalist and independent politician Yekaterina Duntsova was barred from running because the election commission said there were mistakes on her application form. Mr Nadezhdin said he had tapped into a wave of anti-war sentiment in Russia, meeting the wives of reservists who want their husbands to return from the war. His campaign started slowly and it was only in recent weeks that Russians began registering their support in large numbers. His increasing success also attracted condemnation from pro-Kremlin propagandists such as Vladimir Solovyov, who suggested he might be a stooge for "Ukrainian Nazis".
Putin gets rid of his opponents -- Soviet style. Alexei Navalny, vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, dies in prison: Russian government https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...in-russian-government-dies/story?id=107286433
It is baffling. There was absolutely no reason to kill Navalny (and trying to explain his death - at 47 - by natural causes does not pass the laugh test). He was in prison basically forever, his support in Russia is probably in single digits, he is not any kind of opposition leader, and the opposition is cowed and destroyed anyway.