A Saint Petersburg court announced a case Tuesday against the bookstore Подписные издания (Subscription Editions) on charges of “LGBTQA+ propaganda.” No information is available yet regarding the reasons for the charges. On its website, the bookstore shares that it has been open since 1926, with photos that capture the involvement of the store with the [...]

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs placed Nikolai Polozov, a lawyer currently residing in Ukraine, and Alla Konstantinova, a journalist with the dissident news website Mediazona, on a wanted list on Friday, according to local media. Both individuals have previously been marked as “foreign agents.” Charges against Polozov are not known yet. In December 2024, [...]

Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan on Thursday, according to local media, with the Taliban flag being raised at the Afghan embassy in Moscow. Earlier this year, Russia removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, citing “the need for cooperation in combating drug trafficking and terrorism, [...]

Darina Boykova is a 2L at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Last week she attended the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, on assignment for JURIST. This is the second part of a two-part report. The first part of her report is here. The arrival of the leaders on the first day of the [...]

Darina Boykova is a 2L at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Last week she attended the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, on assignment for JURIST. This is the first part of a two-part report.  Last week in beautiful and sunny Kananaskis was distinguished by Canada’s hosting of the G7 Summit. Besides the leaders [...]

The Russian government fined a 19-year old college student in the Crimean city of Sevastopol 99,000 rubles (USD $1,300) Monday for allegedly “discrediting armed forces” and promoting “LGTBQA+ propaganda” on Telegram chat posts. According to the city’s Interior Ministry, the student posted comments critical of the Russian military’s involvement in Ukraine and voiced support for [...]

The Investigative Committee of Yaroslavl Oblast initiated a criminal proceeding on Thursday against Russian LGBTQA+ activist Yaroslav Sirotkin on the charges of participation in an “extremist organization,” according to local media. According to the investigation, Sirotkin posted 14 social media posts and videos that included “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” between December 2023 and January [...]

Saint Petersburg legislators approved a municipal bill Wednesday to introduce fines for “encouragement of abortions,” to purportedly help create a “safe … family and motherhood informational environment” in the region. The bill would establish an increasing fine scale for citizens, public persons, and people in legal professions for encouraging abortions. When asked why the male [...]

The Moscow Military Court on Wednesday sentenced prominent dissident Leonid Volkov in absentia. Volkov, an ally of Alexey Navalny and a former leader of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, received 18 years imprisonment and a fine of 2 million rubles (approximately $25,000). The charges against him included 18 counts of spreading military “fakes,” 16 counts of justifying [...]

A Moscow military court on Tuesday sentenced an ex-policeman to 14 years of imprisonment and a fine of 250,000 rubles (approximately $3,000) for alleged anti-war graffiti and communications with Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL). Konstantin Podoshvelev was arrested February 2024 under the charges of vandalism and damage of religious objects for allegedly writing “Polytech is [...]