MEDUZA/EN/VHF

Russian police reportedly detained as many as five former activists from Alexey Navalny's disbanded political network on Tuesday, December 28. According to various reports, arrests were carried out in the cities of Tomsk, Irkutsk, Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, and Saratov (though not all of the detentions have been confirmed). Following interrogations, investigators brought criminal charges against two of the detained activists -- former regional coordinators Ksenia Fadeeva and Zakhar Sarapulov -- for involvement in an extremist group and participation in a nonprofit organization that infringes on the rights of citizens. Both Fadeeva and Sarapulov were arraigned on Tuesday and placed under restrictions pending trial.

In a ruling on Tuesday, December 28, Russia's Supreme Court shut down the country's oldest and most authoritative human rights organization -- the "Memorial" International Historical Educational Charitable and Human Rights Society. The ruling granted a petition filed by the Attorney General's Office, which maintains that International Memorial repeatedly violated Russia's "foreign agent" legislation (without presenting convincing evidence to support this claim). Moscow prosecutors filed a similar lawsuit against Memorial's human rights branch -- the next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, December 29. To find out what today's ruling means for the future of International Memorial, Meduza spoke to the chairman of the organization's board, Yan Rachinsky.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Russia's Supreme Court dissolved the "Memorial" International Historical Educational Charitable and Human Rights Society, granting a petition by the Attorney General's Office, which argues that the organization repeatedly violated Russia's laws on "foreign agents" by failing to disclose its "agent" status in content shared on social media.

Last week, at a press conference with 500 journalists, Vladimir Putin reiterated his suspicions about American intentions toward Russia, recalling that one of President Woodrow Wilson's advisers once endorsed the partition of Russia, writing more than a century ago: "It would be better for the whole world if a state in Siberia and another four states emerged in the European part of what is now greater Russia." The quotation is real -- it belongs to Edward House, Wilson's informal chief adviser on European politics and diplomacy during World War I. To find out more about America's proposal to carve up the Russian Empire (and to get some much-needed historical context), Meduza turned to historian Alexander Etkind, who recently authored a book about William Bullitt, the U.S. diplomat sent to negotiate with Lenin on behalf of the Paris Peace Conference. It was Bullitt who devised the plan in 1918 to partition Russia.

Around 500 journalists were invited to attend Vladimir Putin's 2021 marathon press conference at the Moscow Manege on Thursday, December 23. But even those with invitations couldn't just waltz right inside. First, they had to pass through a disinfection booth installed at the entrance, which sprayed attendees with silver particles. Then, they had to don special protective masks treated with an "antibacterial solution of nanosilver."

State prosecutors in Belarus have asked a Minsk court to sentence 21-year-old Russian national Yegor Dudnikov to 11 years in prison, reports BBC News Russian.

Moscow's Tagansky District Court has fined GitHub 1 million rubles ($13,630) for failing to delete the list of "Smart Vote" endorsements uploaded by Alexey Navalny's team ahead of the Russian State Duma elections in September.

Vladimir Putin held his yearly marathon press conference for the seventeenth time on Thursday, December 23. Around 500 journalists were invited to attend; the Russian president fielded 55 questions in just under four hours, taking few questions from the foreign press and no questions from the "foreign agent" media outlets present (Meduza included). Putin commented on a number of pressing issues, including tensions with the U.S. and NATO over Ukraine, this past year's crackdown on dissent, systemic abuse in the Russian prison system, and, in the holiday spirit, his feelings about Santa Claus. Meduza sums up the key takeaways here.

Ukraine was the main topic of discussion during a video call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden in early December. According to American intelligence, Russia is preparing for a full-scale invasion of the Eastern European country. And by all appearances the virtual talks changed little: despite the threat of new sanctions. Moscow, according to the Pentagon, is continuing to mass troops near the border with Ukraine (open source analysts note that an "alarming quantity" of equipment is being brought in, as well). Nevertheless, many experts still believe that an all-out war is unlikely. Against the backdrop of these tensions, Meduza's sources say that recruiters have started mobilizing mercenaries for a "combat trip to the Donbas." Whether or not they'll actually fight on the frontline remains unknown. Meduza special correspondent Liliya Yapparova spoke with the mercenaries themselves and discovered that they, too, are skeptical.

In December 2019, "Moscow Case" defendant Egor Lesnykh proposed to his girlfriend Dasha during his final courtroom remarks. The next day, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Egor was charged with assaulting a police officer at a rally after he tried to protect other protesters from being beaten by members of the National Guard. Today, he's serving his sentence in an open prison near Volgograd; he's due to be released in June 2022. Approximately once every two months, Dasha is able to visit Egor in prison. Over the course of several weeks, Meduza photographer Evgeny Feldman snapped photos of Dasha before and after one such visit.