Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya warns that reforms recently adopted by the State Duma to further the centralization of power in Russia's federal government could endanger the entire political system by pinning too much on the presidency and the Kremlin's "subjective and closed insider logic." "Constitutional Putinism" is supposed to weed out remnants of the destabilizing "opportunism" elevated in Russia's "Yeltsin Constitution," Stanovaya argues in a recent essay for the Carnegie Moscow Center, but Putinism could prove to be even more prone to opportunism if it is incapable of accommodating the multiple power centers that would emerge in a serious political crisis (for example, the loss of United Russia's parliamentary monopoly or a severe decline in the president's popularity).

The first reading of a controversial draft bill on requiring QR-code vaccine passes for accessing public places in Russia led to a scuffle between Communist Party and United Russia lawmakers in the State Duma on Thursday, December 16.

One of the richest people in Russia, prominent businessman Mikhail Fedyaev was once predicted to take over as head of Siberia's Kemerovo region. But on Wednesday, December 15, he was jailed pending trial in connection with a methane blast that killed 51 people at the Listvyazhnaya coal mine in November. Investigators charged Fedyaev with abuse of authority entailing grave consequences, making him the ninth defendant in the criminal case initiated over the accident. Earlier, on December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly chastised Fedyaev over the mine's safety. The businessman's arrest on Wednesday coincided with Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin paying a visit to the Listvyazhnaya mine and urging the investigation team to establish "the role of the mine's owners in the tragedy."

In a verdict handed down in November, a Russian court openly referred to the presence of Russian military personnel stationed in the "DNR and LNR" -- the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine.

Anastasia Shevchenko was the first person in Russia to be charged with the criminal offense of taking part in the activities of an "undesirable" organization. At the time, she was a member of the federal board of the human rights group Open Russia. A criminal case was launched against her for organizing a political debate and publishing a post about a lecture. Shevchenko was placed under house arrest on January 23, 2019 and on February 18, 2021, she was sentenced to four years probation. While under house arrest, Shevchenko was initially denied permission to visit her eldest daughter Alina, who was in the hospital in critical condition. A judge eventually allowed Shevchenko to go to her daughter's side the night before she passed away. Earlier this year, Anastasia Shevchenko published a book titled "Undesirable" (edited by Olga Borisova). Meduza shares a translated excerpt from her memoir here.

After convicting an alleged FSB officer of the murder of former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, Germany has expelled two diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Berlin.

In January 2021, police officers in Perm detained a 16-year-old high school student and his "twin assistants." According to officials, they had been dealing illegal substances. The official police press release claimed the teenager had rented an apartment separate from his parents in a typical Russian high-rise building to "grow strawberries there," but ended up setting up a meth lab instead. The media has reported how the detainee was a great student, especially when it came to biology. According to his friends and teachers, he was interested in science; nobody had any idea there was anything untoward going on. Meduza special correspondent Irina Kravtsova traveled to Perm to find out what really happened.

Russia Today's parent company is suing Feelosophy, a Moscow-based store that recently started selling merchandise branded with the phrase "foreign agent" (inostrannyi agent and inoagent) to raise support for Meduza. Available court records indicate that ANO TV-Novosti's lawsuit is against Georgy Saribekyan, Feelosophy's founder. RT's parent company seeks 500,000 rubles (about $6,775) in damages.

On Monday, December 13, Vladimir Kiriyenko was appointed to serve as the new CEO of Vkontakte's parent company, VK. The son of Sergey Kiriyenko (President Putin's first deputy chief of staff and the Kremlin's unofficial domestic policy czar), Vladimir previously worked as a vice president at Rostelecom. His appointment followed a mayor sale of shares that transferred control over VK to Gazprombank and the insurance giant Sogaz. Meduza explores key details of the new CEO's life.

A Belarusian court has handed an 18-year prison sentence to opposition blogger and politician Sergey Tikhanovsky -- the husband of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The closed-door trial took place at a remand prison in the city of Gomel on Tuesday, December 14. Five other opposition figures were tried alongside Tikhanovsky, all of whom were handed sentences of 14 years in prison or more. After the verdict, Tikhanovskaya condemned Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko for "taking revenge on his strongest political opponents" and promised that her opposition movement would continue its work.