The Russian government has expanded the list of departments whose procurements are classified as secret.

Evgeny Martynov isn't like other high school principals. City officials in Achinsk (about 100 miles west of Krasnoyarsk) announced his appointment as school director on October 29, welcoming him from the "Zapadny" social welfare center, which he supervised for the past two years. Officials praised Martynov's ability to make learning "comfortable for children and teachers alike," but they omitted his full resume: For more than a decade, he worked at a nearby prison where inmates have complained of torture. Martynov rose to the rank of deputy warden before leaving Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service at some point after 2010. His first day as school principal is November 9.

Last week, as Russians remembered the victims of political repressions during the Soviet Union, the human rights group Memorial updated its list of persons imprisoned in modern-day Russia for political or religious reasons. There are now 420 people on Memorial's list, and activists say the true number could be several times higher. This magnitude of repression rivals what Russians experienced in the late Soviet period, but the public today seems largely unbothered by the situation. Even before the authorities tightened restrictions on demonstrations, expanded the persecution of protest organizers, and dismantled Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, few citizens openly displayed dissatisfaction with the state by picketing or attending rallies. Meduza asked a sociologist, a political scientist, a historian, and a psychologist why Russians appear to be so indifferent to the repression of their compatriots.

In 2019, Russia's Constitutional Court ordered the State Duma to make amendments to the 1991 law "On the rehabilitation of victims of political repressions." On paper, this legislation grants victims of Stalin's Great Terror, as well as their children born in exile or in the Gulag system, the right to free housing in the places their families once lived. However, starting in 2004, regional authorities began placing the descendents of victims of Soviet-era political repressions on general waitlists with thousands of other people in need of public housing. This has made it practically impossible for these "children of the Gulag" to return home. Meanwhile, draft laws aimed at putting in place special procedures for granting them immediate housing compensation have failed to make it through parliament. On November 1, the Russian Supreme Court rejected a class-action lawsuit filed over the State Duma's apparent inaction. Prior to the claim's dismissal, Meduza spoke to some of the plaintiffs. Here are their stories.

The final indictment in the treason case against Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and advisor to the head of Russia's space agency, has revealed new details about the accusations against him.

Facebook has shut down the account of activist Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net. Writing in a Telegram post on Tuesday, November 2, Gulagu.net stated that by all appearances, Osechkin's account has been deleted.

The official Google account and linked YouTube channel of the Belarusian Investigative Committee has been blocked due to international sanctions imposed on Belarusian officials and organizations.

An unusually thick fog enveloped the city of Moscow late on November 1, reducing visibility to as little as 200 meters (about 220 yards) at times. Emergency workers warn that the fog will continue until about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2. Moscow airports have delayed 169 flights and canceled another 33. According to the Telegram channel Readovka, emissions from factories outside the capital may have contributed in part to the sudden "smog."

Moscow law enforcement arrested three people on suspicion of illegally leaking the personal data of private citizens "that was later used by Alexey Navalny in carrying out his investigations," the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Monday, November 1.

Russia's Novgorod region will extend its "non-working days" for an additional week, announced Governor Andrey Nikitin on Monday, November 1.