The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta obtained an audio recording that allegedly reveals poll workers in Korolyov, a city outside Moscow, being trained to rig the vote ahead of the State Duma elections. The woman heard on the tape is believed to be Zhanna Prokofieva, an advisor to the mayor of Korolyov. Speaking at a meeting with local election commission leaders, the "supervisor" heard on the recording tasks poll workers with providing United Russia with 42-45 percent of the vote, and explains to them how to falsify the voting results. Novaya Gazeta sent the leaked recording to Russia's Central Election Commission on September 2, along with an official request for comment. Meduza summarizes the audio recording here.

During a visit to Yekaterinburg on September 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was treated to a patriotic flash mob performed by employees of the wholesale company Sima-Land. The Sverdlovsk region's Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev and Yekaterinburg businessman Andrey Simanovsky also attended the event.

On the morning of September 2, The Bell's newsletter subscribers received an email that urged them to boycott the upcoming State Duma election. The publication quickly apologized, saying the mailout came from hackers. This apparent hack is the third attack on the news site in the last three weeks. On August 11, one of The Bell's journalists reported that someone tried to hack her phone. And on August 25, its website went down due to an "external attack." The story of the most recent hack was picked up by the state-owned television channel Russia 24, which aired a segment where "experts" speculated that The Bell was actually behind the provocative mailout. The segment also underscored the fact that "The Bell isn't on the list of 'foreign agents' yet."

Sue Dobson is now 59 years old and living a quiet life as a retired person in Britain, but her youth as a white woman in apartheid-era South Africa was turbulent. In her 20s, she joined the African National Congress (ANC) and infiltrated the white minority government. In these endeavors, Dobson had help from the USSR: seven months of military and intelligence training in Moscow in 1986. With these skills, she returned to South Africa as an undercover agent and inserted herself into the pro-government media, eventually finding a job at the Bureau of Information, where she collected evidence of propaganda campaigns to undermine the nation's opposition and destabilize neighboring states. When Dobson's cover was blown, it was a Soviet official who saved her by helping her escape to London, where she ultimately won political asylum. Meduza is the second news outlet to share Dobson's story, which first appeared earlier this week at The Observer. Her life will serve as the basis for an upcoming film, titled "Burned."

On September 1, Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced that 1.3 million people had registered to vote electronically in the Moscow City Duma election - that's 17.5 percent of the city's eligible voters. Last time around, in the 2016 City Duma elections - when electronic registration hadn't yet been implemented - 35 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. In other words, a full half of the voters who voted in the previous election may vote online in the upcoming election. Meduza explains what this trend means for the future of Russian democracy.

Natura Siberica co-founder Irina Trubnikova (the first wife of the cosmetics giant's late founder, Andrey Trubnikov) has regained control of the company's property, The Bell reported on Monday, August 30.

The felony fraud case opened against the Belarusian IT company "PandaDoc" amid last summer's opposition protests has been closed, Belarus's Attorney General's Office announced on Monday, August 30.

Alexey Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh has left Russia, Interfax reported on Monday, August 30, citing two informed sources.

On August 27, 2021, newsrooms across Russia appealed in unison to the country's leadership, demanding an end to the authorities' campaign against independent journalism. Dozhd, Novaya Gazeta, Forbes Russia, The Village, Republic, Wonderzine, and many more outlets have published letters calling for a return to sanity. This is Meduza's appeal.

Russia has banned comedian Idrak Mirzalizade from residing in the country for life over an "insulting" joke about Russians. Mirzalizade, who is of Azerbaijani origin, was jailed earlier this month on misdemeanor charges of inciting interethnic hatred. This came after he appeared on a comedy show aired on YouTube, where he made jokes about the xenophobia he encountered while apartment hunting in Moscow. Pro-Kremlin outlets picked up the story, claiming that Mirzalizade had "offended" Russians and should be prosecuted. The comedian, who maintains his innocence and says his statements were taken out of context, has reportedly left Russia already. Meduza chronicles the timeline of events leading up to Idrak Mirzalizade's expulsion here.