The August Putsch, as it's known in Russia, began 30 years ago. On August 19, 1991, a group of senior state officials launched an attempt to seize control of the USSR, deploying troops to Moscow, which led to a confrontation at Russia's White House. The coup's failure doomed the Soviet Union, which collapsed before the end of the year. By 2016, almost half of Russians didn't even remember the events of August 1991. In light of the public's fading knowledge, Meduza answers a few important questions that many people are now too embarrassed to ask.

Russian courts handed down sentences to two more defendants in the so-called "Sanitary Case," on Friday August 6.

The website Genius - one of the world's largest collections of song lyrics - is once again accessible in Russia. The federal censor, Roskomnadzor (RKN), lifted restrictions on the site after it deleted the lyrics of banned songs.

A court in Korneuburg, Austria, has sentenced 48-year-old Sarali Akhtaev to life in prison after finding him guilty of the murder of Chechen blogger Mamikhan Umarov.

Greco-Roman wrestler Zhan Beleniuk won Ukraine's first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on August 4. The 30-year-old Kyiv native, who became Ukraine's first Black lawmaker in 2019 and was subsequently sanctioned by Russia, celebrated his win with a traditional folk dance. Beleniuk took home a silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and has won both European and world championships multiple times. However, in conversation with journalists after his win, the wrestler revealed that he almost didn't compete in Tokyo after sustaining a shoulder injury three weeks before the start of the games.

On August 5, CNN released a report on a "possible prison camp for political dissidents" located outside of Minsk. The Belarusian government didn't respond to requests for comment prior to publication, CNN said. But on August 6, both Belarusian state television and the Defense Ministry denounced the article as "fake news." Defense officials maintained that the site is the location of an arms depot for the Belarusian air defense forces, which was built in the 1950s. The independent news outlet Zerkalo.io also reported that CNN's article got "everything" wrong. That said, opposition activists in Belarus have previously warned that the Lukashenko regime may try to construct prison camps.

In late July, the Belarusian authorities shut down 50 nonprofit organizations simultaneously, targeting human rights activists, as well as environmental, educational, and cultural groups. Dozens of other organizations are facing liquidation, but their members continue working despite police raids and criminal cases. Dictator Alexander Lukashenko (Alyaksandr Lukashenka) has openly accused human rights defenders, journalists, and environmentalists of organizing opposition protests - and even boasted to Vladimir Putin that his regime has started "actively" targeting civil society organizations and independent media. Meduza looks into why the Belarusian authorities are still carrying out large-scale repressions, despite the fact that there haven't been mass protests in Belarus for some time now.

In July, the Federal Security Service (FSB) published a draft order outlining what kinds of information could be used to "threaten the security of the Russian Federation." This document is also meant to explain in which circumstances Russian citizens and foreign nationals are expected to self-report to the Justice Ministry and register as "foreign agents." Failure to comply with these rules risks felony charges. Meduza breaks down what's required here and what's at stake for potential "foreign agents."

A Moscow court has refused an appeal against the decision to designate Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (the FBK) as an "extremist organization" and ban its activities in Russia.

Prosecutors in the so-called "Sanitary Case" have asked for a one-year suspended sentence with a three-year probationary period for Oleg Navalny, MBK Media reported on August 4, citing his lawyer Nikos Paraskevov.