Russia on the Record

The Russian city of Belgorod has made international headlines in late 2023 and early 2024 after it was rocked by a deadly shelling incident on Dec. 30. The attack in central Belgorod, occurring just before New Year, wrought devastation on the city of approximately 350,000 that sits just 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It claimed the lives of 25 individuals, including five children, and left over 100 injured, many of whom remain hospitalized in serious condition. The city continues to be plagued by frequent shelling.

In the latest episode of Russia on the Record, we hear from Belgorod residents about life in the city following the attack, their feelings toward Russian authorities and their views of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

*Some names have been altered to protect the identities of our guests.

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President Vladimir Putin has officially entered his fifth presidential election. He is seeking six more years in power as Russia remains bogged down in the nearly two-year war in Ukraine and grapples with an increasingly difficult economic outlook due to sanctions and international isolation.

In this episode, we discuss the political platform Putin is likely planning for his new campaign and whether he could face any challenges to his re-election before the March vote.

We are joined by Margarita Zavadskaya, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

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President Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for almost a quarter-century, announced he will run for a fifth term in the 2024 presidential election next March. Putin announced his decision after a Kremlin award ceremony when Donbas war veterans asked him to seek re-election. This will be the first Russian presidential election since the invasion of Ukraine and a post-Cold-War collapse in relations with the West.

As the presidential campaign has not officially begun, we decided to look back at Putin’s past elections. We speak with historian Nina Khrushcheva, a great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, about Putin’s presidential campaigns since 2000 and how his attitude toward the West has changed throughout his rule.

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Russia's Supreme Court labeled the so-called “international LGBT movement” as a banned “extremist” group in a closed ruling late last month. It is not yet clear what exact changes will come from the court's ruling. But activists warn that it sets the stage for a sweeping crackdown on LGBT rights not seen since the Soviet era.

To better understand the changes and risks for Russia's LGBT community under the new ban, we spoke with LGBT people living in Russia as well as Dilya Gafurova, head of the Sfera foundation, and Alex (Sasha) Kayner from the Center-T transgender rights group.

*Names and voices of some guests have been modified for their safety.

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The number of politically motivated cases in Russia has significantly risen over the past five years, reaching a record of 700 cases in 2022, the first year of the war in Ukraine. Today, more than 1,000 people are in jail or prison in Russia for political reasons, according to the human rights media project OVD-Info.

But these numbers don’t give the full picture of what happens to those who do not agree with Russian policies. In this episode we will discuss the people who are politically persecuted: their profile, the reasons for their persecution, how the Russian justice system treats them, and how the war in Ukraine has changed political prosecutions.

Joining us are lawyer Olga Podoplelova, OVD-Info analyst Dariya Korolenko and OVD-Info's English-language editor Dan Storyev.

The projects and stories mentioned in this episode can be found here:

OVD-Info’s weekly Dissident Digest: https://en.ovdinfo.org/dissident-digest

Letters Across Borders, OVD-Info’s letter-writing tool: https://en.ovdinfo.org/write-letters

OVD-Info’s database of political persecution in Russia: https://en.ovdinfo.org/data-politically-motivated-criminal-prosecutions-russia

Yegor Balazeikin, the 17-year-old imprisoned for six years, featured in the Dissident Digest: https://redir.ovd.info/nl3/d2gqjtYIXy4f2E60epLkJw

Vladimir Rumyantsev, an elderly boiler operator sentenced to three years for an anti-war radio broadcast, featured on OVD-Info: https://en.ovdinfo.org/between-disgusting-and-scary-old-dissidents-life-letter-detention-centre

Activist Lev Skoryakin, kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan, featured in the Dissident Digest: https://redir.ovd.info/nl3/OpTT8uPu0e05g9mJGkKErg?_gl=1*76ddnx*_ga*NjcxNzE3NjQuMTY5MzIyNTExMA..*_ga_J7DH9NKJ0R*MTcwMTE5ODczNS40Ny4xLjE3MDExOTkwNzUuNTguMC4w

Sasha Skochilenko in the Dissident Digest: https://redir.ovd.info/nl3/1LffHBoZJjMV0MSyAL5Kjg?_gl=1*18bhdcm*_ga*NjcxNzE3NjQuMTY5MzIyNTExMA..*_ga_J7DH9NKJ0R*MTcwMTE5ODczNS40Ny4xLjE3MDExOTkwODUuNDguMC4w

Interview with Ilya Yashin:

https://en.ovdinfo.org/ilya-yashin-interview

Amid Russia's isolation from the Western world, Central Asia remains one of the few places where President Vladimir Putin continues to travel regularly. The leaders of these countries are some of the few with whom the Russian president still seems to find common ground.

In this episode, we look at how Moscow’s relations with each of the countries in this region are developing, how the war in Ukraine has affected the public mood toward Russia, and whether Russian influence in Central Asia is weakening. Joining us is Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.

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The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to allow abortion. Until this year, modern Russia has had some of the world’s most liberal abortion legislation. But in recent months, several Russian regions have pursued anti-abortion policies: from outlawing the so-called act of “coercing women” into having an abortion — which could also be interpreted as banning any information about safe abortion — to banning the procedure in private clinics.

In this episode we explore the outlook for reproductive rights in Russia, why the restrictions are taking place now, who is behind these initiatives and what further restrictions we can expect in the near future.

Joining us are Anna Efimova, a journalist and gender researcher, and Dariana Gryaznova, a lawyer and expert on gender-based violence against women.

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Street artist Philippenzo, or Philipp Kozlov, has used his political graffiti to oppose the war in Ukraine. He was arrested at a Moscow airport this summer, and in October, he was added to the wanted list on criminal charges.

His example shows how Russian authorities are closely monitoring contemporary artists, leaving them with two main choices: to emigrate or to silence their views on the war.

In this episode, we speak with artists in Russia and abroad and people from the contemporary art world about what has changed in this field since February 2022 and how they see the prospects for Russian contemporary art.

Artists who spoke for this episode:

Philippenzo: https://www.instagram.com/philippenzo/

Pavel Otdelnov: https://www.instagram.com/pavel_otdelnov/

https://otdelnov.com/en

Vlada MV Picture: https://www.instagram.com/mv_picture/

Irina Petrakova: https://www.instagram.com/irinapetrakova/

Alisa Gorshenina: https://www.instagram.com/alicehualice/

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This week, Russia’s North Caucasus made global headlines when an anti-Israeli riot broke out in Dagestan.

Another recent story from this region that has been widely discussed in the Russian media is that of Marina Yandieva, 28, from the republic of Ingushetia, who fled her home after years of domestic violence. To help her escape, Magomed Alamov, a Chechen lawyer working with the human rights organization SK SOS, gave her a ride to the nearest town at the group’s request, without even knowing her story. After the family learned of their daughter’s disappearance, Alamov was taken hostage and threatened with death if Marina did not return home.

Yandieva’s story is not unique. Human rights activists regularly report on women who flee from domestic violence but who are hindered by the police, who take their families’ side and help return them to their families, no matter what region of Russia they have fled to. According to activists, many of these women disappear forever after being returned to their native regions, where honor killings are still committed.

In this episode, we examine women’s rights in the North Caucasus, a conservative, predominantly Muslim part of Russia. We asked Marina Yandieva to tell her story. We then speak with a representative of SK SOS and a playwright from Dagestan about the problems, discrimination and challenges faced by young women in the North Caucasus today.

Editors' note: This episode touches upon themes including domestic violence, depression, suicide, and honor killings.

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In the nearly two years since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a common criticism of Russians by outside observers has been that they largely continue to live their lives as if nothing serious is happening.

In this episode, we take a closer look at how Russians are living amid the war. We speak with residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg who share how their lives have been changed by the war. We later hear from leading sociologist Denis Volkov about how the behavior of Russian society is unique against the backdrop of the war and what trends have emerged in different regions of the country.

The Moscow Times recently published a report on the Muscovites who party hard as a form of escapism from the war. For this episode, we asked the report’s author if she was shocked by such behavior when she returned to the Russian capital after several months abroad. You can read the article on our website using this link:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/21/15-years-into-war-clubs-festivals-and-nightlife-offer-an-escape-for-russians-a82665

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