PHOTOGALLERY
Azerbaijan - Life On The Edge Of An Oil Field
VIDEO REPORTS
Portraits Unveiled Of Ukrainians Detained By Russia
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has opened an exhibition featuring portraits of people whom Kyiv says have been illegally detained by Russia, including filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and pilot Nadia Savchenko.
January 31 marked the close of the campaign to collect signatures supporting a memorial plaque marking the site where opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was slain one year ago. Organizers plan to present the signatures to the mayor’s office in March. (Russian Service)
Activists on January 30 continued their monthly campaign, “Announcement of Names,” in which they gather in central Moscow to recite the names of current political prisoners, who numbered more than 200 at month’s end. (Russian Service)
Kazakhstan’s ‘Smart’ Bus Stops
Two bus stops in Petropavlovsk provide warmth, and a free lending library and WiFi. (Kazakh Service)
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
On what what be the former Russian president’s 85th birthday today, Yeltsin Center Director Alexander Drozdov said the 1990s showed that Russia can be a democratic country. (In Russian)
The Power Vertical Briefing: The Ukraine Deadlock
As Ukrainian President Petro Poroschenko heads to Berlin, Russia is insisting on its interpretation of the Minsk agreement, Kyiv is saying no, and the prospects for diplomacy again look dim.
Kadyrov Sets Sights on Kasyanov And Kara-Murza Jr.
Rights groups and opposition leaders say that a photo posted by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Instagram depicting the Parnas party leaders in the sights of a gun is incitement to murder. (Current Time TV)
Russia’s Ruling Party Expected To Stay In The Shade
The 15th Congress of the ruling United Russia Party will begin in Moscow on February 5, but given current economic conditions, expectations are that it will be a lower-profile event. (In Russian)
Russia, Ukraine, And Belarus Want To 'Be Like Bill'
The memes have made their way east, providing blunt commentary on anti-Westernism in Russia, the dangers of journalism in Belarus, and politics in Ukraine.
As falling commodity prices upend economies in Central Asia, an expert panel discussed how the region’s ruling elites would balance the need to implement austerity measures against the imperatives of maintaining political control.
Fukuyama: 'Putinism,' Radical Islam No Alternative To Liberal Democracy
In an interview with RFE/RL in Tbilisi, political scientist Francis Fukuyama said that authoritarianism and extremism in the region contradict modernity’s tendency toward liberal democracy.
MOST READ/RUSSIA: Why Is Putin So Bad?
In a long column about Putin’s “revanchism,” journalist Oleg Kashin wrote that Putin has resurrected the Soviet system, reviving “not something that...people miss, but what they once hated: nomenklatura, class and ideological dictates, and a foreign policy of fences.” (180k on RFE/RL’s Russian Service website).