Investigations

Investigation: Inside Russia's FSB prison system in Crimea
Investigations

Investigation: Inside Russia's FSB prison system in Crimea

by Olesia Bida

Two new Russian pretrial detention centers in occupied Crimea form part of a system in which Ukrainian civilians are held for months without formal charges, access to lawyers, or family contact, and detainees report torture and abuse under the watch of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), a new investigation by the Kyiv Independent reveals. Former detainees told the Kyiv Independent that their relatives sometimes did not know whether their abducted loved ones were still alive. Russia's Fed

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As Putin edges towards mobilization, Russian reservists are already panicking

Nobody expected Russia's parliamentary election to wrest power from President Vladimir Putin, with preliminary results on Sept. 21 showing the Kremlin-backed United Russia party winning once again with nearly 58% of the vote. Instead, the question after the election is whether, when, and in what form the Kremlin will launch a new mobilization wave that Kyiv has warned could follow the vote — and which Russia may ultimately need to pursue its war objectives. Russia remains committed to capturin

Russia's rigged election gives Putin a mandate for all-out war

Observers described the Sept. 18-20 parliamentary election as the "dirtiest" vote in Russia's modern history. In a country that has not held free and fair elections for nearly three decades, that might seem like a difficult result to achieve. All independent media were banned soon after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, ensuring a media landscape where no criticism of the authorities is allowed during elections. All genuine opposition parties were also banned from running. Even a mode

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