The Bolotnaya case again. New defendant, again morning searches, new accused This news sounds especially cynical after persistent propaganda about how peaceful protesters in eastern Ukraine shot down another helicopter with MANPADS (which, as you know, all military stores are inundated with - and in general there is a sale there). I wish Polina strength to get through all this.

The day of May 25 in Kyiv was marked by heat, hail and early elections. In addition to the president, Ukrainians elected mayors of 26 cities, and Kiev residents also elected city council deputies. The results were more predictable than the weather. I thought that we experienced a day of queues at the opening of the Kyiv International Short Film Festival. But I was wrong. Popular cinema easily bypassed the polling stations. The queues were stunning in their size and internal politeness.

The color carnival, which was organized by Uppsala Circus and Vyacheslav Polunin, was like a little paradise. The park with tents, an orchestra on the water, happy people with painted faces, was full of all the colors of the rainbow. The performers of Uppsala and the Great Circus on the Fontanka immediately put blue faux fur robes and green capes on the guests, and sprinkled them with colored powder. On a wooden stage, teenage circus performers taught beginners simple tricks.

"They should sit, not me" Two years later, detectives in the Bolotnaya case reached St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg activist is accused of participating in “mass riots”; a preventive measure was chosen against her - a written undertaking not to leave the place. Investigators claim that the investigation into the Bolotnaya case has been extended for 25 months. At seven in the morning, Moscow investigators knocked on the apartment of oppositionist Grigory Kopp.

A rare case in the Vyborg District Court: a judge was replaced during the trial due to an incorrect statement.

On September 14, St. Petersburg will have gubernatorial elections—politicians in the northern capital have little doubt about this, expecting until the end of May Georgy Poltavchenko’s announcement of his early resignation and intention to participate in the elections. This fits into the general trend - in the last week alone, in five regions (Orenburg, Vologda, Lipetsk, Kursk, Tyumen regions) governors asked to resign in order to go to elections in the fall.