Dmitry Ananyev, November 2, 2017, St. Petersburg The Lefortovo District Court of Moscow sentenced in absentia the founders of Promsvyazbank Alexey and Dmitry Ananyev to eight years in a general regime colony each in the case of theft of more than 39 billion rubles. Both are abroad and put on the international wanted list. The court found the brothers guilty of fraud on an especially large scale committed by an organized group. Each was also given a fine of 700 thousand rubles.

Lev Shlosberg in court, August 17, 2026 On Monday, August 17, the Pskov City Court sentenced the deputy chairman of the Yabloko party, Lev Shlosberg, to 11 years and 1 month in prison in the case of repeated discrediting of the army and so-called fakes about the army.

Chechen bride. Archive photo In the Ingush Karabulak in early August, a local resident was detained for firing several shots into the air at a wedding. Despite government bans, residents of the North Caucasus still cannot give up this ritual: some call shooting at weddings a tradition, others say that it has nothing to do with customs and demand an end to dangerous behavior.

Collage: Economist Andrei Klepach, Russian President Vladimir Putin and head of VEB.RF Igor Shuvalov Will the Kremlin cope with the new fuel crisis, and does the government have a plan to save the economy? Andrey Klepach, chief economist of the VEB.RF corporation (until 2018 – Vnesheconombank), was dismissed from his post. Earlier, The Moscow Times news with quotes from the economist’s May speech was widely circulated in the Russian media.

Illustrative photo In Volgograd, local resident Tatyana Smetanko was fined 10 thousand rubles under the article on participation in a mass rally. The reason was an attempt to record a collective appeal to the head of the investigative committee with a complaint about the unfair distribution of gasoline during the fuel crisis. Mediazona drew attention to the administrative case. The verdict was handed down on August 13. The “action” itself, as the police called it, took place on July 16.

Cheboksary. May 5, 2026 As a result of drone strikes on May 5, three people were killed and more than 40 were injured. The authorities of Chuvashia have allocated another 34 million rubles from the reserve fund for the restoration of apartment buildings in Cheboksary that were damaged during the May drone attack. The corresponding orders were signed by the Prime Minister of the Republic Sergei Artamonov , writes AiF-Chuvashia.

We discuss whether the Kremlin has a plan to save the economy with economist Vyacheslav Shiryaev and political scientist Mikhail Komin in the “Facing the Event” program.

This August, “Idel.Realii,” a project of the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Liberty, turns 10 years old. Over the years, we have published thousands of materials, news and videos about life in the Volga region. Our correspondents were harassed, searched, criminal cases brought against them and sent to prison. The Russian authorities recognized Idel.Realii and their journalists as “foreign agents” and an “undesirable” organization, and blocked our website and social networks.

Boris Nadezhdin The Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow fined politician Boris Nadezhdin 10 thousand rubles in an administrative case for participation in the activities of an “undesirable organization,” a Mediazona correspondent reported on the court’s decision on Tuesday. Lawyer Vladimir Pakhomenko asked to transfer the case to jurisdiction - Nadezhdin lived in Dolgoprudny. The defender also asked to connect Nadezhdin to the meeting via video conferencing.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Information digest "Time of Freedom with Andrei Sharogradsky." Tuesday, August 18 01:10 10 killed in the Kharkov region during a Russian attack. Victims in the Belgorod region during attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces 04:04 Wildberries and Ozon have almost completely curtailed their activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine 06:56 Protests in Ukraine demanding the return of Mikhail Fedorov to the post of Minister of Defense.

Information digest “Time of Freedom with Andrei Sharogradsky.” Tuesday, August 18 01:10 10 killed in the Kharkov region during a Russian attack. Victims in the Belgorod region during attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces 04:04 Wildberries and Ozon have almost completely curtailed their activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine 06:56 Protests in Ukraine demanding the return of Mikhail Fedorov to the post of Minister of Defense.

Chairman of Yabloko Nikolai Rybakov before the hearing on Yabloko's appeal The Central Election Commission of Russia excluded the line with information about the Yabloko party from the federal ballot for the State Duma elections. The numbering of the remaining parties will remain the same, commission secretary Natalya Budarina said on Tuesday.

Illustrative photo The FSB Directorate for Bashkortostan reported that the defendant admitted guilt. The Central District Military Court found a 23-year-old resident of Ufa ( his name is not known ) guilty of articles on public calls for terrorism, extremism and “rehabilitation of Nazism” and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The Ufa citizen must spend the first two years in prison, the remaining term in a maximum security colony.

In the first six months of 2026, 312 people were convicted in Russia in state security cases - this is more than in all 25 pre-war years. This issue contains the story of the persecution of scientist Igor Sutyagin, his case became one of the first “spy” cases of the era of Vladimir Putin

In Maryana Torocheshnikova’s program, lawyers, human rights activists, and civil activists talk about how things should be according to the law and what you need to do to make the law work for you.