For 15 years Yelena Gagarina has done her best to preserve and expand the collection of Tsarist-era treasures. TASS People might think that a museum situated at Vladimir Putin’s front doorstep could not have a care in the world. But here lies the paradox: living next to the symbol and seat of Russian power creates its own problems.

Pixabay, edited by The Moscow Times You might think officials in Kiev have no bone to pick with anyone in Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition, but you’d be wrong. On Thursday, Ukraine’s National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting voted unanimously to remove Dozhd* — one of Russia’s last remaining independent television networks — from the airwaves, ruling that the channel is guilty of broadcasting illegal content.