Oleg Vladimirovich Kashin is a London-based Russian journalist and columnist known for his political articles.
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in 2011. He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
Sergei Stanislavovich Udaltsov is a Russian left-wing political activist. He is the unofficial leader of the Vanguard of Red Youth (AKM). In 2011 and 2012, he helped lead a series of protests against Vladimir Putin. In 2014 he was sentenced to 4¹⁄₂ years in a penal camp for organizing the May 2012 protest which ended in violence between the police and demonstrators.
Leonid Mikhaylovich Razvozzhayev is a member of the political coalition Left Front and an aide to Ilya Ponomaryov, a member of the Russian Parliament. Razvozzhayev was allegedly kidnapped from Kyiv, Ukraine in October 2012 by Russian security forces.
Opposition to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, commonly referred to as the Russian opposition, can be divided between the parliamentary opposition parties in the State Duma and the various non-systemic opposition organizations. While the former are largely viewed as being more or less loyal to the government and Putin, the latter oppose the government and are mostly unrepresented in government bodies. According to Russian NGO Levada Center, about 15% of the Russian population disapproved of Putin in the beginning of 2023.
Mikhail Viktorovich Zygar is a Russian born journalist, writer and filmmaker, and the founding editor-in-chief of Russian news channel TV Rain (2010–2015). Under Zygar's leadership, TV Rain provided an alternative to Kremlin-controlled federal TV channels by focusing on news content and giving a platform to opposition voices. The channel's coverage of politically sensitive issues, like the Moscow street protests in 2011 and 2012 as well as the conflict in Ukraine, has been dramatically different from the official coverage by Russia's national television stations. Zygar is also the author of the book All the Kremlin's Men (2017), the history of Putin's Russia, based on interviews with Russian politicians from Putin's inner circle.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The FBK published investigations into alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian government officials. The organisation is funded by private donations.
Leonid Mikhailovich Volkov is a Russian politician who served as the chief of staff for opposition figure Alexei Navalny's campaign for the 2018 presidential election. He was also the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Foundation until 2023.
The Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny announced his intention to run for President of Russia in the 2018 election on 13 December 2016. The primary themes of his campaign have been focusing on domestic issues, including combating corruption in Russia and improving the economy. Commentators noted that Navalny's campaign was unprecedented in modern Russia as politicians usually do not start campaigning until a few months before the election.
Lyubov Eduardovna Sobol is a Russian opposition politician, lawyer and a member of the Russian Opposition Coordination Council (2012–2013). She produces the YouTube channel "Navalny Live" of Alexei Navalny. Sobol was a lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Foundation until its closure in 2021.
On 20 August 2020, Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent and as a result, he was hospitalized in serious condition. During a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, he became ill and was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there, and then, he was put in a coma. He was evacuated to the Charité hospital in Berlin, Germany, two days later. The use of the nerve agent was confirmed by five Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) certified laboratories. On 7 September, doctors announced that they had taken Navalny out of the induced coma and that his condition had improved. He was discharged from the hospital on 22 September 2020. The OPCW said that a cholinesterase inhibitor from the Novichok group was found in Navalny's blood, urine, skin samples and his water bottle. At the same time, the OPCW report clarified that Navalny was poisoned with a new type of Novichok, which was not included in the list of controlled chemicals of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The Insider is an online publication specializing in investigative journalism, fact-checking, and exposing fake news. It was founded by independent Russian journalist Roman Dobrokhotov. The publication operates websites in both Russian and English, along with a Telegram channel, an Instagram account, two TikTok accounts, and two YouTube channels: one for on-air programs and another for edited video content.
Kira Aleksandrovna Yarmysh is a Russian public figure and writer. She is the former press secretary and assistant of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the author of the 2020 novel Incredible Incidents in Women's Cell No. 3.
Protests in Russia began on 23 January 2021 in support of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny after he was immediately detained upon returning to Russia after being sent to Germany for treatment following his poisoning the previous year. Days before protests began, a film by Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) called Putin's Palace, which revolves around the connection between president Vladimir Putin and a palace allegedly being built for him, was released.
Yulia Borisovna Navalnaya is a Russian public figure and economist. The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, she has been described in media as the "first lady" of the Russian opposition. After her husband's death, Navalnaya announced that she would continue his work. As of 1 July 2024, she is the chairperson of the Human Rights Foundation, and she also leads the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Navalny had founded in 2011.
On 16 February 2024, at 14:19 Moscow time, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced that Russian opposition activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny died while serving a 19-year prison sentence in corrective colony FKU IK-3, in the village of Kharp in the Russian Arctic. Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed his death the next day and demanded his body should be returned to his family as soon as possible. One report from Russia Today suggested the cause of death was a blood clot, but this diagnosis was disputed by Alexander Polupan, who had treated Navalny before. Navalny was 47 years old when he died.
Anastasia Yevgenyeva Vasilyeva is a Russian ophthalmologist and human rights activist who was the personal doctor to opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Vasilyeva founded the Alliance of Doctors, an independent medical trade union that was originally aligned to Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, before she publicly distanced herself from Navalny and the ACF in 2021. In addition to her political activism, Vasilyeva gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia due to her public criticisms of Vladimir Putin's response.
Basmanny District Court is a district court in the Basmanny district of Moscow, Russia, known for its high-profile and controversial trials, which have caused many-sided criticism of the Russian judicial system, in particular, in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos shareholders v. Russia. The name of the court has led to this sort of trial being known as Basmanny Justice.
Shaun Walker is a British journalist and author, noted primarily for his writing on Ukraine and Russia for British newspaper The Guardian. Walker was shortlisted for the 2024 UK Press Awards.
The Magnitsky Human Rights Awards, established in 2015 by Sir William Browder KCMG, are named in honor of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in custody after uncovering a government corruption scheme. His death led to the creation of the Magnitsky Act, which sanctions human rights violators globally by freezing their assets and banning their visas.
