Corey Flintoff
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Alexei Navalny is an anti-corruption blogger who helped organize massive anti-government protests 3 years ago. He's been the target of criminal cases that have hampered his political activities.
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Vladimir Putin's popularity soared after the Winter Olympics and the annexation of Crimea. But his year is ending on a bitter note, with Russia in a deep recession and isolated internationally.
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Despite tensions between Russia and the West, Moscow is forging links with far-right, anti-EU parties in Europe. They're attracted to the traditional social values of Vladimir Putin's Russia. -
Russian performers who have criticized the country's role in Ukraine have been denounced on TV programs and had concert dates abruptly canceled. -
Western sanctions are biting, oil prices are down sharply, and the Russian currency is tanking. The government now expects the economy to shrink in 2015. -
Nearly 30 percent of Russian children with disabilities end up in state orphanages, where they can suffer neglect and abuse at understaffed facilities, according to a human rights group. -
Separatists in eastern Ukraine hold their own elections Sunday as part of an effort to create an independent state. Meanwhile, fighting for control of Donetsk's airport continues, despite a ceasefire.
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Russia's parliament, the Duma, approved a bill on Friday that would limit foreign ownership of Russian media to less than 20 percent.
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Russia's ban on imported foods hasn't stopped its trendiest restaurants from sourcing top-quality ingredients like Italian cheese and Norwegian fish. How? Just slap on a "made in Belarus" label.
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It could be the next big spy movie: an Estonian intelligence agent nabbed by Russia on spy charges. Russia says he was spying on them; Estonia says he was kidnapped in a cross-border raid.
