Russia has travelled a path from blocking individual resources to centralised traffic management, mobile internet shutdowns and “white lists” where not the entire internet works, but only what the state has permitted to remain switched on.

Over the course of more than ten years, Russia has built a full-fledged legal and administrative system for governing the internet.

The goal was a noble one — to exclude from the electoral process those participants who lack genuine voter support.

Over the past two-plus decades, Russian legislation has gradually turned campaigning from a form of political communication into a complex bureaucratic procedure.

Since 2002, when the framework law on elections was adopted, the requirements for campaigning in Russia have been growing increasingly complex.

The safest way to ensure that no uncontrollable people make their way into elected bodies is to sterilise the ballot paper against them from the very outset.

In Russian elections, some participants are forced to constantly prove their right to campaign, while others conduct theirs under the cover of the administrative machine, budgetary support and a loyal media landscape.

Russian politics over the past twenty-five years has been about regulating the party system to suit the regime’s changing needs

After a number of social networks were banned in 2022, the opposition's campaigning opportunities shrank substantially, while the risks increased.

In Russia, equality of opportunity in campaigning is absent due to the selective application of legislation

An opposition candidate spends energy not only on persuading the voter, but also on fighting for the very ability to campaign

Alexei Kuzmin, a United Russia member, is linked to the Orenburg "gang of hitmen"

Five most dangerous legislative initiatives for environmental protection regulation

The deputy chair of the commission is linked to the scandal at the elections in Vesenny: there the opposition alleged falsifications, but was unable to challenge the results in court

Tatyana Solomatina — deputy chair of the State Duma committee on health protection — is seeking nomination as a candidate for the State Duma in Tomsk Oblast's only single-mandate constituency

The injured party in this story turned out to be the voters of Kirov, who lost their representation in the State Duma

His former boss and fellow party member was also recently arrested

We are beginning a series of publications on the degradation of Russian electoral legislation over the past five years

Sergei Tushkov was found guilty of bribing an official and fined 3.2 million rubles

"Yabloko" remains the only political force registered in Russia that opposes the conduct of the SVO

A detective story involving an elk has led to the stripping of parliamentary immunity — and of the mandate — from the leader of Moscow's Communists, Valery Rashkin

Dmitry Savelyev went from paramilitary guard and combat veteran to organiser of electoral fraud, and then of preparation for murder

Aleksandr Malkevich charged with embezzlement on an especially large scale

The criminal case against Mikhail Yurevich, the former principal owner of the Makfa agricultural holding, has been referred to court

Sergei Kutenyov, a United Russia deputy, entered the political life of the Oryol region swiftly and with considerable flair. Just as swiftly and with just as much flair, he left it.

Three of the seven factions — the United Russia, A Just Russia and New People groupings — were unable to serve out the term with their membership unchanged

For a decade, Alexander Gliskov was in effect the krai's most prominent opposition figure

A court has denied Stanislav Korotkov the right to give up his mandate of his own volition

How the region from the Oscar-winning film "Mr Nobody Against Putin" is preparing for the upcoming State Duma elections

On 25 March the composition of Russia's Central Election Commission changed; 12 of the CEC's 15 members were reappointed.

Using his connections in the administration, Iosif Marach privatised far more valuable municipal property quite cheaply

Boris Makashov and Vladimir Marakhin are accused of misappropriating two land plots worth 5.5 million rubles

Vladimir Kvanin of New People arrested over machinations in the purchase of a regional waste operator