Claire Bigg covers Russia, Ukraine, and the post-Soviet world, with a focus on human rights, civil society, and social issues.
Russia's prime minister has signed a decree aimed at reducing quotas on the number of foreigners working in the country, a move he says will ease the worsening financial crisis. Moscow's powerful mayor has backed the initiative.
Sixty years ago, the UN adopted a milestone document that provided impetus to the human rights movement and inspired standard-bearers of peace, equality, and justice. How is it holding up?
The European Commission has reached out to six former Soviet nations, proposing generous financial assistance programs and free trade deals. But is there less than meets the eye?
Ukrainians are marking the 75th anniversary of a tragedy that killed millions of their countrymen in the early 1930s.
The Kremlin and its handpicked leader take credit for what they say is a return to peacetime life in Chechnya. But despite a reconstruction boom in Grozny, Russia has yet to come to terms with the legacy of two devastating wars, and there has been no systematic identification of the dead.
University students and older schoolchildren in the Russian republic of Tatarstan have been asked to take a drug test, in a move hailed as a major milestone in fighting drug abuse. However, the proposal to extend the measure nationwide is drawing a mixed response from students and experts alike.
South Ossetians have been suing Georgia en masse at the European Court of Human Rights, while Georgia has filed an interstate complaint against Russia. It is the first time two Council of Europe members have taken their grievances from the battlefield to the courtroom, and the entire situation has put the court in a tight spot.
Lydia Yusupova tirelessly collected information about torture, kidnappings, and executions in war-battered Chechnya and helped victims report crimes to law-enforcement agencies and take their cases to court.
Most locals have made their way home since the worst fighting ended in Georgia. But with their villages inside a Russian-declared buffer zone and winter fast approaching, thousands of Georgians are still stranded in makeshift shelters with little or no heat.
Moscow has struggled for years to contain an insurgency by Islamist militants in this southern republic. But now, public frustration and ethnic tensions have reached new heights amid mounting bloodshed and armed conflict next door in Georgia, prompting fears of full-blown civil war.
Russia last week avoided a massive financial crisis by pumping tens of billions of dollars into its economy. A repeat of the 1998 meltdown now appears unlikely, but Russia will need much longer to repair its investment reputation.
Turkey's president has arrived in Armenia for a visit that breaks down a historic barrier. It's part of a bold strategy to overcome long-standing conflicts that have hobbled the South Caucasus.
The Kremlin has spent years grooming its image in the West. But its latest actions have put current ties in peril. Has a resurgent Russia become indifferent to world opinion?
Russia's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia could have severe repercussions on peace efforts in other "frozen conflicts" areas where Moscow has strategic interests.
Military hostilities between Russian and Georgian forces are slowly grinding to a halt as Western diplomats seek to help implement a cease-fire deal. But the conflict zone remains largely inaccessible, preventing humanitarian groups from bringing relief to where it is most needed.
Georgian officials are accusing Russia of violating the truce agreed less than 24 hours ago to end the fighting over the breakaway South Ossetia region. The development may complicate efforts to rush much-needed aided to areas affected by fighting.
While Georgia presents the current armed conflict over South Ossetia and Abkhazia as a Russian invasion, Russian officials and state media are seeking to portray the events as a humanitarian catastrophe orchestrated by Tbilisi.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident writer, has been laid to rest in Moscow. While the world widely admired his courage in exposing the atrocities of the Soviet Union, many frowned on the ardent nationalism he espoused in his later years.
Polls suggest that if Europeans could vote, U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama could bank on a November landslide. What kind of a reception did he get in Berlin, and what does it say about the continent's 'Obamamania'?
Lawmakers say they have a plan to safeguard the country's young people, starting with curfews, a Halloween ban, and a lot fewer nose rings. But who does the legislation really aim to save -- vulnerable youngsters or a critical Kremlin fan base?
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