Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ideas of Marx and Lenin are making a comeback in Russia with a wave of young leftists whose potential for mass appeal seems to have rattled the Kremlin.
Accusations that security forces tortured a leftist activist into confessing to a plot to overthrow President Vladimir Putin have triggered fears of a return to Soviet-era political repression and sparked a diplomatic dispute between Moscow and Washington.
In a new sign of a widening crackdown on Russia's opposition, investigators Wednesday opened a criminal probe against leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and several other activists for allegedly plotting mass riots.
In a new sign of a widening crackdown on Russia's opposition, investigators on Wednesday opened a criminal probe against leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and several other activists for allegedly plotting mass riots.
Tens of thousands of protesters streamed into downtown Moscow on Saturday for a rally that showed the resilience of their anti-Putin movement but failed to provide any clear indication of a long-term plan to dislodge their archnemesis from the Kremlin.
A judge found three members of the provocative punk band Pussy Riot guilty of hooliganism on Friday, in a case that has drawn widespread international condemnation as an emblem of Russia's intolerance of dissent.
The powerful floods that killed more than 170 people in south Russia earlier this month have left the Kremlin scrambling to minimize political damage to President Vladimir Putin, whose 12 years in power have seen a bleak litany of tragedies his critics blame on a fatal combination of corruption and negligence.
Two Russian opposition leaders were questioned by investigators on Wednesday, a day after they helped organize the largest protest against Vladimir Putin since his return to the presidency in May.
Tens of thousands of Russians filled the streets of central Moscow on Tuesday to rally against the 12-year rule of President Vladimir Putin, braving torrential rain and the threat of vastly increased fines for protest-related offenses.
Tens of thousands of Russians flooded Moscow's tree-lined boulevards Tuesday in the first massive protest against President Vladimir Putin's rule since his inauguration in May — a rally that came even as police interrogated key opposition leaders.
Some 200 activists are camping out in central Moscow to protest the election of Vladimir Putin and the arrest of two opposition leaders.
Police on Tuesday broke up a demonstration by hundreds of opposition activists who had spent the night outside the presidential administration offices to protest Vladimir Putin's return as Russia's president.
A protest demonstration by at least 20,000 people on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president boiled into a battle with police after protesters tried to split off from the approved venue and march to the Kremlin.
A protest demonstration by at least 20,000 people on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president boiled into a battle with police after protesters tried to split off from the approved venue and march to the Kremlin.
Tens of thousands of people gathered Saturday in downtown Moscow in the latest protest against the rule of President-elect Vladimir Putin, who secured a third term in Sunday's election the opposition says was rigged.
"I am against capitalism and U.S. foreign policies, but we are all united here against this terrible law," Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front political movement, said of the adoption ban.
"Yes, there are cases when they are abused and killed, but they are rare," said Sergei Udaltsov, who heads a leftist opposition group. "Concrete measures should be taken (to punish those responsible), but our government decided to act differently and sacrifice children's fates for their political ambitions."
Thousands march in Moscow to protest Russian ban on adoptions by Americans →
