MOSCOW( Reuters)-A Russian court jailed an activist ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for two months on Wednesday awaiting trial after she became the first person to be arrested in a new" extremism" case against Navalny's network.... The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in jail.... Voronin said her arrest was the first of its kind since the political movement set up by Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent domestic opponent, was banned as extremist this summer in a wide-r

A German citizen who was sentenced to death after being convicted in Belarus of terrorism was pardoned Tuesday in a surprise move by the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian state media reported. Rico Krieger, appearing in a heavily choreographed interview on a state television channel after his conviction, confessed to planting explosives last year near a railway line on orders of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, which he said also had told him to photograph

Read ourprivacy notice Thanks for signing up to theBreaking News email{{# verifyErrors}}{{ message}}{{/ verifyErrors}}{{^ verifyErrors}} Something went wrong.... Navalny associate Leonid Volkov has said that he prodded Fadeyeva to leave Russia amid the crackdown, but she refused, citing her obligations to voters.... Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Subscribe Already subscribed?...

In addition to Kara-Murza, two other prisoners were reported to have gone missing Wednesday, bringing to 10 the total number suddenly out of communication. According to Prokhorov, Kara-Murza is due to appear in court on Thursday, but it is not clear whether the hearing will be held.... “ I sent a request to the colony administration, but they are not responding.” Karlova said she requested that the Public Monitoring Commission, a government body overseeing prisoners across Russia, visit Whelan