For a past several years MPs from "United Russia" has adopted a series of laws that severely restricted various rights and freedoms, mainly the right of freedom of expression, freedom of speech and right to privacy.
Among the candidates for re-elections are also Andrei Lugovoi, MP of "Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia" (LDPR) infamously known for his alleged involvement in assassination of Alexander Litvinenko - a former KGB and FSB operative. In the year 2000 Litvinenko has defected to Great Britain and was later poisoned with Polonium-210.
A few years ago Britain authorities tried to extradite him, but Lugovoi was saved by his MP's immunity. During his time in parliament Andrei Lugovoi became a co-author of the law that allows authorities to block unwanted websites without a court order.
Last week the semiofficial "Rossiiskaya Gazeta" reported on previously unknown affiliation between "Rosneft" and "Independent Oil and Gas Company". "Rosneft" - world's largest oil producer among publicly traded companies, is headed by Igor Sechin, who's also a former deputy prime minister of Russia. Said affiliation, the newspaper reported, allowed Sechin to obtain around 1,5 billion rubles in tax returns.
Some rumors claimed that recent apprehension of "Russia's last liberal governor" Nikita Belykh happened as a result of covert struggle between FSB and Federal Security Service (FSO). Belykh was investigated and arrested by FSB without required Vladimir Putin's permission.
Creation of "Rosgard" (Russian National Guard) in April 2016 was a huge victory for FSO because it allowed to strip FSB of some assets and powers. However resignation of FSO director Vladimir Murov has significantly weaken organization's position in Russian political game. Nikita Belykh (as any Russain governor) was appointed personally by Vladimir Putin, so his arrest is seen by some spectators as a direct attack on FSO and the president himself.
Three bloggers from Russian city of Samara received 5 to 7 years in prison for extortion of influential local businessman Sergei Shatilo. The perpetrators have threatened their victim with disclosure of sensitive personal information. However, one of the convicts Dmitry Begun announced in court that he was testified under pressure from police. Begun has stated that investigators wanted his to testify against Samara governor Nikolai Merkushin and some other local officials. As a result the case was sent for retrial.
Russian "non-system" opposition activist Alexey Navaly has discovered 11 luxury apartments in Moscow that has been bought by trustee of acting deputy of prime-minister Igor Shuvalov. The whole purchase was amounted to sum of 600 million rubles. The form of trust, however, has allowed Shuvalov to not declare the purchase in tax report.