❗️ 98% Chance Shoigu Will Be Arrested Next — Investigative Journalist Ilya Rozhdestvensky (@dossier_center) Investigative journalist Ilya Rozhdestvensky said there is a “98% probability” that Sergei Shoigu will eventually be arrested following the detention of former Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan Tsalikov. Speaking on The Breakfast Show, Rozhdestvensky said Tsalikov was the only person Shoigu tried to protect “with all his strength,” because “Tsalikov knows absolutely everything about Shoigu.” According to the journalist, investigators are likely to obtain testimony about Shoigu’s alleged criminal activities from Tsalikov. The purges within the Russian Defense Ministry began after Shoigu’s dismissal in 2024. Since then, several key figures from his inner circle have been arrested, including: 🔴 Timur Ivanov, described by investigators as the group’s “treasurer” 🔴 Vadim Shamarin, responsible for military communications 🔴 Yuri Kuznetsov, a personnel chief 🔴 Ruslan Tsalikov, described by investigators as the “keeper of secrets.” According to investigators, the charge of creating an organized criminal community (OCC) against Tsalikov may serve as a legal pathway to higher-level responsibility. In Russian criminal law, such cases normally imply the existence of a top leader, meaning suspicion could extend further up the hierarchy. #RussianPolitics #Shoigu #DefenseMinistry #Corruption

В Берлине создана партия "Мирная Россия" во главе с Ильей Яшиным: цель - помощь антивоенным россиянам и борьба за власть в РФ в будущем. На съезде побывал корреспондент DW pepurl.com/p/5FLHH?maca=rus-…

Yabloko Politicians Continue to Be Barred from Elections Through ‘Extremist Symbolism’ Charges Svetlana Vasilkova, deputy chair of #Yabloko’s branch in #Pskov region and a municipal deputy in Pustoshka district, was fined 1,000 rubles (about €10) for allegedly displaying extremist symbols. While such fines are largely symbolic, a conviction under Article 20.3 of Russia’s Administrative Code automatically disqualifies a person from running for office for one year. As a result, Vasilkova will be unable to participate in the September 2026 regional elections. According to Yabloko, Vasilkova is the tenth party representative removed from electoral competition through this mechanism since late 2025. Similar penalties have previously been imposed on prominent party figures in #StPetersburg, #Pskov, #Novgorod, and #Karelia, including party chairman Nikolai Rybakov. The party says that a total of 32 Yabloko members have now been excluded from upcoming elections on various legal grounds. #Elections2026 #PoliticalRepression #RussianPolitics #RussianElections t.me/yabloko_press/3227

CPRF bets on the Kremlin’s most inconvenient candidates Some of #CPRF’s most outspoken and controversial politicians are leading the party’s internal “People’s Candidate” vote ahead of the 2026 #StateDuma elections. The top three among 230 candidates are currently: – Mikhail Matveev, Duma MP, #Samara – Oleg Mikhaylov, Duma MP, #Komi – Nikolai Bondarenko, politician and YouTube star (2 mln follovers), #Saratov All three are known for sharp political statements and criticism on sensitive issues. Matveev and Mikhaylov unexpectedly won single-member districts in 2021 without being part of the Kremlin-approved shortlist for the State Duma. Now, in 2026, #UnitedRussia is fielding much stronger opponents against them, including veterans of the war against Ukraine. Analysts believe the #Kremlin will do everything possible to block their re-election in district races. That leaves the CPRF with either risking losing them in competitive districts, or placing them high on the federal party list, potentially strengthening the party’s overall campaign. #RussianElections #RussianPolitics #Duma2026 vedomosti.ru/politics/articl…

Yabloko Leader in Yakutia Faces Prosecution Over ‘Undesirable Organization’ The authorities in Russia’s #Sakha #Yakutia Republic have opened another administrative case against Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the regional leader of #Yabloko, for alleged participation in an “undesirable organization.” According to Nogovitsyn, the new case is “almost identical” to the previous one. In March 2026, a court fined him 10,000 rubles (ca. EUR 100) over reposts linked to an organization designated as undesirable, even though the posts had already been deleted. This is not the first such case against the opposition politician. In July 2025, he was fined under the same article for failing to remove a four-year-old interview with the TV Rain (Dozhd) from his Telegram channel. Nogovitsyn is a former coordinator of Alexei #Navalny’s headquarters in Yakutsk and ran for the #StateDuma on Yabloko’s ticket in 2021. In recent years, he has faced multiple forms of pressure, including a 200,000-ruble (ca. EUR 2000) fine for “discrediting the army” and penalties related to his opposition to the abolition of direct mayoral elections in Yakutsk. #PoliticalRepression #RussianPolitics t.me/horizontal_russia/55605

United Russia City Council Factions Could Be Renewed by Nearly 50% After September Elections #UnitedRussia’s representation in the city councils of Russia’s regional capitals could undergo significant renewal following the September elections. According to Kommersant, only 117 of the 210 incumbent United Russia deputies in the ten regional capitals holding elections this year successfully passed the party’s primary elections. This suggests that party factions in these city councils could be renewed by nearly half. The most dramatic turnover is expected in #Saratov, where only 9 of the current 24 United Russia deputies are projected to retain their seats. Significant rotation is also anticipated in #Kaliningrad, #Kemerovo, #KhantyMansiysk, and #Perm. The most stable situation appears to be in Petrozavodsk, #Karelia, where only about 20% of the faction may change. Around 1,700 candidates registered for United Russia’s primaries in regional capitals. Every twentieth candidate was a participant in Russian war against Ukraine, meaning veterans accounted for roughly 4.5% of all contenders. The findings mirror broader trends within the ruling party. Earlier, Kommersant estimated that United Russia factions could see nearly 40% turnover in regional legislatures and more than one-third renewal in the State Duma after upcoming elections. #RussianElections #RussianPolitics #Elections2026 kommersant.ru/doc/8727831

Police officers visited Anatoly Nogovitsyn, head of the @YablokoParty party branch in #Yakutia, and issued him an official warning about the “inadmissibility of unlawful actions” — while reportedly admitting they currently have no evidence to charge him. According to the document delivered by officers from the Center for Countering Extremism, Nogovitsyn was instructed to comply with federal law, avoid using banned symbols, and not “discredit” the Russian armed forces. The Yabloko politician links the visit to pressure on the party ahead of the upcoming State Duma elections. Police told him they would not file an administrative case for now due to lack of proof, but warned him against potential future violations and made it clear he remains under law enforcement scrutiny. Violating the warning could result in a fine starting at 30,000 rubles. t.me/anatolynogovitsyn/1420 #Russia #Yakutia #Yabloko #PoliticalPressure #DumaElections #CivilRights #Election2026 #Opposition

Kremlin Calls Armenian Elections Unfair — Then Signals Readiness to Work with the Winners Armenia’s parliamentary elections became the top political story in Russia this week. Throughout election night, senior Russian officials sharply criticized both the campaign and the vote itself. Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry #Medvedev and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova accused the Armenian authorities of pressuring the opposition and allowing Western interference. 🗣️ “The entire election campaign and the voting process took place amid harsh repression ... and unprecedented pressure on the opposition, as well as interference from the West, primarily the EU,” Zakharova said. Medvedev argued that elections in which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan allegedly seeks to remove his competitors cannot be considered fully legitimate. The statements were widely presented as reflecting #Kremlin’s official position. Yet after preliminary results showed a victory for Pashinyan’s camp, Russia softened its tone. Zakharova stated that Moscow intends to shape its policy toward Armenia “based on the real actions of the Armenian leadership”, while describing Armenians as a “brotherly people.” #Armenia #Russia #Pashinyan #Elections tass.ru/politika/27694031

📊 War veterans are relegated to secondary roles in Russian regional administrations — Report Independent political analyst Alexander Kynev (designated a "foreign agent" by Moscow) has published a new study: "Regional Nomenclature in 2026: Evolution and Adaptation under New Conditions." Here is his analysis of how the war is reshaping Russia's regional elites: 💬 "In 2025, the trend toward the return of a high level of rotation among the top regional administrative nomenclature persists. At the same time, the number of governor replacements in 2025 decreased compared to 2024 (5 instead of 13), but the number of replacements within the administration lineups themselves remained high. In 2024–2025, many governors, having been elected to a new term, significantly reformatted their teams. This applies to the Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kostroma, Murmansk, Chelyabinsk, and Kamchatka regions, and some others. Such massive replacements within current administrations are atypical for the Russian regions and may indicate both deteriorating working conditions (leading both to a more frequent desire to leave the post and to the leadership’s desire to replace employees) and corresponding instructions from 'above.' The war affects the composition of regional administrations [appointment of war participants to leadership positions in the regions – REM], but this impact is not significant; rather, it is an adaptation and adjustment of administrations to new requirements. Mainly, the war “veterans” join symbolic political positions and the deputy corps, where work formally does not require the presence of specific professional skills. It is important to understand that the appointment of key officials in a regional administration requires approval from the relevant federal agencies via a special procedure that presupposes the existence of the necessary competencies, specialized education, work experience, recommendations, etc. As a result, outside of these procedures and quite rigid professional requirements are mostly positions that do not involve their holders issuing regulatory and restrictive legal documents and distributing significant budget resources (deputies overseeing relations with law enforcement agencies; patriotic education; youth policy and sports, etc.). This is precisely where the war participants without corresponding bureaucratic experience in their background mostly end up. For the most part, 'business trips to the war zone' remain an attribute of career advancement for the traditional nomenclature, which even previously (without the 'SVO participant' attribute) could occupy the respective positions. In fact, obtaining the status of an 'SVO participant' is currently an additional element of a professional resume for them, strengthening career ambitions. At the same time, when analyzing such appointments, it is sometimes publicly difficult to separate real war participants from officials who have worked for some time in the administrative bodies of the annexed regions of Eastern Ukraine." Full report is available in Russian (NB: at Russian cloud service Yandex.Disk): 🔗 disk.yandex.ru/i/GoHC13mph-x… #RussianPolitics #Kynev #SVO #RussiaUkraineWar #Kremlin

Russia’s Party System Shrinks Again Russia’s Ministry of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to liquidate the Party of Social Protection. The court is expected to issue its decision on June 3. The Ministry first identified numerous violations in the party’s activities in 2025. According to the authorities, the party failed to remedy them, leading to the suspension of its activities in December 2025. The Party of Social Protection was registered in 2012 but has not played an active role in Russian politics in recent years. In 2025, it also lost the right to nominate candidates to the 2026 #StateDuma elections without collecting voter signatures after losing its last remaining seats in regional legislatures. If dissolved, the number of officially registered political parties in Russia will shrink once again, continuing the long-term trend toward a more tightly controlled and consolidated party system ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections and beyond. #RussianPolitics #RussianElections #Elections2026

Election Expert Silenced: Russia Labels Alexander Kynev a “Foreign Agent” Kynev is one of the country’s leading researchers of elections, a long-time analyst of political processes in Russia and the post-Soviet space, with a particular focus on regional politics and elections at all levels. He has worked as a consultant for #Yabloko and previously headed the analytical department of the now-liquidated election watchdog #Golos. Kynev is the author of multiple books and hundreds of academic and publicist texts on Russian elections and regional governance, including for REM (links are provided below). Despite making several controversial statements in recent years, including on Ukrainian and European politics, REM considers Kynev’s expertise on Russian elections critically important. He remains based in Russia and is not affiliated with any pro-government institutions. In November 2025, Kynev proposed a protest strategy for the 2026 State Duma elections he called “Vote Out of Spite.” The idea was simple: citizens should go to polling stations precisely because the authorities insist participation is pointless. 🗣️ “The only motivation that can work is: vote out of spite. Participation itself is protest — acting despite everything. The entire system is built to keep you away and ensure everything is tightly controlled. It doesn’t matter whom you vote for. Vote for anyone. Even the LDPR. Voting while sitting on the couch is not protest,” Kynev said at the time. After being designated a “foreign agent,” Kynev wrote on his Telegram channel that the decision was an attempt to “silence” him and warned of financial and administrative “strangulation.” May 2022: To Russian opposition after the disaster of 2022: Enlighten, not repent. russian-election-monitor.org… August 2023: "The current government is not going anywhere". On political changes in Russia. russian-election-monitor.org… September 2023: Elections without change? russian-election-monitor.org… August 2024: Who rules Russian regions. Alexander Kynev on how the system of power has changed over 30 years. russian-election-monitor.org… August 2024: The main intrigue of September elections — will Communists regain their positions? russian-election-monitor.org… #RussianPolitics #RussianElections #ForeignAgents #PoliticalRepression #Kynev

Родители Алексея Навального пришли на Борисовское кладбище почтить его память Сегодня политику исполнилось бы 50 лет.

Kremlin-Linked Disinformation Campaign Fails to Gain Traction Ahead of Armenia’s Elections An investigation by Provereno.media into disinformation narratives targeting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of the June 2026 parliamentary elections suggests that a year-long campaign involving Kremlin-linked actors has largely failed to influence Armenia’s domestic political debate. According to the analysis, the false narratives failed to gain significant traction within Armenia itself. Attempts to target Armenian diaspora communities abroad were also of limited electoral value, since Armenian citizens can vote only inside the country. That does not mean the effort was insignificant. A network of Russian- and English-language outlets participated in spreading anti-Pashinyan narratives, including the so-called Foundation to Battle Injustice (FBI, created by late Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin), the U.S.-based website VT Foreign Policy, Azerbaijan’s Haqqin, Turkey’s OdaTV, and hundreds of social media accounts amplifying similar messages. Provereno.media notes that Russian-linked disinformation campaigns have become a regular feature of elections in many countries. Yet Armenia appears to be an exception. While a handful of false stories circulated widely nearly a year before the vote, dozens of subsequent narratives attracted little attention and failed to achieve comparable reach. The publication suggests that this may reflect the political realities of the campaign itself. For much of the past year, Pashinyan’s party has maintained a substantial lead in opinion polls, leaving disinformation actors with limited prospects beyond generating background noise in the information space. Read the full investigation (in Russian): provereno.media/blog/2026/06… #Armenia #Pashinyan #Disinformation #Russia #Elections Photo: elections.am

Bucha Murder Suspect Heads to Russia’s State Duma Nursultan Mussagaleev secured his place on #UnitedRussia’s party list for #StateDuma elections in #Orenburg Region. Ukraine accuses Mussagaleev of involvement in the torture and killing of a civilian in #Bucha during Russia’s occupation of the area in 2022. According to the investigation, he commanded a reconnaissance unit and issued orders during cleansing operations conducted in the region. Rather than facing scrutiny in Russia, Mussagaleev received state honors for his military service. After returning from the war, he participated in the #Kremlin-backed Time of Heroes program, designed to promote war veterans into public office, and was subsequently appointed head of a municipal district in the Orenburg Region. #RussianPolitics #RussiaUkraineWar

“Demand for Normalisation” — Russian Analysts Discuss New People Party Rising Ratings Russia’s state pollster #VTsIOM has released new party ratings amid the ongoing #StateDuma campaign. Despite a recent methodology change, shifting from purely telephone surveys to a mixed phone-and-doorstep model, the "liberal-technocratic" party #NewPeople continues to post strong results. In the second half of May, New People again moved into second place, tying #CPRF and overtaking the declining #LDPR. Political consultant Ilya Grashchenkov argues that the party’s popularity reflects a public “demand for reducing pressure.” According to him, voters increasingly want “fewer bans, less interference in everyday life — fewer things you’re not allowed to access, watch, or use, and fewer demands to tolerate yet another restriction”. Independent political analyst Alexander Kynev describes the trend as a broader “demand for normality.” He says support for New People is no longer limited to its traditional electorate — entrepreneurs, youth, and residents of large cities — but is now spreading to more inert segments of the population. Latest VTsIOM ratings: #UnitedRussia — 33.2% ( 1.9) #CPRF — 11.7% (-0.2) #NewPeople — 11.7% ( 2.6) #LDPR — 9.7% (-1.9) #JustRussia — 4.4% ( 0.2) #RussianPolitics #RussianElections #Elections2026