Passports Annulled
Two gay Russian men whose marriage was accidentally recognized in Moscow last week have had their passports annulled and the decision revoked.
Russian authorities first pulled the passports of Eugene Voitsekovsky and Paul Stotsko after they returned from their honeymoon in Copenhagen, then fined them with "intentional damage to their passports."
Navalny Detained
Police detained opposition leader and presidential hopeful Alexei Navalny at a demonstration on Sunday against the upcoming March 18 presidential elections from which Navalny himself is barred.
Navalny was released later in the evening pending trial on charges of organizing an unauthorized rally.
Election Protests
Hundreds of protesters who answered Navalny’s call for an election boycott were detained at rallies across Russia on Sunday.
While police grabbed fewer demonstrators in Moscow (16) and St. Petersburg (19), in Ufa, they detained 66; Volgograd, 65; Cheboksary, 51, Kemerovo, 31, and Murmansk, 23, the OVD-Info police-monitoring group reported.
While most of the detained protesters were released by Sunday evening, many will have to appear in court to face charges of demonstrating without a permit.
Satire Cancelled
The Pioneer Cinema, which screened the “Death of Stalin” satire film last week after the government ruled to pull the film’s screening license, was forced to announce Jan. 26 that the film would no longer be shown and that sold tickets would be returned.
"For additional questions, we request that you turn to the Russian Ministry of Culture," Pioneer said in reference to the ban.
Leningrad Blockade
A wave of events was held across Russia on Jan. 27 to commemorate the anniversary of the ending of the siege of Leningrad during World War II.
The Siege of Leningrad, which started with the Nazi encirclement of the city in September 1941, lasted nearly 900 days and ended on Jan. 27, 1944, after an estimated 400,000 to 1.5 million people died of starvation, winter cold and shelling.
Sobchak in Chechnya
Presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak visited Chechnya on Jan. 28 to appeal for the release of Memorial human rights center director Oyuba Titiyev, who was detained earlier this month on drug charges that civic groups say are fabricated.
Alvi Karimov, the press secretary of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, said the Chechen government did not share Sobchak’s view that Titiyev should be released and said that her demand contradicted previous statements that she made in support of the rule of law.
Putin Poke
Randy Newman, America's best known musical satirist, won a Grammy Award on Sunday for arranging the vocals and lyrics in a humorous song about Putin.
His catchy lyrics about the Russian leader include: "He can drive his giant tractor/Across the Trans-Siberian plain/He can power a nuclear reactor/With the left side of his brain."
