"Vladimir Putin has unleashed the worst political crackdown in the country's post-Soviet era..."

[pampango]

Russia's freedoms crackdown 'worst since USSR fall'


Russia has seen big anti-government protests
following the 2011 parliamentary elections

Russian President Vladimir Putin has unleashed the worst political crackdown in the country's post-Soviet era, a human rights group has said.

In a report, Human Rights Watch said Mr Putin had signed a raft of laws quashing freedoms after his return to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012. Mr Putin's fear of mass street protests had been behind the moves, the report's authors said.

The report highlighted further curbs and fines for staging public demonstrations, a wider definition of treason and restrictions on internet content - measures seen by critics as attempts by the Kremlin to quash public dissent.

It also said that Mr Putin's return to power last May "oversaw the swift reversal of former President Dmitry Medvedev's few, timid advances on political freedoms".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21282254

Not exactly a news flash but important nonetheless.

[msongs]

1. Joe Stalin is back nt