The panellist was cut out but you can still see his legs.

Last October a political analyst well known for his critical attitude towards the Kremlin took part in a pre-recorded debate on the Russian TV channel TV Centre. Were the authorities ready to get slated on telly? Apparently not. When the show was broadcast a few days later, the opponent magically disappeared from the set. Read more...

'Until now, Iran and Burma were the only countries to ban the British Council'.

Russians react to the closure of the British Council by the Russian authorities. One of them remembers when it was closed down once before in the past. That was in 1947, and it marked the beginning of the Cold War. Another says that the Russian authorities are becoming schizophrenic: "They close the British Council, but buy houses in London." Read more...

According to "Maciula", a blogger who specialises in post-soviet countries, the Turkmenistan regime does not support liberalisation. It was recently confirmed by the fact that the new president decided to prohibit satellite aerials, that he would have more control over information. "Is the West really so naive as to believe in the liberalism of a man who was indoctrinated by Soviet propaganda?" Read more...

Material compiled by our Russia observer, Allena Ponomaryova

Further possible proof of election fraud is emerging. Blogger Grigori Belonuchkin who was monitoring a polling station on the day, has revealed evidence that some documents sent to the electoral committee were fake. The papers, which had been modified to boost the count for President Vladimir Putin's party, were located and corrected. However, the blogger says that others had already been registered.
Read more...

Post your questions to our Russia observer, Allena Ponomaryova, or directly to Grigori (he speaks english).

By Team Observers

This video, filmed on a mobile phone, was originally posted on www.smena.info, a site hosted by Smena, a relatively unknown Russian opposition group. It has since been snapped up by numerous television chains. It shows a woman stuffing a ballot box with voting papers at a polling centre. In the background, a man’s voice asks her, in Russian, to “turn over the ballot slip”. The rest is inaudible. At the end of the film, however, we hear the person who’s filming ask a guard: “Do you have any pistols? Which model?” The video is dated Dec. 2, Russia's parliamentary election day. But the tape date, and its authenticity, are yet to be verified. Our regional editor, Maria Antonova, and our observer Anastasiya Lebedev, will keep us updated.

By Team Observers with reporting by observer Allena Ponomaryova

Shortly after his speech at a protest rally in Moscow on Saturday, Nov. 24, former chess champion and Russian opposition figure Garry Kasparov was arrested and detained for five days. The next day, the judge declined Kasparov’s appeal and pronounced him guilty of "organising an illegal march against President Putin" and "declining to comply with the policeman's repeated demands to stop". Witnesses at the rally share their videos, pictures and reactions with The Observers.

Post your questions to Allena Ponomaryova on her profile page.

Material compiled by our Russian/ former-USSR regional editor, Maria Antonova

In September, President Putin's United Russia party launched a paper campaign across Russia. The slogan: "Putin's Plan - Victory for Russia" (Plane Puntina - Pobeda Rossii). Internet users react to these posters and booklets distributed in the street by members of the party.