On March 22, a Moscow court found Alexey Navalny guilty of fraud and contempt of court. Therefore, he has been sentenced to an additional nine years in a maximum-security prison and to pay a 1.2 million rubles fine (around € 11.000). The trial took place inside the prison colony, where he is serving 2.5 years for allegedly violating parole while in recovery abroad.
Source: Meduza
Supermarkets in Greece now restrict how much flour and sunflower oil customers can buy as a precautionary measure after a demand rise due to fear the supplies will be hit because of the war in Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine are key suppliers of sunflower oil and wheat for Greece, which imports about 250,000 tonnes of soft wheat from them, 30% of its total wheat imports.
Source: Reuters
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 2.3 million people have crossed the Ukrainian border into Poland. On 27 March, Border Guard officers carried out 27,000 border checks on people entering from Ukraine, a drop of 13.3 per cent compared to the previous day.
Source: The First News
A group of veteran Russian human rights activists wants to publish an open letter calling on Russia to end the war in Ukraine. 11 prominent activists such as Lev Ponomaryov, Oleg Orlov and Svetlana Gannushkina have already signed it. They also plan to create a new anti-war council of Russian human rights defenders. Their main goals are to prevent Russians from taking part in the war and to get accurate information about Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
Source: The Guardian
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long seen as President Putin’s closest ally in the European Union, tried to assert Hungary’s neutrality in the war in Ukraine. He has refused to supply Ukraine with military aid and insisted EU sanctions against Russia not be extended to the energy sector, considered one of the EU’s most effective means for putting pressure on the Kremlin. Recently Ukrainian President Zelenskyy appealed to Orban to take a clear stance on this war.
Source: AP
Anatoly Bibilov, the leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, says the Moscow-backed territory is planning to take steps in the near future to become part of Russia. Russia recognised South Ossetia as an independent state in 2008 after fighting a short war with Georgia. It has provided the separatist region with extensive financial support, offered Russian citizenship to its population and stationed thousands of Russian troops there.
Source: aljazeera.com
According to Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the recent discovery of dead civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha raised questions about possible war crimes committed by the Russian troops. Independent and effective investigations into what happened in Bucha are necessary to identify any breaches of international humanitarian law and violations of international human rights law.
Source: Reuters
Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications regulator, stated it wanted Wikipedia to remove "material with inaccurate information of public interest" about the "special operation" in Ukraine and the actions of Russia's troops. The Russian law provides that if the owner of an Internet page does not delete illegal information when asked to do so, it can receive a fine of up to 4 million roubles ($48,120.30).
Source: Reuters
The German interior ministry said there is a plan to prosecute people who display the "Z" symbol associated with support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. According to the criminal code, people in Germany could be fined or jailed for up to three years when using symbols of "unconstitutional organisations" such as the Nazi swastika. Many questioned how the measure could be implemented and accused the German government of tokenism.
Source: politico.eu