Putin, 71, is running as an independent, but he retains tight control over Russia's political system that he has established during 24 years in power.

"The Russian political system is in real shock now — this is no exaggeration," Abbas Gallyamov, a political consultant and ex-speechwriter to Putin, told CNN in an interview published on Wednesday.

Unlike before, when you could get these jobs, get rich, get promoted from regional level to federal level, today, that is ...

President Putin sacked his transport minister. Hours later, his body was found in a park with a gunshot wound to the head.

No Russian will speculate about Putin's future in public, but it's hard to imagine discussions aren't taking place among the oligarchs and security men who form the spine of Putin's system. "Mr.

The headlines from Russia over recent weeks have been bleak: The death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny; a rigged election; and a ruthless insistence by President Vladimir Putin in pressing ...

Russia’s state bureaucracy devotes more and more resources to anticipating and fulfilling the president’s wishes. Some of the consequences of this increasingly autocratic system are self-evident.

The Russian regime is in tremendous political and societal flux. These new developments provide insight into what Russia is becoming — a regime in which its legacy elite are quickly being outflanked ...

Russia has funneled at least $300 million to foreign political parties and candidates since 2014 to shape political events beyond its borders, according to a U.S. review.

From Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin, Russian leaders have updated and evolved the country’s legal system. Yet for all of its past reforms, it remains a tool that can be used to crack down on ...

Longtime Russian prisoner-rights advocate Olga Romanova tells RFE/RL that Russia's prisons are inefficient, archaic, and cruel, but they suit the social and political needs of President Vladimir ...

For political prisoners like Kara-Murza, life in Russia’s penal colonies is a grim reality of physical and psychological pressure, sleep deprivation, insufficient food, healthcare that is poor ...