The Latest Breaking News from Pussy Riot

The inmates at IK-2 penal colony rise at 6 a.m. each day for a breakfast of milk porridge, bread and tea. Soon they leave their barracks at this aging facility about 300 miles southeast of Moscow, in the isolated republic of Mordovia.

They fled Russia disguised as food couriers. Now a major exhibition is celebrating the collective’s decade of punky protest art, from a urine-splattered portrait of Putin to the cathedral gig that landed them in prison

She spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for protesting against President Vladimir Putin, but it took almost another decade - and the invasion of Ukraine - before Maria Alyokhina reluctantly decided it was time to leave her country.

Tedious manual work, poor hygiene and lack of access to medical care - such are the conditions awaiting U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in a Russian penal colony after she lost her appeal last week against a nine-year drug sentence.

Whether you want to join Brad Pitt in Japan for the commute from hell or stay home with a noisy Russian art collective, our critics have you covered for the next seven days

Ideology grinds against a kitsch, hypersexual aesthetic in the Russian rebels’ bizarre yet sometimes brilliant debut mixtape

The Kremlin has effectively taken over Russia’s culture industry as the invasion of Ukraine prompted intensifying repression – with cancelled concerts, theatre directors sacked and artists arrested. All this poses a dilemma for Russian writers, singers, directors and the like: do they leave to ensure their safety and free expression,…

The artist on an exhibition made by spiders, cryptocurrency activism and her love of astrology

No concept is more central to Vladimir Putin’s propaganda today than “Russophobia”. Internationally and on the home front, his propagandists claim they are fighting “Russophobes”, enemies motivated by a visceral hatred of Russia’s culture and people. Last month, the Russian foreign ministry sanctioned 121 Australians (including me) for “forming the…