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After an early release of former colonel Yuri Budanov, accused in rape and murder of a young Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva, evidence of his involvement in murder of three more Chechen residents is revealed.

After a string of murders targeting journalists in the Russian Federation, their security is still in question.

On the morning of 4 February 2009, the Working Group on the UPR examined the human rights situation in the Russian Federation. The large delegation was led by the Justice Minister, Aleksandr Konovalov, right. Over 60 States attempted to present a broad range of questions and recommendations, although time constraints resulted in over 20 States being unable to speak.

More than two weeks have passed since the murder of human rights defender Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova. What has been done to investigate the crime and bring the persons responsible to justice?

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has ordered his staff to revise a controversial bill which would loosen the definition of treason. The draft legislation, earlier backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has been met with public outrage and criticism. Opponents say the bill harkens back to the days of Soviet repression, and could potentially allow authorities to brand any government critic a traitor. A group of prominent Russian rights activists defines the bill as “legislation in the spirit of Stalin and Hitler”.

Following large amounts of criticism of President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s silence in the wake of the murders of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, Medvedev has finally responded and held a meeting with Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitri Muratov and former Soviet President and Novaya shareholder Mikhail Gorbachev.

Russian youth of service age have strong reasons to be unwilling to go to the Russian army, neither by conscription nor under contracts.

While the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called upon Russian authorities to protect journalists, the journalists themselves have appealed to the authorities for permission to carry weapons.

Over the last few days, vigils, silent protests and commemorative meetings for Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova, the two most recent victims of politically motivated murders, have taken place all over the Russian Federation. The participants demand a thorough, transparent and impartial investigation into the murders, and for the perpetrators to be brought to trial. Effective steps for the protection of human rights in the Russian Federation must also be taken.