1/ Two weeks ago Nobel Prize laureate @MemorialMoscow was prevented from holding its annual ceremony to remember victims of Soviet repression in its traditional location, by the Solovetsky Stone.
What is the stone? Why is it and its location important?
THREAD
#Russia 2/ The large granite stone, which would look quite ordinary were it anywhere else, comes from the Solovetsky Islands.
Also known as the Solovki, six islands make up this archipelago in the White Sea, just 165km south of the Arctic Circle.

#Crimea was annexed as part of the first Russian invasion of #Ukraine in 2014. This is a summary of its role in the current war and the impact on the peninsula

#RussiaUkraineWar

THREAD /1 2/ BASE FOR MILITARY OPERATIONS.
Since Crimea’s illegal annexation in 2014, Russia has been significantly scaling up its military presence on the peninsula. In early February, Ukraine govt estimated there were Russian 32,000 troops stationed there

1/ On 9August 2020 #Belarus held presidential elections & against all odds an independent opposition candidate won. But the result was falsified & brutal crackdown followed
If seen as an isolated dictatorship before, it’s much worse now.
1 year on, how has Belarus changed
THREAD 2/ LUKASHENKO HAS LOST LEGITIMACY. Protests have accompanied big elections before in #Belarus but people always believed President Lukashenko would win even if it was fair. This time, despite the threats and propaganda, it was different.

1/ Alexey #Navalny’s show trial (and the protests that followed) made world headlines this week. He had to sit through proceedings, knowing full well the result had already been decided.

Such show trials long ago became a hallmark of Vladimir Putin’s rule.

THREAD
#Russia 2/ Russian show trials are theatres of the absurd, where facts and due process are disregarded in order to reach a pre-determined verdict.

As @PowerVertical writes: the “courts aren't bound by the normal rules of reality and logic”
rferl.org/a/the-show-tri…

Big day for protests across #Russia today - calling for the release of opposition leader Alexey #Navalny

This is the crowd in Irkutsk.
"We're not leaving!"

THREAD

#митинг23января "Putin - thief!"

People marching in Abakan, Khakassia (not too far from the Mongolian border)

#Navalny #митинг23января

1/ There are many reasons why it was wrong to ennoble Evgeny Lebedev. Here are three (1) the brazen cronyism (2) how it puts back further reform of the House of Lords (3) the Russia connection

THREAD

https://twitter.com/PARLYapp/status/1339619169965367298

2/ FIRST: Cronysim. There’s no hiding 40-year old Lebedev is a close friend of the Prime Minister
There were the parties at Castello di Santa Eurasia or the backing for Johnson’s mayoral campaign..
No one seriously believes this isn’t why he's now a Lord
theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

1/ Across Minsk and Belarus supporters of the opposition are hanging up and waving white-red-white flags – very different to the official state flag, which is red and green.
Why does #Belarus have TWO flags?

THREAD 2/ The current state flag was adopted in 1995 and is effectively the same as the flag of Soviet Belarus without the hammer and sickle. It replaced the white-red-white flag, which by many Belarusians has been seen as the legitimate national flag.

1/ I’d like to tell you an #WW2 story close to my family’s heart. That of an incredible bear that was adopted by Polish soldiers in the Middle East and accompanied them during the war through Italy.
His name was Wojtek.

THREAD

https://twitter.com/JanekLasocki/status/1220435882173440000

2/Animals played an important role in #WW2. Some were involved actively in the war effort (mules, pigeons) others were pets of soldiers (dogs, monkeys, birds) who boosted morale and often became mascots. #Wojtek was both. But unusually – he was a bear.

iwm.org.uk/history/9-famo…