Charles Maynes

Rules have been changed in Russia to allow women to do about 350 types of jobs that were previously forbidden. The move is being celebrated as a step forward for gender equality.

Supporters of Alexei Navalny will gathered in apartment courtyards across Russia Sunday, hoping to show solidarity with the imprisoned opposition leader while avoiding police repression.

Heather Shkliarov warns that her Belarusian American husband's health is in "immediate danger" following his late-July arrest by security forces of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Alexander Lukashenko got a boost from a meeting with Vladimir Putin amid a disputed presidential election in Belarus and street protests, the biggest crisis of the Belarusian president's 26-year rule.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a limited lifeline to Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, who's faced more than a month of protests after accusations of a rigged election victory.

Unidentified masked men detained opposition leader Maxim Znak on Wednesday. Others have been forced into exile or arrested. Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich warned of "terror against the people."

Media in Belarus report the country's opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova was abducted by masked men and hauled away in a van Monday morning while walking in the capital city Minsk.

Maria Kolesnikova, 38, was taken away by masked men in a van Monday in Minsk, according to reports citing eyewitnesses. Authorities later said she was arrested while trying to cross into Ukraine.

A Russian family believes the death of a relative from the coronavirus was both unnecessary and uncounted by the state.

The city of Moscow has eased its coronavirus lockdown Monday. President Putin used the occasion to set a date for a constitutional referendum that would allow him to remain in power until 2036.

Russia has sent crews to assist in Dagestan, where the official number of COVID-19 deaths is 29. "It long ago became clear the official statistics have no basis in reality," a resident says.

The U.S. government delivers 50 American-made ventilators on Thursday and will send another 150 next week.

An art project to shake the lockdown blues has become an online sensation as pent-up Russian speakers from across the globe reenact classic artwork to pass the time amid the pandemic.

The pandemic has hit the global business of surrogate birthing, leaving many infants and their new parents thousands of miles apart.

Russia has the world's second-highest confirmed coronavirus case number but ranks 18th in officially reported fatalities from the virus.

Russia has reported nearly a quarter of a million infections from the coronavirus but says only 2,200 people have died. It is a much lower death toll in comparison with other countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had celebrations to mark victory in WWII and a constitutional vote to keep him in power till 2036 planned for this spring. But the pandemic has canceled both events.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the pandemic as mass "psychosis" — a disease easily cured with a bit of vodka, a hot sauna or spending time playing hockey or doing farm work.

Three doctors in Russia have fallen out of hospital windows during the coronavirus pandemic. Two of them died, and the third one is in serious condition.

Russia reported its third consecutive day of more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases. The continued surge comes as warmer weather, and May holidays, challenge authorities efforts to enforce a lockdown.