🚫 Russian online censorship law sparks rare public row

Hello and welcome to the third edition of our newsletter—an essential guide to Russian politics and economics—written by Farida Rustamova and Margarita Liutova. Our main stories this time are:

• A draconian online censorship law likely requested by the security services leads to expressions of dissent from pro-Kremlin activists and officials;

• The Central Bank announces its deepest interest rate cut since 2022 as fears grow that the economy is cooling too fast.

We also briefly discuss the chaos at Moscow airports caused by Russia’s response to Ukrainian drone attacks, a major change to the draft for military service, and the cancellation of Russia’s biggest annual naval parade.

⏳ This newsletter contains 2017 words – it will take about 10 minutes to read. At the end of the letter, you will find a link to a very short survey.