Vadim Meshcheryakov is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service.
With widespread reports of abuse and squalid conditions, Russian penitentiaries are loathed and feared by those serving sentences there -- and that goes for the women, too.
A woman in Kazan faces prison time after she delivered on a police request that she sew three costumes that closely resembled Zabivaka, the official Russian World Cup mascot.
In July, President Vladimir Putin said it was "impermissible" for regions of Russia to compel students to learn languages other than Russian. The comments inspired one woman in Tatarstan to sue for damages suffered by her son, who was compelled to study the Tatar language.
Across Russia, campaign workers for opposition politician Aleksei Navalny have faced violence and harassment from both the authorities and nationalist thugs. His Kazan campaign chairwoman, Elvira Dmitriyeva, says it is just "part of the job."
