Corey Flintoff

Alexei Navalny is an anti-corruption blogger who helped organize massive anti-government protests 3 years ago. He's been the target of criminal cases that have hampered his political activities.

A rooster crowing in the dead of night? A sinister ice-cream truck on the streets of Moscow? No, it's the musical automaton clock at the Puppet Theater in Russia.

Russian performers who have criticized the country's role in Ukraine have been denounced on TV programs and had concert dates abruptly canceled.

Western sanctions are biting, oil prices are down sharply, and the Russian currency is tanking. The government now expects the economy to shrink in 2015.

A rooster crowing in the dead of night? A sinister ice-cream truck playing a creepy tune as it trundles through the streets of Moscow? No, it's the musical automaton clock at the Puppet Theater.

Nearly 30 percent of Russian children with disabilities end up in state orphanages, where they can suffer neglect and abuse at understaffed facilities, according to a human rights group.

Separatists in eastern Ukraine hold their own elections Sunday as part of an effort to create an independent state. Meanwhile, fighting for control of Donetsk's airport continues, despite a ceasefire.

Ukraine and the West insist that the Russian army has been fighting in eastern Ukraine, a charge Russia denies. But reports from Russia now acknowledge that Russian soldiers are part of the battle.

Some foreign policy analysts say that factions in Moscow are competing to influence Russian President Vladimir Putin as he decides policy on Ukraine. Others say that Putin is pursuing his own line.

Fierce fighting continued overnight in eastern Ukraine along the Russian border, and Russia's foreign minister rejected U.S. claims that his country has been supporting pro-Russia fighters there.