The Real Russia. Today. Bad news for the Russian opposition’s presidential hopeful; a nightmare for Russian masturbators; and what Russian journalists think of American reporters’ work on Putin-Trump

Russia’s expanding crackdown on the Navalny presidential campaign

Checkmate, Navalny. Officials in St. Petersburg have refused to grant a demonstration permit to supporters of Alexey Navalny, arguing that the activists’ plans could offend religious sentiments, according to the news agency Fontanka. City authorities in the Petrogradsky District of St. Petersburg reportedly rejected a permit request to allow 10 activists to display Navalny’s presidential campaign materials not far from St. Vladimir's Cathedral. Pointing out that the church is visited by large numbers of Russian Orthodox believers, “including children,” the local officials claimed, “Carrying out a public event could offend the religious believers’ feelings.” Story in English

The baloney reason for many of the latest raids on Navalny’s campaign offices. In Moscow, Novosibirsk, and other cities across Russia, the police have been raiding Alexey Navalny’s campaign offices on various pretexts, often confiscating equipment and printed materials. The reason usually offered by law enforcement is that they’re responding to “illegal campaign work.” Meduza takes a closer look at this bogus charge. Story in English

Beaten up for refusing to show his passport. A lawyer for Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation published a photograph on Thursday showing a police report describing how a lieutenant “used sambo combat maneuvers” against a volunteer who resisted police and refused to show his passport. In another startling harassment, a nurse reportedly even threw a syringe at the activist, after he was hospitalized. Story in English

• Context: In cities across Russia, the state authorities have refused to allow members of Navalny’s team to conduct any public campaigning, raiding the politician’s offices and seizing documents and equipment. Meduza summarized this nationwide crackdown on Alexey Navalny's presidential campaign. Story in English

Making the RuNet safe again

Just what every masturbator craves: social media integration. Three months after being unblocked in Russia by federal censors, Pornhub, the world’s largest online repository of adult content, has made it impossible for Russians to view the site anonymously. Story in English

Russia blocks leading nationalist website according to a familiar, vague censorship formula. On July 6, Russia’s Attorney General ordered the federal censor, Roskomnadzor, to block more than a dozen “nationalist websites,” including the popular publication Sputnik & Pogrom. Prosecutors say Egor Prosvirnin’s website propagates “ideas of nationalist and religious hatred,” “threatening public safety” and “inciting extremism.” Roskomnadzor added Sputnik & Pogrom to its Internet blacklist, though state officials never identified specifically what content published on the website qualifies as hate speech. Meduza reviews how Russia’s biggest nationalist publication ended up banned. Story in English

Also in the news

What Russian journalists think of how American reporters cover Putin and Trump.

• “People in RT have been telling me it’s been six months of Christmas for them.” ~ Alexey Kovalev, explaining that anti-Russian hysteria in the U.S. has benefitted Russian state propagandists most of all

In an article for The New Yorker, Joshua Yaffa spoke to more than half a dozen Russian reporters, “all of whom found themselves in some way bemused, frustrated, or disappointed in the way that the U.S. press has covered Putin and Russia—especially concerning the question of election interference—over the last months.” Read the article here

Much ado about a handshake: Breaking down the Putin-Trump encounter. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have finally met face-to-face. Read Michael Birnbaum’s close reading of the rendezvous. Story at The Washington Post

Ninety percent

• “Ninety percent of our studies aren’t published.” ~Valery Fyodorov, the head of the state-owned VTsIOM polling agency

In an interview on Wednesday with the radio station Ekho Moskvy, Fyodorov revealed that the vast majority of the polling agency's work never reaches the public. VTsIOM, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, is a state-owned and government-run institution, reporting to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Interview in Russian