This was Russia today Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Howdy, folks. Today, I review a profile of the late Elena Liptser, a beloved human rights lawyer who passed away this fall, and trace how Russia’s justice system evolved — and then unraveled — over the course of her career. Keep reading for coverage of a disastrously mismanaged evacuation of Ukrainian orphans, plus Italy’s sudden reversal on buying American weapons for Kyiv. Yours, Kevin.

How human rights lawyer Elena Liptser’s life and career charted Russia’s shift from tentative rule of law to open repression

Last week, the independent news outlet Glasnaya Media profiled human rights lawyer Elena Liptser, who died in September at 58 after a battle with cancer. Liptser came from a family famous for civil rights advocacy: her father, physicist Lev Ponomaryov, helped found the human rights organization Memorial, and her son, Alexey Liptser, is currently a political prisoner in Russia, jailed for his work defending the late Alexey Navalny. 

Elena’s legal career took off in the late 1990s and continued into the 2010s. She worked with the European Court of Human Rights, defended Platon Lebedev in the 2003 Yukos case, and later helped pro-democracy protesters targeted in the sprawling “Bolotnaya Square” prosecutions in 2012. On multiple occasions, she represented her own father after he was arrested at political demonstrations.

Elena Liptser’s human rights work began in 1997 at the Center for International Legal Protection, where she got a crash course in Russian legal practice from the organization’s head, Karinna Moskalenko. At the center, Elena learned to take advantage of the opportunities available to Russians after Moscow recognized the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights in 1998. (Russia withdrew this recognition after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.) “She practically adopted every one of her clients,” Moskalenko recalled after Liptser’s death. “For her, it was a vocation — few attorneys like that exist today.” In the late 1990s, Elena began visiting prisons with Lyudmila Alpern, another lawyer learning the ropes of human rights work in Russia.

Elena used this experience — and a law degree from the Moscow Institute of Economics, Management, and Law — to rise from a volunteer at Moskalenko’s center to deputy director. Liptser won 17 cases against the Russian state at the European Court of Human Rights, including lawsuits brought by men who suffered radiation exposure while working on cleanup crews at Chernobyl. In the early 2000s, Liptser defended Mikhail Trepashkin, a former intelligence officer who investigated the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings and was arrested for allegedly disclosing state secrets just days before he was due to testify in court on behalf of the bombings’ victims. Thanks to Liptser’s appeal to the ECHR, Trepashkin’s story attracted international attention to Russia’s vague state-secrecy laws and the risks they pose to journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists.

Elena started appearing in court less frequently after the early 2010s. A source who knew her told Glasnaya Media that she was fighting severe “burnout.” In October 2023, police arrested Elena’s son, Alexey, for allegedly using his legal status to help transmit information between Navalny and the opposition leader’s “extremist” allies in exile. In January 2025, Alexey was sentenced to five years in prison. Elena reportedly struggled to believe that Russia’s justice system had deteriorated to the point that prison officials eavesdropped on her son’s privileged attorney-client conversations. Alexey was not permitted to attend his mother’s funeral. Even Elena’s father was absent, having fled Russia in April 2022 after a series of arrests and attacks in response to his anti-war activism. He could only watch the ceremony online.

The Archive Collection: Nothing can stop Meduza from releasing anniversary merch — even if we have to make it ourselves. Check out our latest drop now!

We have a new tradition here at Meduza: every year on our birthday, we update the merch in our online store, Magaz. In 2025, we turned 11 — and despite the considerable challenges we’ve faced this year, we’ve found a pretty original way to bring you a new collection. Here’s a look at the latest clothing and accessories you can buy to rep Meduza and support our work.

News you don’t want to miss today

🔍 How a Ukrainian orphan evacuation unraveled in Turkey ⚠️

A Ukrainian businessman’s rushed effort to rescue hundreds of orphans from Russian bombardment relocated them to Turkish hotels, where inspectors confirm that children were mistreated, poorly supervised, and forced into fundraising performances with little government oversight.

• Broken safeguards: Inspectors found overcrowded, moldy rooms, confiscated belongings, irregular meals, and unreported injuries and escapes — including a girl who vanished for days and two teenagers who became pregnant after contact with hotel workers.
• Manufactured gratitude: The “Childhood Without War” project relied on videos and performances by the children to keep donations flowing. Those who refused to sing or be filmed risked losing phones, food, and privileges.
• Absent accountability: With the Ukrainian state sidelined and the foundation blocking access by social workers and doctors, oversight collapsed. The program quietly ended, children were sent back to Ukraine, and no public legal consequences followed. Investigations were closed without charges. | OCCRP

🇮🇹 Italy slams brakes on NATO weapons plan for Ukraine 🛑

Italy says it’s not currently prepared to join the NATO effort to buy U.S. arms for Ukraine, arguing it makes little sense to expand deliveries while ceasefire talks are underway.

• Europe’s outlier: Rome had previously indicated support for the weapons program, but is now the first NATO government to publicly question new arms shipments during negotiations, even as two-thirds of NATO’s allies participate.
• Strategic rift: Ukraine says it needs another €1 billion in U.S. weapons to get through this winter, while Europe’s defense industry urges continued production. Italy’s position puts it at odds with both Kyiv and NATO’s push to maintain pressure on Russia. | Bloomberg

📈 As Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on, global weapons profits keep rising, new report finds | A new SIPRI study shows that U.S. and European defense firms are driving record arms revenues as demand surges, while China’s weapons makers stumble amid corruption scandals and Russia’s industry expands despite sanctions and labor shortages.

🧠 Russia’s human rights chairman on censorship, blocked apps, and musician arrests | How Russia’s top human rights official has dismissed concerns about censorship, messaging app bans, and arrests of street performers as negligible wartime measures, while defending pressure on returning convicts and cultural “foreign agents” as justified national security steps.

🎮 Russia bans Roblox over child safety fears | Russian regulators say the platform ignored years of warnings about extremist content, scams, sexual predators targeting minors, and “LGBT content,” prompting lawmakers and activists to demand a nationwide block.

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