Russia against its tech geniuses. Rights defenders labeled extremists. Catching a spy in Portugal.

August 1, 2026 ⏱ 14:30
Embassy of Russia, 📍 Rua Visconde de Santarém 71, Lisboa

Russia against its tech geniuses. Rights defenders labeled extremists. Catching a spy in Portugal.

You’re watching news from the weekly rally in front of the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. Today is August 1st, 2:30 PM.

On July 29, Interfax reported that the FSB had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov in absentia with aiding terrorist activity. According to the FSB, Telegram's administrators are not removing channels and bots used to plan terrorist attacks and sabotage in Russia.
www.interfax.ru/russia/1106228

On July 22, Mediazona reported that prosecutors in Orenburg Regional Court had sought 14 to 15-year penal colony sentences for 10 people accused of organizing mass unrest in the city of Baymak in 2024.
zona.media/news/2026/07/22/baymak

At the time, thousands of people came to the courthouse to support environmentalist Fail Alsynov, who was sentenced to four years for a speech at a village gathering.
zona.media/news/2024/01/17/prigovor

On July 28, Meduza reported that Russian authorities had designated the human rights group SK SOS, which helps LGBT people and victims of domestic violence in the North Caucasus, an "extremist organization." They did not notify the group of the hearing and sent the ruling to its director by mail a month later.
meduza.io/news/2026/07/28/krizisnuyu-gruppu-sk-sos-ob-yavili-ekstremistskoy-organizatsiey

On July 29, radio Observador released a podcast about how, in early 2016, the CIA and FBI proposed that Portuguese authorities lure their own intelligence officer, Frederico Carvalhão Gil of the SIS, into a trap. The case had stalled, and prosecutors were invited to Langley, where officials proposed sending a fictitious buyer of secrets to him. The Portuguese refused: under the law, that would be entrapment, and the case would fall apart in court.
observador.pt/2026/07/29/operacao-top-secret-servicos-secretos-dos-eua-queriam-lancar-armadilha-para-acelerar-detencao-do-espiao-do-sis/

Carvalhão Gil was arrested on May 21, 2016, in a cafe in Rome along with SVR officer Sergei Pozdnyakov. In February 2018, a Lisbon court sentenced him to seven years and four months in prison for espionage and corruption.
www.jn.pt/lusa/artigo/espiao-frederico-carvalhao-gil-condenado-a-pena-unica-de-sete-anos-e-quatro-meses-de-prisao/9106739

Russia is not their property.

Unite, build your communities, and support those who resist.
August 1, 2026 ⏱ 14:30
Embassy of Russia, 📍 Rua Visconde de Santarém 71, Lisboa

Russia against its tech geniuses. Rights defenders labeled extremists. Catching a spy in Portugal.

You’re watching news from the weekly rally in front of the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. Today is August 1st, 2:30 PM.

On July 29, Interfax reported that the FSB had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov in absentia with aiding terrorist activity. According to the FSB, Telegram's administrators are not removing channels and bots used to plan terrorist attacks and sabotage in Russia.
www.interfax.ru/russia/1106228

On July 22, Mediazona reported that prosecutors in Orenburg Regional Court had sought 14 to 15-year penal colony sentences for 10 people accused of organizing mass unrest in the city of Baymak in 2024.
zona.media/news/2026/07/22/baymak

At the time, thousands of people came to the courthouse to support environmentalist Fail Alsynov, who was sentenced to four years for a speech at a village gathering.
zona.media/news/2024/01/17/prigovor

On July 28, Meduza reported that Russian authorities had designated the human rights group SK SOS, which helps LGBT people and victims of domestic violence in the North Caucasus, an "extremist organization." They did not notify the group of the hearing and sent the ruling to its director by mail a month later.
meduza.io/news/2026/07/28/krizisnuyu-gruppu-sk-sos-ob-yavili-ekstremistskoy-organizatsiey

On July 29, radio Observador released a podcast about how, in early 2016, the CIA and FBI proposed that Portuguese authorities lure their own intelligence officer, Frederico Carvalhão Gil of the SIS, into a trap. The case had stalled, and prosecutors were invited to Langley, where officials proposed sending a fictitious buyer of secrets to him. The Portuguese refused: under the law, that would be entrapment, and the case would fall apart in court.
observador.pt/2026/07/29/operacao-top-secret-servicos-secretos-dos-eua-queriam-lancar-armadilha-para-acelerar-detencao-do-espiao-do-sis/

Carvalhão Gil was arrested on May 21, 2016, in a cafe in Rome along with SVR officer Sergei Pozdnyakov. In February 2018, a Lisbon court sentenced him to seven years and four months in prison for espionage and corruption.
www.jn.pt/lusa/artigo/espiao-frederico-carvalhao-gil-condenado-a-pena-unica-de-sete-anos-e-quatro-meses-de-prisao/9106739

Russia is not their property.

Unite, build your communities, and support those who resist.
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