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This article examines the overlapping influence of China in Russia and five countries that have experienced democratic backsliding: Azerbaijan, Nicaragua, Serbia, Turkey, and Uganda. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, including media watchdog reports, key informant interviews, and quantitative data, the paper maps the portfolio of specific digital censorship tools – legislative, institutional, and technological—that governments in China and Russia use to censor their domestic digital content. Then the digital censorship tools in the five case study countries are documented to examine where their governments' tactics overlapped with those of the Kremlin and Beijing. These case study countries differ in their levels of development and democracy, with Russia, China, and the West all vying for influence. Key findings include the importance of timing when installing a digital censorship regime, and that Uganda and Nicaragua stand out among the case study countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the impact a Russian amended law concerning state secrets is having on science publishing by Russian scientists. It states President Vladimir Putin used a decree in May 2015 expanding the scope of a law requiring scientists get permission from the Federal Security Service prior to publishing results which could have industrial or military applications. It reports Russian universities are requiring scientists seek approval to the publication of any findings without exception.

In recent years, the Russian Internet has developed according to strong centralizing and State-controlling tendencies, both in terms of legal instruments and technical infrastructure. This strategy implies a strong push to develop Russian-made technical solutions for censorship and traffic interception. Thus, a promising market has opened for Russian vendors of software and hardware solutions for traffic surveillance and filtering. Drawing from a mixed-methods approach and perspectives grounded primarily in Science and Technology Studies (STS), infrastructure studies and the political economy of information networks, this paper aims at exploring the flourishing sector of Russian industry of censorship and surveillance. We focus on two kinds of "black boxes" and examine their influence on the market of Internet Service Providers: surveillance systems known as SORM (System for Operative Investigative Activities), and traffic filtering solutions used to block access to websites that have been blacklisted by Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal watchdog for media and telecommunications. This research sheds light on the vivid debates around controversial technologies which Internet actors must adopt in order to avoid government fines, but which are expensive and complex to implement and raise a number of ethical and political concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Russian literature and literary studies in the period between 1991 and 2011, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Topics include the position of writers in Russian society, against the background of government sponsored writers during the Soviet period; a discussion of possible reasons for the lack of official government censorship of literature, in contrast to the evident censorship of radio, television, and press in Russia; and recent trends and movements in Russian literature, including the popularity of prose fiction.

The article analyses how contemporary Russian radical authors (Dugin, Panarin, Kalashnikov, Kaliuzhnyj) characterize public discussions and official representations of Russian history. Their criticism is levelled at the so-called "pro-Western" and "anti-patriotic" visions of "Russia's glorious past". In other words, the field of historical studies is seen as the propaganda battleground, and the control over the images of the past means the effective management of mass consciousness. As far as Russia is concerned, history and its teaching traditionally were defined as objects of censorious state control. Such a tradition can be traced back to the end of the 18"' and the beginning of the 19" centuries. Especially brutal forms of censorship were implemented by the Soviet regime, when history was exploited as one of indoctrination tools and means to veil the crimes of the Soviet totalitarianism. Censorship was officially abolished after the fall of the Soviet regime. However, the decade of provisory "freedom" is coming to the end now. During the Putin's regime history studies at universities and other educational institutions (secondary schools included) became the object of growing criticism as "too liberal" or even "anti-Russian". On the one hand, Russian radical authors welcome the initiatives of the ruling regime "to make improvements in this highly important sphere". On the other hand, they voice the opinion that as "pro-Western menace" still exists, it is necessary to tighten control and restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]