Overview
- Nina Litvinova, an 80-year-old Russian human-rights activist, died by suicide in Moscow on Tuesday, according to Memorial and Russian media reports.
- A fragment of her note published by cousin Maria Slonim tied her decision to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to feeling powerless to help political prisoners.
- Slonim wrote that “Putin killed her,” while state outlets such as RIA Novosti and Gazeta.Ru reported the death without publishing the note fragment.
- Memorial, the human-rights group, detailed six decades of quiet aid that ranged from circulating samizdat, the underground press, to recent court visits for historian Yuri Dmitriev, rights leader Oleg Orlov, and director Evgenia Berkovich.
- A farewell is set for Sunday in Krylatskoye, as commentators point to roughly 500 new political cases per quarter in 2025–early 2026 and prison data of about 282,000 inmates plus 85,000 in pretrial custody.