On Saturday, thousands of people protested in almost 200 cities throughout Russia in response to the arrest of populist anti-corruption figurehead, Alexei Navalny. Will this protest wave become a sustained movement?

Belarus’s authoritarian President, Alexander Lukashenko, has ruled the country since 1994. Yet Lukashenko’s regime is coming into question after a potentially rigged election unleashed unprecedented demonstrations that have been joined by a defiant labor movement.

As the rest of the world continues to battle the coronavirus, the Russian government has not only failed to effectively battle the emergency but has attempted to actively ignore it and the plight of its citizens.