By SABRINA TAVERNISE AUG. 8, 2015 Dancing on a recent summer’s day in Gorky Park, Moscow. Credit Valeri Nistratov for The New York Times MOSCOW — Russia’s capital city has worn many outfits since the fall of the Soviet Union. There was the tattered but...

On November 12, the Russian Supreme Court okayed the wiretapping of an opposition activist. The Court ruled that spying on Maxim Petlin, a regional opposition leader in Yekaterinburg, was lawful, since he had taken part in rallies where calls against...