The year started with the news that Oleg Navalny was being sent to a penal colony for 3.5 years. On Dec. 30, thousands of people took part in a rally on Manege Square to protest the sentence.

In November, performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky staged the most significant artistic stunt of the year by setting fire to the doors of the FSB headquarters. Pavlensky will meet 2016 in Butyrka prison.