In recent years, when public opinion turned against the Kremlin, there was one main way to find out about it — the Levada Center, a respected group of sociologists who broke off their relationship with Vladimir V. Putin’s administration and set up the country’s only independent polling agency.
The Levada Center may have to shut down, its director announced on Monday, after prosecutors ruled that it “influences public opinion and therefore does not constitute research but political activity.” [cont.]
Ellen Barry, New York Times