RFE/RL covers the annual report on global freedom that NGO Freedom House released on Wednesday. The report singles out Russia as one of the authoritarian regimes that in 2015 responded to fear of social unrest by cracking down on dissent. Moscow declared NGOs “foreign agents” and suppressed dissent in annexed Crimea. In Crimea, Russian authorities shut down independent media and civil society groups, particularly those part of the Tatar community. In the Balkans, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia suffered from “crippling government dysfunction.” Also, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic continued harassment of the independent media. Freedom House classified Russia as “not free” and Bosnia, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Ukraine as “partly free.”