Europe Russia Demonstrations in dozens of Russian cities involved thousands of citizens, with over 1.700 protesters arrested because of the strict laws against street opposition; people are therefore using social media for petitions and fundraisers
Europe Russia The case of 15-year-old athlete Kamila Valieva has brought about discussions on whether to raise to 17 the age limit for athletes taking part in Olympics
Europe Russia Bitcoin regulation and taxes could yield up to 1 trillion rubles ($13 billion) in returns for the country, according to government analysts
Europe Russia Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he favours "mutually respectful" relations with the US and denied posing a threat to Ukraine
Europe Russia President Putin has tasked his government with submitting proposals for a railway link to the Barents Sea; the development of the Arctic region is a strategic priority with massive investment budgeted in military infrastructure and mineral extraction
Europe Russia Christmas is celebrated today in the country, a different date than 25 December because the Orthodox Church, representing around 260 million Christians, still uses the ancient "Julian" calendar to mark religious festivities
Europe Russia President Putin has submitted to the State Duma a bill to simplify the process of acquiring Russian citizenship for individuals falling into more than 20 categories, including those who lived within the borders of the Soviet Union and their children
Europe Russia The country is studying foreign countries’ practices of fines for the refusal from vaccination against the coronavirus infection, specially their effectiveness and local applicability
Europe Russia The Russian tennis federation team has won the Davis Cup title for the first time since 2006 after beating Croatia in yesterday's final in Madrid
Europe Russia Rescuers have found a survivor in a Siberian coal mine where dozens of miners are presumed dead after a devastating methane explosion, a top local official announced
Europe Russia State-run TASS news agency will open the world’s first permanent news bureau on board the International Space Station (ISS); cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will report on the orbital outpost’s daily routine and share first-hand experience
Europe Russia Moscow entered a tight lockdown last week after a dramatic increase of Covid-19 cases and related deaths that international opinion considers signs of a very poor handling of the problem and/or diffusion of inaccurate data
Europe Russia The first one hectare land plot under the “Far Eastern Hectare” program, recently extended to the Arctic Zone, has been assigned; families and entities can bid for plots of different sizes for free after submitting a project to be completed 3 years