Evening Medusa

Why was it necessary to cancel and again return the mask regime in Chechnya and Udmurtia. How were the actions with flashlights in support of Navalny. Senate votes against Trump's impeachment

Good evening,

This is Meduza's daily mailing list, where we talk about the main news of the day. And on Mondays - also about what happened over the weekend. Today, let's start with a reminder that we live in a society ... That line was finally spoken by the Joker in the trailer for the director's cut of Justice League. Previously, it was attributed to the villain only in ironic memes. Fans have been trying to achieve this for a long time - and finally they have achieved it! Such perseverance causes only respect ... 🐺

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Pulse

As briefly as possible - about the Sunday protests

On Sunday, all over Russia, supporters of Alexei Navalny took to courtyards with flashlights . lined up on the Arbat The "Chain of Solidarity" in support of Yulia Navalnaya. Both actions managed almost without arrests. The orderly of the covid hospital, who participated in the action with flashlights, was fired to him (we talked ). The first coordinated rally since March 2020 was held in Kazan - "against detentions and repressions." Nine people were detained . to the opposition actions The authorities responded with a flash mob in social networks in support of the veteran Ignat Artemenko.

And everything else

On February 27, instead of a march in memory of Nemtsov, Muscovites will simply lay flowers at the place of his death. The Senate acquitted Trump in the impeachment trial. Former Kommersant journalist Ivan Safronov gave his first interview in six months of imprisonment. The Russian chain of stores Fix Price is preparing to enter the London Stock Exchange . Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their second child. in the colony . was found dead The organizer of the terrorist attacks in Intourist and Okhotny Ryad in 1999

Texts of the day

Verona van de Leer competed for the Netherlands national gymnastics team, later became a porn star, and now fights violence in sports

At the beginning of the 2000s, van de Leer successfully performed at the World and European Championships in gymnastics, competed on equal terms with Svetlana Khorkina and was one of the most successful athletes in Holland. But soon she got injured, faced misunderstanding from her parents and coach, and gave up the sport. Left without tournaments and earnings, she became homeless and ended up in prison. And then she started doing porn. Today she fights for the rights of athletes who have faced violence. We spoke with Verona van der Leer .

Scotland is again preparing a referendum on secession from the UK. Probably now the pro-independence will win

In 2014, 55% of Scots were in favor of remaining part of the UK. But Brexit changed everything: the majority of the Scots were against leaving the European Union, and now they still have to leave the EU. The Scots are concerned, in particular, that after Brexit comes into force it will be more difficult for them to sell their seafood to the EU countries. The referendum may take place as early as May, after the parliamentary elections. Now independence is supported by 47% of citizens, 42% are against it, and about 10% have not yet decided .

The coronavirus

Chechnya and Udmurtia canceled the mask regime - and changed their minds two days later. What, time to cancel?

The authorities of the republics explained the decision to cancel the mask regime by improving the situation with the incidence and the dubious effectiveness of masks. The idea was criticized by Rospotrebnadzor and the head of Tatarstan, neighboring Udmurtia. The number of infections in both regions, as well as throughout Russia, is indeed declining, and the number of free beds in hospitals is growing. But it is still too early to lift restrictions , if only because of new, more contagious strains of the virus. Masks (for all the controversy about their effectiveness) remain the most reliable way to reduce the number of people exposed to the virus - and not harm the economy.

Other news about coronavirus:

• The Chinese authorities refused to provide WHO with data on the first cases in Wuhan. This data would help figure out how the pandemic began.
• Japanese Ministry of Health approves vaccine from Pfizer

Podcast "What Happened"

Vladimir Kara-Murza lobbied for sanctions against Russian officials and politicians. For this, they tried to poison him twice.

There were attempts on Kara-Murza twice - in May 2015 and in February 2017. According to a joint investigation by The Insider, Bellingcat and Der Spiegel last week, the same FSB officers who poisoned Alexei Navalny may have been behind these attempts. We talked with Kara-Murza about why he returned to Russia, how the investigation into his poisonings is progressing - and, of course, about the sanctions.

Listen to What Happened on Meduza . And subscribe to Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Yandex.Music and other podcast services.

By the way, now What Happened also comes out on Saturdays. These are special issues about Russian politics hosted by Meduza journalist Andrey Pertsev and sociologist Konstantin Gaaze. The last episode is about the disruption of the Kremlin's plans for 2021 due to protests.

misunderstanding of the day

Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin don't seem to hang out at the Clubhouse

On February 14, SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk invited Putin to chat on the Clubhouse social network . Today, journalists asked the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov about this. Here is what he replied :

You know, we first want to understand. You know that President Putin himself does not use social networks. He does not personally lead them. In general, this is certainly a very interesting proposal. But we need to somehow understand what is meant, what is offered. Therefore, first we will somehow check all this and then we will react.

In general, we are somehow trying to figure everything out, your Meduza