Vaclav Gavel. Photo from the website of the newspaper '' Mirror of the Week '' Former Czech President Vaclav Gavel died on Sunday at the age of 75, AP reports. Gavel died due to complications after a long illness, the report said. In the late 1980s, Gavel was one of the creators of the Civil Forum, which became the main opposition force in Czechoslovakia on the eve of the collapse of the socialist bloc.

Clip for the song of the group "Leningrad" performed by Yulia Kogan.

The campaign video of the action on December 21 is at the State Duma building.

Vladimir Putin. Frame of the TV channel '' Russia 24 '' Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denied information about the existence of Sparring Partner, specially invented by the Kremlin Projects. “Sparring partners are not at all superficial, but I’m looking at the press, almost everyone calls that. Maybe my sparring partner is also? Or Mironov? Or the same Prokhorov Mikhail Dmitrievich?

Michael McFol. Photo: StanfordDaily.com On Saturday, the US Senate approved Michael McFola to the post of ambassador in Russia, reports AP. The vote took place at the last meeting of the Senate before the holidays. Barack Obama President nominated McFol's candidacy for this position in September, but his approval was blocked by the republican minority. Senator from Illinois Mark Kirk demanded written guarantees that the US administration would not transmit Russia's secret data on the pro.

Detention of Sergei Udaltsov on Triumphal 31.07.2010. Photo by E. Mikheeva The coordinator of the Left Front Sergei Udaltsov was taken from the special receiver to the intensive care unit of the 64th city hospital, his lawyer Violetta Volkov told Gazeta.ru. “In the morning, when the Udaltsov’s lawyer arrived at the special receiver, the ambulance was already standing there. He was taken to the 64th city hospital, where he was examined for several hours.

The collection of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo from the site www.samaratuday.ru After the accident, 14 people were saved in the Kolaskaya floating drilling platform in the Okhotsk Sea, two were killed, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the head of the Ministry of Emergencies for Sakhalin Taimuraz Kasaeva. The condition of the rescued is evaluated as satisfactory. The bodies of the dead crew members are planned to be lifted to the icebreaker "Magadan".

Grigory Yavlinsky. Photo by D. BORKO/Brani.ru The Yabloko Congress nominated Presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky. As Interfax reports, 106 congress delegates voted for his candidacy. Three more delegates supported the candidacy of actor Viktor Balabanov. There were no other candidates for a secret vote. At the congress, delegates refused to include the candidacy of public activist Alexei Navalny on the list of nomination to the president.

Egor Bychkov. Photo Uralpolit.ru The worker of the Nizhny Tagil "Uralvagonzavod", who promised Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to disperse the opposition shares, did not come to the rally "For Honest Elections" in Nizhny Tagil, where the organizers were invited. This was reported to Gazeta.ru by one of the organizers of the rally, the former head of the city without drugs, Yegor Bychkov. “There were neither his peasants. I asked specially from the stage,” said Bychkov.

Boris Nemtsov. Photos of faces On Sunday night, the St. Petersburg police detained one of the leaders of the "solidarity" of Boris Nemtsov at the Moscow station. As Nemtsov himself said on the phone, he was detained as soon as he left the train. The police demanded to explain the purpose of his arrival in St. Petersburg, then they were taken to the car.

American troops in Iraq. Photo from the site Vesti.kz The last units of the US Armed Forces left Iraq on Sunday morning. Only 157 American military personnel at the US Embassy and a small contingent of marine infantrymen to protect the diplomatic mission remained in the country. At the same time, according to Reuters, the NATO seven -year operation was completed to prepare local security forces.

I riots in Zhanaozen. Frame of the TV channel K+ In the Kazakhstani Zhanaozen, where mass riots began on Friday, special correspondent of Lenta.ru Ilya Azar, as well as a correspondent and photographer "Kommersant" Vladimir Solovyov and Vasily Shaposhnikov, were detained. This was reported by the Azar himself. Journalists, without explanation, were taken to the city police department, where they are kept for more than two hours. When detained, they took part of the personal belongings.

Alexey Navalny. Photo from the site President2012.ru The delegates of the Yabloko Congress refused to include the candidacy of public activist Alexei Navalny in the list of nomination to the president. This was announced in his blog by a member of the party’s political council Ivan Bolshakov. The leader of the movement in defense of the Khimkinsky forest Yevgeny Chirikov proposed to nominate Navalny.