Updated: it is known about more than a thousand dead in Turkey and more than 800 in Syria. Hundreds of people in Turkey and Syria became victims of an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 points and subsequent aftershoks. Turkish Vice President Fuad Oktay reported 284 dead and more than 2300 wounded, Anadolu reports. Syrian agency Sana, citing a local Ministry of Health, reports 237 dead and 639 victims. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed.

The Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced in absentia the founder of the St. Petersburg magazine Sobaka.ru, blogger Veronika Belotserkovskaya, to nine years in prison in the case of distributing “fake stories” about the Russian army, reports the joint press service of the Moscow courts. In addition, she was banned from administering Internet pages for five years. Belotserkovskaya became one of the first accused under this article after its appearance in the Criminal Code in early March 2022.

At the end of last year, the European Union authorities recognized the bypassing of sanctions by a criminal offense and prepared norms that provide for five years in prison for the help of bypassing restrictions or concealing information. In addition to the suppliers of sanctions goods, the measure should affect those who help those who have been under the sanctions close to the Russian government, politicians and officials to hide their property.

The most powerful earthquake since 1939 occurred in Turkey - dozens of tremors with a magnitude of up to 7.8 were recorded near the border with Syria. By 18:00 Moscow time, more than 2,000 deaths were known, and this number is likely to rise. Two series of tremors The first powerful shock was recorded at 4:17 local time in southern Turkey, near the border with Syria.