Mikhail Khodorkovsky may be released from prison in the near future. Earlier, the president promised to pardon the former head of Yukos, who wrote a corresponding petition. The head of the Regional Journalism Club, Irina Yasina, answered questions from presenters Daria Polygaeva and Alexey Korneev. Photo: Pavel Smertin, Kommersant / buy photo The statement was made during the annual press conference of the head of state after the end of the official part.

The Public Chamber prepared a report on the state of civil society Russians do not trust each other, as well as civil and state institutions, says the annual report of the Public Chamber (OP) “On the state of civil society in the Russian Federation in 2013.” More than three-quarters of Russians tend not to trust anyone; 80% believe that aggressiveness is growing in society.

The company suspended flights from Kyiv The Ukrainian airline Air Onix, according to unofficial data, associated with the family of Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, has suspended flights due to debts. The carrier also operated regular flights from Simferopol to Russia. The airline itself assures that flights will resume in the spring of 2014. Photo: Vladislav Sodel, Kommersant Ukrainian airline Air Onix has suspended flights from Kyiv International Airport.

The Ministry of Education and Science will present the results of the next monitoring of the effectiveness of Russian universities in April 2014, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Alexander Klimov. “We cannot freeze the requirements for our higher education institutions at one level.

Hotel L`apogee opens in Courchevel Olga Sushko Last week, on December 11, the spacious, glossy village of Courchevel added another five-star hotel. On a high Alpine hill, the intimate hotel chain Oetker Collection has opened completely new doors to its seventh hotel - L`apogee. The builders of "Apogee", of course, could not resist the temptation to create a hotel that would simultaneously look like a knight's castle and an Alpine bourgeois chalet.

With the adoption of Law No. 3757 “On Amendments to the Tax Code regarding the Rates of Certain Taxes,” prices for beer and tobacco products will not increase, the press service of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Tax and Customs Policy reported. The document proposes to increase the excise tax rates on alcohol and other alcoholic beverages by 14%, to extend the exemption from value added tax on raw hides, operations with scrap metal, waste paper and wood for the next year.

Ukraine's investment attractiveness index has fallen to another low The refusal to sign an association agreement with the European Union led to an unprecedented drop in the investment attractiveness of Ukraine. According to a survey of entrepreneurs, this move worsened the business plans of more than 80% of businesses.

Charles Darwin formulated the theory of evolution, Stalin announced the end of the NEP, a passport and visa service was formed in the USSR, a supernova explosion was recorded at a distance of about 50,000 light years, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto died and other events of this day in the Kommersant selection - online.

Officials are seeking to recover 805.5 million rubles from the company The Capital Construction Department of the Sochi Administration is seeking in court to recover 805.5 million rubles. from one of the largest infrastructure builders in Russia - Omsk NPO Mostovik. Officials say that the general contractor missed the deadline for the delivery of sewerage pumping stations and water pipelines that should be connected to the Olympic venues. Mostovik intends to appeal the claim.

The six-hour solo show "Armin Only: Intense" by perhaps the most famous DJ in the world, Armin van Buuren, should certainly become one of the culminating tour performances of this year in Kyiv. The famous Dutch trancer has not traded in small spaces for a long time, preferring to perform in giant hangars (like the ten thousand-capacity Privilege on Ibiza this season), or even at stadium raves. So the huge premises of the International Exhibition Center will be just right for him.

The director of the motor vehicle fleet of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod, Andrei Pavelyev, will be fired for advertising “United Russia” pasted on a municipal car. The reason for this was an appeal from a resident of Nizhny Novgorod to the city administration: he reported that on December 5, in the Leninsky district of the city, he saw a Gazelle with administrative registration numbers, on the sides of which were United Russia logos and party inscriptions.

The State Duma adopted on Friday in the second and third readings a law criminalizing public calls for the division of Russia with a maximum penalty of imprisonment for up to five years.

The Brazilians lost in the semi-finals to Raja Casablanca Football Ronaldinho (right) and Atletico Mineiro became the most valuable items in the collection of Raja Casablanca football players Photo: Reuters Tomorrow in the final of the Club World Cup, the German Bayern will play with the Moroccan Raja Casablanca. The hosts of the competition created the main sensation of the tournament on Wednesday, beating the Brazilian Atletico Mineiro led by Ronaldinho in the semi-finals - 3:1.

November 21 Photo: Dmitry Azarov, Kommersant / buy photo At first, potential participants learned about the place and date of the All-Russian Literary Meeting almost in secret.

With sister Irina Prokhorova became the leader of the Civic Platform party instead of her brother, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. This is what the federal political council of the party, meeting today in Moscow, decided.