US President Barack Obama signed a bill allowing new sanctions against Russia. At the same time, as emphasized in the White House, despite the signed bill, there is no talk of tightening sanctions against the Russian Federation yet.

Continued: Gazprom Media confirms the resignation of Mikhail Lesin Mikhail Lesin will leave the post of chairman of the board of the Gazprom Media holding, Forbes reports. The decision on his resignation was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin a week ago. The press service of the holding did not confirm this information. Officially, the resignation of the media manager may be announced on December 19.

President Petro Poroshenko submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Ukraine's Refusal to Implement a Non-Bloc Policy".

The Investigative Committee of Russia has launched an investigation into a public statement by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, about the possible involvement of "a certain Kalyapin" in financing the terrorist underground that organized the attack on Grozny on the night of December 4. As it became known to Novaya Gazeta, the check was entrusted to the investigator for especially important cases, Igor Sobol, who investigated several high-profile cases in Chechnya.

The Auchan retail chain will consider a commercial offer to start sales in its hypermarkets of Vyatsky kvass of the Vyatich brewing company from Kirov. This was announced by the representative of Auchan Maria Kurnosova. According to her, the distribution network received an offer to sell Vyatsky kvass only on December 18. At the same time, Kurnosova added that Auchan sells three types of beer produced by Vyatich, which are supplied by a distributor to the distribution network.

The Symmetry Magazine online magazine published templates that allow you to cut paper snowflakes in the form of three Nobel laureates-Albert Einstein ( PDF ), Maria Curie and Erwin Schrödinger with a cat ( PDF ). To get a snowflake, you need to print templates, fold them in steps registered on the sheets themselves, and carefully cut out all the gray areas. For some elements - eyes, glasses, eyebrows - you will need a stationery knife.

The statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that 80% of members of the US Congress have never traveled abroad is not true, according to the Fact Checker column of The Washington Post. As journalists managed to find out, since January 1, 2000, 453 congressmen have traveled outside the United States on business trips - data on this is contained in the reports on the expenses of members of Congress. This corresponds to 84% of the total number of congressmen.

The write-offs of Uralkalia in the loss of an emergency mine in Solikamsk can be up to $ 1 billion, mainly due to the write-off of stocks. This was stated by the financial director of the company Anton Vischeanenko. At the same time, Vischeanenko emphasized that now the company is making maximum efforts to save the mine. Photo: press service "Uralkali" “There is equipment, conveyors, combines. Most conveyors remain there, underground, ”said Anton Vischeanenko.

Screenshot: The publication of the VO (formerly WOS) analyzed the speeches of Vladimir Putin in 15 years and created the generator of his answers. The user can introduce any question that interests him - and get life wisdom from the president. Screenshot: Screenshot: Due to the features of the generator, it answers only life questions tolerably-folk wisdoms are weakly suitable for the current exchange rate and other everyday problems.

How the US reconciliation with Cuba was prepared: Newsweek Photo: Lawrense Jackson / The White House On December 17, Cuba and the United States announced the normalization of bilateral relations and the resumption of diplomatic ties, putting an end to the Cold War, in which the countries were more than 50 years. Preparations for the historical announcement were fed for a year and a half, while diplomats on both sides were now and then faced with numerous difficulties.

IKEA, the largest retailer of home goods in Russia, has announced a temporary suspension of sales of certain categories of its products. A statement posted on the company's Russian website said that "due to the large number of orders being processed," sales of furniture and household appliances are temporarily suspended. In addition, IKEA announced the beginning of price changes for some of its products.

Financial debt and debt on leasing aircraft of UTair airline, as of mid-December, amounted to 167.87 billion rubles. with projected annual revenue of 74.3 billion rubles. This is stated in a presentation released by the airline. One of UTair's largest creditors, Alfa Bank, filed several claims against the airline, demanding $42.4 million (and interest of $510 thousand) and 116 million rubles. (and interest of 545 thousand rubles).

The shortest retelling of the press conference of Vladimir Putin Photo: Alexander Nemenov / AFP The press conference of Vladimir Putin, the main motive of which was the statement “We do everything correctly, and our Western partners were not”, lasted three and a half hours. Medusa retold her in seven questions and answers - so that the most important thing can be read in a couple of minutes.

Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontiev explained the interest in the salary of the head of the company, Igor Sechin, with "communist propaganda." “For some reason, especially liberal-Western publications are very fond of engaging in communist propaganda in our country, fanning all kinds of unhealthy hatred among the people for those who receive high incomes,” Leontiev said. He stressed that top managers of Rosneft will disclose their salaries only after their competitors do so.

The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting issued a warning to the Espresso TV channel for broadcasting live on December 4 the address of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.