Tougher sanctions imposed by Western countries could "plunge Russia into chaos," German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview with German media. “We never had the goal of plunging Russia into political and economic chaos,” he stressed. Increased instability in Russia will have negative consequences for the whole of Europe, Gabriel said, recalling that the Russian Federation is a nuclear power.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are conducting a pre-trial investigation of the criminal case “on an attempt on the integrity of Ukraine” against the Russian actor Alexei Panin. This, according to the Ukrainian media, was announced on his Facebook by the head of the Main Investigation Department of the SBU Vasily Vovk. The reason for the start of the investigation, Vovk wrote, was that in August 2014, while in Crimea, Panin declared that this peninsula was Russian territory.

Gosfilmofond has returned for revision the script for the biographical film about Sergei Eisenstein, created by the famous British director and screenwriter Peter Greenaway. According to Nikolai Borodachev, director of the Gosfilmofond, the Russian side was not satisfied with the fact that Greenway's script mentions details of Eisenstein's personal life, in particular, his non-traditional sexual orientation.

Emergency security measures have been introduced at the New Delhi International Airport due to the received signal about the plans of terrorists to hijack an Air India plane flying to Kabul. An anonymous call about the threat of hijacking reportedly went to Air India headquarters. Indian intelligence agencies announced a serious threat of a terrorist attack and put in place increased security measures at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The son of the deputy governor of the Ulyanovsk region Vildan Zinnurov, according to local media, was involved in the attack on a police officer. According to the Ulnovosti website, on the eve of the New Year, a police officer noticed a Volkswagen car moving in the opposite lane on one of the streets of Ulyanovsk. The policeman tried to reprimand the driver of the Volkswagen car and stop him, but he continued to move.

Pope Francis has appointed 20 new cardinals, 15 of whom, under the age of 80, will be able to become members of the conclave convened to elect a new head of the Roman Catholic Church. 15 potential new members of the conclave come from 14 countries. Thus, for the first time, representatives of Myanmar, the Kingdom of Tonga, and Cape Verde will become cardinals. The official investiture ceremony for new cardinals will take place at the Vatican on February 14.

During a search operation in the area of ​​the crash of an AirAsia passenger plane in the Java Sea, a fifth large object, presumably part of the crashed airliner, was discovered. An object about 10 meters long was found at the bottom using sonar. Divers were sent to the site of the discovery of a possible fragment of the fuselage, but they could not start inspecting the object due to difficult weather conditions.

Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the creation of the open joint-stock company GLONASS. According to a document published on January 4 on the government website, 100% of the shares of the established OJSC are in federal ownership. The authorized capital of the company is 100 million rubles. — 100 thousand ordinary registered shares with a par value of 1 thousand rubles.

Update: Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky told Meduza that the message about a possible blocking of Pastebin was spread from a fake account. Meduza apologizes to its readers. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) plans to restrict access from the territory of the Russian Federation to Pastebin, a popular site for storing and sharing text, within three days.

French director Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Speech was named the best film of 2014 by the National Society of Film Critics. The fight for the main award, awarded by the film critics society, "Goodbye speech" led the film "Boyhood" directed by Richard Linklater. The 84-year-old Godard's 3D film reportedly won by a narrow margin, with Linklater winning Best Director.

Anji-2 football player Gasan Magomedov was killed on the night of January 4 in the Kumtorkalinsky district of Dagestan, the press service of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs reported. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the murder was committed in the village of Novokuli. Magomedov, who received gunshot wounds, died in the hospital. The press service of FC Anji confirmed reports of the player's murder.

The Russian Cabinet of Ministers has approved an updated list of vital and essential drugs for medical use for 2015. The corresponding order, signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was published on the Cabinet of Ministers website. A minimum range of medications necessary for the provision of medical care has also been approved, which pharmacies and individual entrepreneurs with licenses for pharmaceutical activities are required to provide.

Edward W. Brooke, the first African-American in United States history to win election to the Senate, has died at the age of 95. Brooke died of natural causes at his Florida home surrounded by family and friends, family members of the former senator said. In 1966, Brooke became the first African American to win election to the upper house of the US Congress.

Law enforcement agencies of Ukraine opened a criminal case under the article "Hooliganism" in connection with the attack on the editorial office of the TV channel "Inter" in Kyiv on the night of January 4.

The German authorities allow the withdrawal of Greece from the euro zone. This was told to Der Spiegel by sources close to government circles. According to the interlocutors of the publication, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who previously opposed Greece's exit from the eurozone, are ready to consider such a scenario.