In Moscow, the Meyerhold Center hosted the presentation of the NOS-2014 literary prize. The winner of the main prize was the writer Alexei Tsvetkov Jr., who was awarded for the collection of short stories "The King of the Drowned". Vladimir Sorokin's novel "Telluria" previously won the reader's vote for the award. Each shortlisted finalist will receive 40,000 rubles. The winner will receive an award of 700 thousand rubles. The winner of the Audience Choice Award will receive 200,000 rubles.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has announced that he will not run for President of the United States in the November 2016 elections. Romney said he was confident he could win the primaries and become the single Republican candidate, but decided not to run for fear of harming the Republicans' chances of taking the White House. Romney explained that his participation in the primaries would negate the chances of a new candidate emerging who could win the presidential election.

Roman Sulzhyk, the managing director of the MICEX derivatives market, has resigned after facing criticisms for his support of the EuroMaidan movement in Ukraine. “Unfortunately, my personal views and public profile have led to completely absurd, unfounded accusations in the yellow press that are now affecting the stock exchange.

An anonymous source at Reuters news agency confirms that Katerina Tikhonova, who works with Moscow State University (MSU) and heads the Foundation for National Intellectual Development, is in fact the youngest daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speculation about Tikhonova’s identity started on Thursday, January 29, after journalist Oleg Kashin claimed in an article that she is Putin’s daughter.

Duma deputy Irina Yarovaya declared today that Russia’s education system is too “tailored to the study of foreign languages,” according to a report by United Russia, the country’s ruling political party. “How can we expect to preserve our traditions under these circumstances?” Yarovaya asked worriedly, criticizing the Education Ministry’s plan to make a second foreign language compulsory in schools’ curriculum and require students to pass a standardized exam in at least one foreign language.

A senior citizen living in Nizhny Novgorod has appealed to regional officials, asking the government to buy from her or subsidize the storage of roughly 320 kilos (700 pounds) of buckwheat, which she purchased at the end of 2014. According to Mikhail Teodorovich, head of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service in Nizhny Novgorod, the woman spent four months worth of pension payments on buckwheat. “It’s impossible for her to eat it all.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has announced that Russia will reduce its spending on preparations to host the 2018 World Cup by 10 percent. Mutko says the cuts won’t affect the construction of stadiums and other infrastructure. “We’re talking about various organizational issues, subsidies to the organizing committee, and preparation for the final draw ceremony. All our infrastructural investments are secure,” Mutko said.

The Justice Ministry has asked the Duma to delay until the spring the second reading of legislation that would create a government registry of all “undesirable” foreign and international organizations operating inside Russia. According to the head of the Duma’s constitutional committee, Vladimir Pligin, Russia’s Justice Ministry has asked the parliament to extend the bill’s amendment process to March 6. Pligin says his committee will review the request within the next two weeks.

Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky says the government will re-examine a 2014 law banning all swearing in mass media, and likely propose several amendments. In comments to the press, Medinsky indicated he doesn’t support returning obscenities to television, theater, literature, or wide-release films, but he could envisage allowing swearing at events like film festivals, where audience members are all older than 18.

Police have arrested a woman living in Smolensk on suspicion of treason, after she reported to the Ukrainian embassy a local soldier’s conversation allegedly about Russian troop deployments to Donetsk. Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven children, was arrested on January 21, and later transferred to a pretrial detention center in Moscow. According to police, Davydova noticed in April 2014 that personnel stationed at a nearby military intelligence installation were suddenly leaving.

Russia's Top News and Reporting, in English Welcome to Meduza—your gateway to the world of Russian news. Every day we bring you the most important news and feature stories from hundreds of sources in Russia and across the former Soviet Union. Meduza is based in Riga, Latvia. Most of the people in our newsroom moved here after resigning from Lenta.ru, when Chief Editor Galina Timchenko was fired in what we believe was an act of censorship.

Oscar nominee ‘Leviathan’ is under attack in Russia. Here’s the case for the defense Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan has won the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film and is Russia’s Oscar submission. But its biggest critics are at home where it's been loudly attacked as anti-Russian. Leading Russian cultural commentator Yury Saprykin explains why they're wrong. Originally published in Russian on January 13, 2015 .

Why St. Petersburg fired a gay teacher Photo: Alexey Tikhonov / Meduza In December 2014, a St. Petersburg school for children with disabilities fired a gay teacher for committing an “immoral offense.” The dismissal marked the culmination of a “forced coming-out” campaign by local activist Timur Isayev, who regularly searches for gays on Internet social networks and reports their sexual orientation to their employers.

Rusimport, a major supplier of elite alcohol and tobacco to the Russian market, has filed for bankruptcy. Applications were submitted by limited liability companies Rusimport, Trading House Rusimport, Rusimport-Invest, Trade Company Rusinter and Rusimport-Center. Applications from all LLCs, except for Rusimport-Center, have already been accepted for consideration by the court, representatives of the company explained.

Фото: Photo: Action Press / All Over Press A media outlet under the umbrella of Rossiya Segodnya , a news agency created by Vladimir Putin in December 2013, published and quickly deleted a column by staff writer Mikhail Pasichnyk suggesting that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a pact with the Devil. “Many irrefutable facts say the ‘Chocolate King’ [Poroshenko] is Satan’s protégé,” Pasichnyk wrote in a January 29 column for Ukraina.ru.