The Russian government has approved its next five-year plan for “patriotic education.” The program takes effect this year and runs through 2020. Instilling patriotism in Russian citizens for the next five years is expected to cost at least 1.7 billion rubles ($23.3 million). Most of this money is being allocated from the federal budget.

In Serbia, at the request of Russia, the former mayor of Sergiev Posad, Viktor Bukin, was detained, suspected of taking a bribe. This information was received by the Russian Embassy in Belgrade. “We are waiting for an official notification from the Serbian side,” the Russian Embassy in Serbia said. Interfax The criminal case against Viktor Bukin was initiated in July 2014.

In Russia, on January 2, new rules for the design of price tags in stores came into force. Now price tags can be issued not only on paper, but also on slate boards and stands, as well as in electronic form - on light displays.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg predicted a long rise in the dollar. According to their forecasts, the dollar in 2016 will rise against seven of the 10 major currencies in the world. Bloomberg forecasts that in 2016 the dollar will appreciate by about three percent against the euro, 2.5 percent against the yen and nearly six percent against the Swiss franc. At the same time, the US currency will fall against the Canadian dollar, the British pound sterling and the Norwegian krone.

The Russian national team defeated the Danish team in the quarterfinals of the Youth Ice Hockey World Championship. The match ended with the score 4:3. The Russian team equalized in the last minute of normal time and scored the winning goal in overtime. The Russians, the undisputed favorites of the match, opened the scoring in the 3rd minute of the meeting, but in the second period the Danes equalized the score and then took the lead.

Islamists from the Al-Shabaab group, the Somali branch of Al-Qaeda (an organization recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia and banned) released a propaganda video that contains a recording of a speech by US presidential candidate Donald Trump calling for a ban on Muslims from entering the United States. The recording of Trump's speech was edited with recordings of speeches by Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen, one of the main al-Qaeda preachers, who was killed in 2011 in Yemen.

The Russian government approved the program of patriotic education of citizens for 2016-2020. Its total cost is estimated at 1.666 billion rubles, almost all of this money will be allocated from the federal budget. The aims of the program are to increase civil responsibility for the fate of the country and to increase the level of consolidation of society.

Saudi Arabia carried out the death sentences of 47 terrorism convicts. Executions took place in Riyadh and 11 other cities in the country. Among those executed was Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was arrested in 2012. He has criticized Bahrain's Sunni ruling family for suppressing mass uprisings by the Shia majority during the so-called "Arab Spring". In Saudi Arabia, where the majority of the population professes Sunni Islam, al-Nimr was accused of inciting unrest.

LLC LEM Russia, the operating company of the Look At Media holding, has filed for bankruptcy with the Moscow Arbitration Court. It was registered on December 25th. On December 29, the court left the case without progress, suggesting that the applicant submit additional documents by February 8. When asked by vc.ru about the reasons for filing the application, Aleksey Ametov, general director of the Look At Media publishing house, replied that he was on vacation.

EU representatives warned that sanctions against people close to Viktor Yanukovych could be lifted in the spring of 2016, as the Ukrainian authorities do not take measures to prosecute those former functionaries who remained in Ukraine. “Many in the EU are fed up with Ukraine,” one Western official told The Wall Street Journal. The source of the publication noted that soon people from Yanukovych's entourage may again gain access to accounts frozen under the sanctions.

At the end of 2015, Russia set a new record of oil production - 534.081 million tons, which is 1.4 percent more than a year earlier. Oil export to non-CIS countries increased by 10.6 percent and reached 220.267 million tons. Rosneft remains the largest producing company, producing more than 189 million tons of oil in a year. This is followed by LUKOIL (over 85 million tons), Surgutneftegaz (over 61 million tons) and Gazprom Neft (over 34 million tons).

The administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his words about Nazi Germany as an example of a unitary state with strong presidential power were misinterpreted. Answering a question from journalists about plans to turn Turkey into a presidential republic, Erdogan said that the presidential system functions perfectly in unitary states. “There are already examples. You can see this if you look at Nazi Germany,” added the Turkish President .

In many cities of Ukraine on January 1, torchlight processions and rallies were held on the occasion of the birthday of Stepan Bandera. In Kyiv, the nationalists marched through the central streets, after which they staged a rally on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. According to the UNIAN agency, more than three thousand people took part in the action. They chanted “We are Bandera!

The head of the VTsIOM, Valery Fedorov, responded to people who criticized a survey in Crimea that showed that the vast majority of the peninsula's inhabitants are ready to suffer power outages. Fedorov wrote on Facebook that he considers it beneath his dignity to respond to “shit throwers who have been excited about our survey in Crimea and Sevastopol.” “These are all well-known characters, used a hundred times, sold and bought,” said the head of VTsIOM.