Michael Calvey's detention, swole bunnies, and Tatarstan's porno priest is defrocked Friday, February 15, 2019 ( Meduza 's newsletter will return on Tuesday, February 19. Happy President's Day, Americans!) This day in history (six years ago): Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a superbolide meteor flying at thousands of miles per hour over Russia's southern Ural region. On this day in 2013, the “Chelyabinsk meteor” starred in some of the best dashcam footage ever recorded.

30 years later, ‘Meduza’ answers key questions about the Soviet-Afghan War Andrey Solomonov / Sputnik / Scanpix / LETA A Soviet mechanized unit rests near the Bala Hissar fortress in Kabul, Afghanistan. February 1, 1988 February 15 marks 30 years since the day the last Soviet soldiers were withdrawn from Afghanistan. The Soviet-Afghan War lasted nine years: it was Russia’s longest war in a century that also included a civil war, two world wars, and a number of international conflicts.

The head of Sberbank, German Gref, defended the founder of the Baring Vostok investment company Michael Kalvi, detained on suspicion of fraud. According to Gref, Kalvi did a lot "to attract investment in the country, for the development of the economy and high -tech companies." Kirill Kallinikov / Sputnik / Scanpix / Leta

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on murder after the death of a serviceman in a military unit in the Voronezh region. The report says that the body of a young man was found with traces of violent death on February 11. The deceased is 19-year-old Stepan Ts. from the Krasnodar Territory. Initially, it was unofficially reported that his body was found in a tent at the training ground, allegedly with his hands tied and with a bag on his head.

The Federal Customs Service has asked the Ministry of Agriculture to expand the food embargo , which has been in effect since 2014. This was reported by RBC, citing the text of the FCS letter dated February 13. The Federal Customs Service complained that currently prohibited types of meat, fish, dairy products, nuts, vegetables and fruits are specified in detailed customs codes.

US President Donald Trump announced that he would declare a state of emergency in the country due to the situation on the border with Mexico. Thus, Trump expects to bypass Congress to finance the construction of a wall on the border, as the regime intends to provide the president with expanded powers to deal with the crisis. The day before, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi admitted that she would try to challenge the legality of Trump's decision.

An apparently original Russian meme has taken Twitter by storm in recent days. In the meme, the ASCII sign bunny that gained international popularity in 2014 before surging again last year is joined by another ASCII rabbit: the buff bunny, which also saw a brief resurgence in 2018. English-language Internet users used the sign bunny almost exclusively to broadcast individual statements and the buff bunny to add a bit of humor to conventional masculinity.

Was the Soviet Union going to win Afghanistan? Did the Americans help terrorists? How many people died? Andrey Solomonov / Sputnik / Scanpix / Leta Mechanized unit of Soviet troops in the area of ​​the fortress of the Hissar Balle in Kabul, February 1, 1988 This text was first published on February 15, 2019, when it turned 30 since the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. December 25, 2021 marks 32 years since the beginning of the Soviet invasion of this country.

Rijksmuseum On February 15, the State Museum (Reachsmuseum) in Amsterdam opened the Exhibition "All the Rembrandt" ("All the Rembrandts"). This is the first museum project in 2019, dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the death of the artist Rembrandt Harmena Van Rain, and the largest exhibition of his works. It will last until June 10. "Medusa" tells what you can see at the exhibition in Amsterdam - and where else you can see Rembrandt exhibitions this year.

Evgeny Pavlenko / Kommersant Michael Calvey at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2018 This week, police in Moscow detained Michael Calvey, the U.S. founder of the private equity group Baring Vostok . The other suspects in the case are Baring Vostok partners Vagan Abgaryan and French citizen Philippe Delpal, investment director Ivan Zyuzin, First Collection Bureau CEO Maxim Vladimirov, and Alexey Kordichev, an adviser to Norvik Banka’s board chairman. Update (8:05 p.m.

On February 15, 1989, the USSR completed the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The Soviet Union fought in this country for 10 years, having lost, according to official figures, more than 15 thousand people killed and over 50 thousand wounded. For 40 years that have passed since the beginning of the war, its assessment by the authorities and society has changed several times several times. Subscribe to our YouTube The author of the video Leonid Marantidi

Yashar Aliev, the owner of the Neolit café in southeast Moscow, said 40 – 50 Chechen men entered the restaurant on the evening of February 14 and began attacking the establishment. The men were reportedly wearing masks and carrying firearms. Aliev was not present at the time of the attack, but employees told him there were only four or five people in the café, primarily couples having dinner. No serious injuries resulted from the attack and the conflict that followed.

The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions against several Russian citizens involved in the conflict in the Black Sea , RFE/RL reports, citing sources. According to the radio station, "around eight people" will be subject to sanctions. They will be banned from entering the EU and their assets in the EU will be frozen. The preparation of new sanctions by the European Union and the United States against Russia due to the conflict in the Black Sea became known on February 12.

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Scanpix / Leta Trump decided at all costs to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Because of this, the government did not work for more than a month in the United States The construction of the wall was one of Trump's key promises during the 2016 election campaign. Initially, Trump said that it was not necessary to pay for construction (it was assumed that the expenses of the wall will incur the government of Mexico).

A new flash mob is on Twitter: users explain the difference between people, objects and phenomena using the example of two rabbits - a small and muscular one.