The relatives of Chechen dissidents are being kidnapped — both in Chechnya and in other parts of Russia Elena Afonina / TASS In the final weeks of 2021, at least six Chechen oppositionists reported that their relatives had gone missing. All of these opposition figures live outside of Chechnya and have condemned regional head Ramzan Kadyrov and his cronies for human rights abuses. Several of them have faced threats in the past or even survived assassination attempts.

The Council of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) refused to continue holding the youth world championship. This was reported on the website of the organization. The decision to cancel the championship was made for the safety of all its participants amid the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, the IIHF leadership said. The championship began on December 26, it was held in Canada.

The Arbitration Court of the Moscow District refused to suspend the accrual of a penalty imposed by Google on the suit of the Russian TV channel Tsargrad. This is stated in the case card in the Electronic Justice system. to her Forbes drew attention . Tsargrad in August 2020 filed a lawsuit against three legal entities of Google due to the blocking of its YouTube channel. Google explained the blocking by the fact that the owner of Tsargrad, Konstantin Malofeev, is under US sanctions.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service has found that the actions of metallurgical companies MMK, NLMK and Severstal violate antimonopoly legislation. This was reported on the agency's website. According to the FAS special commission, since January 2021, manufacturers have maintained "monopolistically high prices" for hot-rolled flat products in Russia. These prices have grown disproportionately to the change in production costs, the commission noted.

We tell the ten -year story of Pussy Riot. We speak with the natives of Chechnya, whose relatives fell under new repressions. We discuss the Soviet New Year canon Good evening, This message (material) was created and (or) widespread by a foreign media that performs the functions of a foreign agent, and (or) a Russian legal entity that performs the functions of a foreign agent This is the daily newsletter "Medusa" about the main news of the day.

Indications for a blogger were given by a friend convicted that he did not report to a fellow villager who left for Syria Personal archive of Indsa Lander / "Mediazona" ("Mediazona" was declared in Russia the media - "Foreign Agent") The accusation of the assistance of terrorism against the blogger of the Insa Lander (the real name-the inshta Soltan-Hamidovna Oguz) from Kabardino-Balkaria is built at the correspondence of a girl with her friend Umar Duguzhev in VKontakte in 2014.

Yuri Khovansky, the video blogger charged with the felony offense of “justifying terrorism” because of a song he performed years ago, has been released from pretrial detention after roughly six months behind bars. State investigators in St. Petersburg made the request without any explanation, initially asking the court to wait until January 8 to free him. They later endorsed his immediate release.

In 2021, inflation in Russia amounted to 8.39%, follows from a preliminary estimate by Rosstat. The department will present the final assessment on January 12. Food products rose in price by 10.62% over the year, non-food products - by 8.58%. Prices for services increased by 4.98%. According to Interfax, in 2021 inflation reached its highest level since 2015, when it was 12.9%. In 2020, price growth in Russia amounted to 4.91%.

18-year-old Sebby Hall from Lichfield, England, started the Good Deeds Marathon on March 16, 2020. Then his school was closed due to COVID-19, and he realized that not all people with disabilities have the technology to contact loved ones during isolation. Hall then decided to do 10 good deeds a day to draw attention to his £1,000 crowdfunding campaign . With them, he wanted to buy IT equipment for single children with disabilities. Sebby himself also has a rare chromosomal anomaly.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued an interim measure telling Russia to suspend the dissolution of the International Memorial Society and the Memorial Human Rights Center, Interfax reported on Wednesday, December 29. As the European Court explained, a 2013 application against Russia’s “foreign agent” legislation filed by 11 Russian NGOs — including Memorial — is currently under consideration in Strasbourg.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed amendments to legislation abolishing the death penalty, his press service reported. A week ago, these amendments were approved by the Parliament of Kazakhstan. The amendments were developed in accordance with the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Kazakhstan ratified this protocol in January 2021.

David Frenkel / Mediazona (Mediazona was announced in Russia by the media-“foreign agent”; we inform you about this at the request of the authorities) the court in St. Petersburg on December 29 changed the video blogger to Yuri Khovansky, the accused of justification of terrorism, the preventive measure from the arrest to ban certain actions. The blogger cannot be used by the Internet, attend mass events and leave the house in the evening and at night.

American singer and actor Simon Curtis on December 21 posted a photo of a tiny green frog that he found in a package of salad. He didn't dare let her out. In Oklahoma, where the musician lives, it is quite cold in winter. Therefore, Curtis left her with him - and all this time he shared photos, consulted with subscribers and told cute details about the life of a frog. The frog was named Tony (although the gender could not be determined).

Belarus unveils draft constitutional amendments, plans referendum for February 2022 Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA On Monday, December 27, the Belarusian authorities unveiled a new draft of the country’s constitution. According to head of state Alexander Lukashenko, the document may see changes following public debate and will be put to a referendum by late February 2022. This will mark the third referendum on amending Belarus’s constitution since Lukashenko came to power in 1994.

The Kuibyshev Court of St. Petersburg has overturned the arrest of video blogger Yuri Khovansky, who is accused of justifying terrorism, Fontanka reports. The investigation requested the arrest be lifted. The reasons for this request were not publicly stated. Initially, the investigators asked to change the measure of restraint not immediately, but from January 8, but ultimately they refused to do so. Khovansky's preventive measure was replaced with a ban on certain actions.