For weeks now, Lithuanians have been protesting against a government proposal targeting the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT). The demonstrations began in early December, after lawmakers proposed simplifying the process for dismissing LRT’s director. In response, journalists launched a week-long protest campaign, culminating in a rally of 10,000 people outside the country’s parliament, the Seimas, on December 9.

The head of the ruling Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, said that Ukraine will have to conclude a “bad” peace agreement or continue the war, Interfax-Ukraine reported on December 18.

The families of students of the Assumption School in the village of Gorki-2 near Moscow, where 15-year-old Timofey K. came with a knife and killed a fourth-grader, recorded an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, they complained about the administration of the educational institution, reports the telegram channel “Caution, News”. The parents complained, among other things, about what they said were school officials who failed to act during the attack.

European leaders meet to discuss using Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP / Scanpix / LETA Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and French President Emmanuel Macron in Brussels. December 18, 2025.

The State Duma, at a meeting on December 18, adopted a law providing for the creation of paid zones for the entry of vehicles in Moscow and on the federal territory of Sirius. Kommersant and Faridaily drew attention to this.

Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the self-proclaimed DPR in occupied Mariupol summoned for interviews local residents who had recorded video messages to Vladimir Putin in recent months. They complained to the President of the Russian Federation because they were left without housing after the demolition of their houses.

Three Russian border guards entered Estonia in the east of the country on the morning of December 17, Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro said, ERR writes. According to him, the incident occurred near the village of Vasknarva. There, on the Narva River, there is a pier, most of which is located on the territory of Estonia, and a smaller part - on the territory of Russia.

Just a month ago he was sitting in the reserves with no chance to take the field Jose Breton / Pics Action / NurPhoto / Getty Images Matvey Safonov (in green) after the Intercontinental Cup final Russian goalkeeper of the French club PSG Matvey Safonov saved four penalties in a row in the final of the Intercontinental Cup . He became the first goalkeeper in history to do so in a tournament held under the auspices of FIFA .

State Duma deputies adopted on December 18, in the second and third readings, a law obliging the depiction of crosses on the coat of arms of the Russian Federation. The law “On the State Emblem” clarified the description of the coat of arms, stating that the small crowns, the large crown and the orb are crowned by “straight equal four-pointed crosses with flared ends,” writes TASS.

It (allegedly) began with a quarrel between Kara-Murza and Kasparov in a Parisian restaurant. But very soon it became clear that everything was much more serious Konstantin Sednev / Postimees Grupp / Scanpix / LETA; Isabel Infantes / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA On December 12, Vladimir Kara-Murza suddenly resigned from the Russian Anti-War Committee, declaring that he could not be in the same organization as Garry Kasparov. This event was preceded by a real quarrel in a Parisian restaurant.

This is what he told Ukrainskaya Pravda about this investigation. "Ukrainian Truth" / Youtube National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detective Ruslan Magamedrasulov participated in Operation Midas, a large-scale investigation that has not yet ended, but has already led to the resignations and sometimes arrests of several high-ranking officials. Magamedrasulov himself was arrested in July 2025, accused of having connections with Russia. On December 3 he was released.

European Union leaders will ask EU institutions to urgently accept instruments to create a “reparations loan” backed by Russian assets frozen in Europe, according to a draft EU plan for using those assets seen by Reuters. The agency emphasizes that the document may still change. The draft lists several conditions for such a loan.

Meduza spoke with an activist trying to save them from deportation Veronica Gabriela Cardenas / Getty Images Port Isabel Detention Center In early December, a plane carrying 64 Russians deported from the United States landed in Moscow. All of them had sought political asylum in the U.S., saying they faced persecution at home. After landing, the men were handed military summonses, and some were taken away for questioning.

A court in Besançon, France, sentenced former anesthesiologist Frédéric Peschier to life imprisonment for killing 12 patients and poisoning 30 others, France 24 reports. The court found that for almost ten years, from 2008 to 2017, 53-year-old Peshier mixed substances into patients’ IVs that caused cardiac arrest and bleeding. 12 of them could not be revived. Peshier's youngest victim was a four-year-old child who suffered two cardiac arrests during routine tonsillectomy surgery in 2016.

OVD-Info released a report on political persecution in Russia Olga Maltseva / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Diana Loginova (Naoko) in court in St. Petersburg. November 11, 2025 In 2025, the total number of political criminal cases in Russia returned to pre-war levels, but this does not indicate a easing of repression, according to an OVD-Info review of repression in the country.