Council of Europe / Parliamentary Assembly On January 26, the Council of Europe announced that it had approved the list of participants in its new Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces. European lawmakers describe the initiative, which was created to engage anti-war opposition figures, as a way to support democratic change in Russia and contribute to a just peace in Ukraine.

Several Russian publications edited the news, which talked about the number of military personnel who returned from the Russian-Ukrainian war and are now not working anywhere, Faridaily noted . At the end of December 2025, the head of the Russian Presidential Directorate for Public Projects, Sergei Novikov, said that 250 thousand military personnel who returned from the front were not employed anywhere. “We have a fairly large gray area - tens of thousands of people who... are not employed.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry demanded that Russian diplomats not accredited in the country notify the authorities if they want to enter or transit the territory of the republic. RIA Novosti was informed about this on January 26 at the Russian Embassy in Vienna. The decision concerns Russian diplomatic, administrative, technical or service personnel not accredited in Austria, according to a note from the Austrian Foreign Ministry that the embassy received.

At Moscow's request, they are put on the wanted list. The Russian Federation can find out where they are going Yves Forestier/Sygma/Getty Images Russia uses Interpol's wanted lists to seek the arrest of political opponents, businessmen and journalists, and the organization's messaging system to monitor critics of Russian authorities abroad, the BBC and the French investigative project Disclose have found . They examined files provided by an Interpol informant.

Russia has withdrawn its troops from Qamishli airport in northeastern Syria on the territory of the former Kurdish autonomy. The withdrawal of troops and weapons began last week, Reuters reported on Monday, January 26, citing sources. It was expected that part of the force would move to the Russian Khmeimim airbase in western Syria, and another part would return to Russia.

Here is new evidence of reprisals against opponents of the ayatollahs' regime Getty Images Protest demonstration in Tehran, January 8, 2026 Mass protests in Iran began on December 28, 2025 with a strike by traders in Tehran's Grand Bazaar. In a couple of days they spread throughout the country. Tens, or even hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of almost all major cities, demanding the overthrow of the ayatollahs' regime. The protests peaked on January 8th.

“This madness needs to end now” Businessman Oleg Deripaska deleted all posts in his Telegram channel published before November 2025, the publication “Important Stories” noted. Judging by data from the TGStat service, where copies of deleted posts were preserved, Deripaska began cleaning up his channel several years ago: some of the posts disappeared back in 2023.

The UK Financial Sanctions Implementation Authority (OFSI) has fined the Bank of Scotland for violating sanctions restrictions against Russia. According to OFSI, in February 2023 the bank processed 24 payments totaling around £77,000 for a client who was under UK sanctions. His name is not specified.

At the very least, she is the leader of the vote among Meduza readers regarding who should represent the opposition in PACE. There are other important findings On January 26, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) presented the composition of the platform of Russian democratic forces. As its participants themselves hope, they will be able to represent the interests of anti-war citizens of the Russian Federation at PACE.

Authorities ask residents to wait another week Murmansk and the Murmansk region, including the city of Severomorsk, have been partially without power since January 23 due to an accident on Rosseti lines. Five power transmission line (PTL) towers collapsed due to icing, snowstorms and strong winds. The power outage led to a halt in the work of boiler houses - residents of the Murmansk region were left without heating and hot water.

The platform under PACE has been formed. We talk about everyone who got there Vladimir Kara-Murza speaks at the PACE session in Strasbourg, September 30, 2024. Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu/Getty Images The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ( PACE ) has approved the composition of the so-called platform of Russian democratic forces - it will conduct a dialogue with European parliamentarians and, as participants hope, represent the interests of anti-war Russians.

Businessman Oleg Deripaska deleted from his Telegram channel all posts published before November 1, 2025, “Important Stories” drew attention. In deleted posts, as the publication notes, the Russian billionaire criticized the full-scale invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine and the policies of the Russian authorities. Thus, in April 2022, Oleg Deripaska wrote that the war is “madness” that “must be ended now.” Deripaska has been running his channel since January 2020.

The IDF found and returned to Israel the body of the last hostage remaining in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said in an official statement. The examination confirmed that the remains found belong to police officer Ran Gwili. On October 7, 2023, 24-year-old Ran Gwili died in battle with terrorists, after which his body was taken to Gaza. The day before, Israeli authorities announced that they were conducting a large-scale operation to search for the body of Ran Gwili in the Gaza Strip.

Graph showing growing problems at airports due to drone attacks Attacks by Ukrainian drones in 2025 almost daily led to the temporary closure of airports in a variety of Russian regions. This, of course, affected the punctuality of air carriers. According to statistics collected by the AlfaStrakhovanie company for the Kommersant newspaper, at the end of last year the number of flights delayed by three hours or more doubled compared to 2024 - to almost 30.5 thousand.

Meduza suggests speaking out first, and then telling how you are coping Roman Balaev / TASS / Profimedia Back at the end of December, the media wrote about rising prices for almost all basic goods and services in Russia. The reasons are high inflation, logistical difficulties, rising producer costs and currency fluctuations (in other words, war and sanctions).