The Government of the Russian Federation, by its resolution, prohibited the import of foreign satellite terminals into Russia. The document , signed on April 29, states that it is forbidden to import into the country “radio-electronic equipment intended for transmitting and (or) receiving radio waves from space communication objects (communication satellites, including dual-use ones) of foreign states...

Scientist and medical technology entrepreneur Craig Venter died in San Diego, California on April 29, The New York Times reports. He was 79 years old. KC Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune/Getty Image His death was announced by the Craig Venter Institute, a non-profit research organization founded by the scientist. The institute said Venter was recently hospitalized due to side effects from cancer treatment. Venter is the founder of Celera Genomics, a genetic research company.

The first launch of the expendable two-stage Soyuz-5 launch vehicle took place from the site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the evening of April 30, Roscosmos reported. A video of the launch appeared on the telegram channel of the state corporation.

The jury of the Venice Biennale resigned, according to the website of the international art exhibition on April 30. All five members of the jury, led by chairman Solange Farkas, resigned. The reasons for this decision are not reported. This became known less than a week after the jury announced that, in order to protect human rights, they would not consider works from countries whose leaders are accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

Police in Karachay-Cherkessia have detained at least 16 local residents in a criminal case for organizing the activities of an extremist organization, human rights group SK SOS reported on April 30, citing a source. According to human rights activists, the detained men were members of a local group on VKontakte with queer dating. This was one of the few LGBTQ+ groups in Karachay-Cherkessia that was not blocked.

The billionaire accuses Sam Altman of deception, demands his dismissal and at the same time another 150 billion dollars Benjamin Fanjoy / Getty Images Elon Musk on his way to his next court hearing. April 30, 2026 On April 27, 2026, the trial of Elon Musk against the leaders of OpenAI began in California. The billionaire co-founder accuses CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman of turning OpenAI into a commercial entity and thereby defrauding him.

Archaeologist Alexander Butyagin gave his first interview after liberation to the propaganda channel RT. The shortest retelling Who is Alexander Butyagin Butyagin is an archaeologist who has conducted excavations in Crimea for many years. In December 2025, he was detained in Poland at the request of Ukraine, which considered his work after 2014 illegal and accused him of destroying a cultural heritage site. On April 28, Butyagin was released as part of a prisoner exchange.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, is finishing his work in the republic and moving to another job, TASS reported on April 30. “The current head of the republic, Sergei Alimovich Melikov, ends his term in September. He did a lot. And we are grateful to him for this. But he moves on to another job, life moves on,” Putin said at a meeting with representatives of Dagestan.

Which bans are already in effect - and which ones we are looking forward to? Ramil Sitdikov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA The Kremlin has been fighting VPNs for almost 10 years: in 2017, a law was introduced banning bypassing blocking of prohibited sites; in 2021, the authorities began to massively ban VPN services, and in 2024, their advertising was banned . The authorities launched a new “crusade” against VPN a month ago, amid the blocking of Telegram.

On April 30, the Ministry of Information of Belarus updated the “republican list of extremist materials” to include the YouTube channel “vDud” of Russian journalist Yuri Dud. This decision was made by the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Vitebsk on April 27. Yuri Dud did not comment on this at the time of publication. The Belarusian authorities made this decision two months after the VDud channel aired a long interview with Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of the Belarusian protest.

1527th day. Perm is under drone attack for the second day in a row. There is black smoke from a fire over the city. The governor's reaction: one message on social networks. Mayor's reaction: zero messages Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters every day because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us your thoughts about the war. What feelings are you experiencing?

Update. As Faridaily reports , according to sources, first Butsayev went to Minsk, then to Tbilisi, and is now in the USA. Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Denis Butsaev, who resigned a week ago, left Russia, Vedomosti writes, citing sources. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the order for Butsaev’s resignation “at his request” on April 22. According to Vedomosti, on the same day he left Russia via Minsk.

Russians, it seems, have never been so dissatisfied with the government. Alexander Baunov - about how Putin became a burden and why people feel his fear Kristina Solovyova / RIA-Novosti / Profimedia In 2026, dissatisfaction with the Putin regime reached its maximum. There is a split in the elites, and no one knows how to end the war. At the same time, the life of Russians is not getting better, but rather the opposite.

In the annual press freedom ranking published by the international organization Reporters Without Borders, for the first time, more than half of the world's countries (52.2%) are characterized as having a “complicated” or “very complex” situation. In 2002, in the very first ranking of Reporters Without Borders, there were 13.7% of such countries.

A politician with a banner steps into the abyss Vuk Valcic / ZUMA Press Wire / Scanpix / LETA This text is based on a publication in the “Raft” telegram channel. Every day, Meduza editors Sofya Vorobyova and Anton Khitrov talk about cinema, TV series, music, literature and contemporary art. For example, this week the hosts of The Raft shared their impressions of the film Pictures of Friendship and looked for inconsistencies in the concept of the Django/Zorro crossover.