The police detained dozens of people who came to the opposition campaign unauthorized by the Moscow authorities "Strategy 31" on the Triumphal Square. According to ITAR -TASS, among the detainees - the leader of "other Russia" Eduard Limonov. The detentions also passed during a similar campaign in St. Petersburg.

On the founder of one of the largest construction corporations in Russia Sergey Polonsky, a criminal case was brought up for insulting police officers. Sergey Yuryevich received a kind of gift for the New Year for the incident with the head of the district police department of Fili-Davydkovo, which took place on September 24, 2011 in the west of Moscow, Life News reports.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, defended the Chechen businessman Hadzhimurat Gakayev, who was detained in Moscow , is known under the nickname Murat Bolshoi. According to Kadyrov, he is not a raider and criminal authority, but a businessman and son of a professor. According to the same data, there is no Chechen crime in Russia at all.

A couple of hours before the country from the Far East will be addressed by President Medvedev to the Russians, congratulations to the president to the heads of other states were posted on the Kremlin’s official website . The current president congratulates colleagues selectively. You can notice that Medvedev on "you" with Obama - there is no transition to the other in contacting others.

The presence of the leader of Yabloko, Sergei Mitrokhin at the New Year's reception in the Kremlin, caused an ambiguous reaction on the Internet. Some people suggested that the leader of the opposition party was not worth talking with President Medvedev in a festive. But Mitrokhin himself sent all the dissatisfied "in the ass." Most of all, Sergei Mitrokhin got from the TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak, notes Echo of Moscow .

Firefighters evacuated the residents of the five-story building in the center of Moscow due to the fire, a law enforcement source told Interfax on Saturday. The basement caught fire there, and with smoke the entrance was covered. "Firefighters are looking for a focus of fire in the basement of a five -story building at the address: Shmitovsky passage, house 11a," the agency’s interlocutor said.

New, 2012, stepped on the island of the Christmas (Kiritimati) of the state of Kiribati, located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean - there was midnight at 14:00 Moscow time. The 2012 comes to the territory of Russia at 16:00 in Moscow. After 15 minutes, the second on the planet, with the outgoing 2011, the inhabitants of the island of Chatem, which is part of New Zealand, say goodbye.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided not to change traditions and celebrate the New Year at home, with relatives, whom they did not often see all year due to stressed schedule and numerous trips. “Everything will be as usual. The president will celebrate the New Year with the family, he is for a home holiday,” Natalya Timakova, a spokeswoman for the head of state, told Interfax .

Cosmonauts and astronauts operating on board the International Space Station (ISS) will fly 16 times on New Year and will return 15 times back in 2011. However, to celebrate the New Year, probably, the crew will only be three times - in Moscow time, in the time of Houston and the time of Greenwich. "The station crosses the border between the new and old year 16 times. The first time in 2012, the station will fly at 15:34 Moscow time on December 31.

In Sergiev Posad, a construction trailer burned down, four dead Message about the fire at the address: Tverskaya Street, house 29, was received on the remote control of the city’s duty fire department at 1:07 Moscow time. The fire stewed for two hours, during which time the house burned down to the ground.

The Fund of Andrei First-Called held on Saturday with the representative office of the European Union in Moscow a picket in support of the rector of the Vatopedic monastery on the Athos of Archimandrite Efrem, ITAR-TASS reports.

Iran’s naval forces launched large-range ballistic missiles during ten-day exercises in the Strait of the Ormuzian Strait, the Iranian media reported on Saturday. "Iran conducted a high -range missile testing in the Persian Gulf, " Interfax reports. Large -range ballistic missiles are capable of impressing the goals located in Israel, as well as the US base in the Middle East.

The Slovenia police identified the guard to the future Prime Minister of the country Zoran Yankovich, who unknown people threaten to kill, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Diary newspaper. The Liantrian Party of Yankovich "Positive Slovenia" won the last parliamentary elections on December 4. The politician is the main contender for the post of Prime Minister of the country.

In preparation for the New Year, the capital's authorities developed 2.2 thousand different events that will not allow Muscovites to get bored on ten -day holidays, Russian Newspaper writes with reference to the head of the Moscow Department of Culture Sergei Kapkov.

Oppositionists, together with Alexei Kudrin, who at a rally on Sakharov Avenue said that he was ready to be an intermediary in negotiations with the authorities, agreed to meet with Putin. Former Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin wrote on Saturday on his microblog on Twitter that he met with representatives of the organizing committee of the rally on Bolotnaya Square Vladimir Ryzhkov and Sergey Parkhomenko.