The New Times continues publishing the diaries of the famous journalist Masha Slonim, who went into exile for the second time* The pre-holiday fuss is almost over, it's too late to rush around - the shops are closing, the trains stop running, life moves on to the fireplace, to the Christmas tree and to the Christmas table. It would seem, what a cute, albeit hackneyed Christmas story! On Christmas and New Year's Eve, you always want exactly this - battered and cute, simple and childish.

The outgoing 2016 was, perhaps, the most turning point since Vladimir Putin was in power. We have seen a prolonged personnel earthquake, as a result of which the year ends with a renewed presidential administration, a new composition and leadership of the State Duma, a humiliated government, the arrest of Federal Minister Alexei Ulyukaev, a reshuffling of the governor's corps, as well as significant personnel and structural changes in key law enforcement agencies.

On the fragments of the Tu-154 aircraft that crashed in the Black Sea, as well as the bodies of the dead raised from the water, they did not find traces of explosives and damage indicative of external impact, Interfax reports, citing sources familiar with the situation. “To date, forensic experts have not found traces on the wreckage of the aircraft and the bodies of the dead, indicating that an external impact could have been exerted on the liner,” the agency’s source said.

The New Times publishes photos of those who died in a plane crash near Sochi On board the collapsed Tu-154 were 92 people: 84 passengers and 8 crew members

Heroes... Ildar Dadin A letter from Ildar Dadin, the first Russian convicted under article 212.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, to his wife from the Segezha colony IK-7 is a calm and terrible document. Dadin, as about things quite everyday, spoke about torture in the colony and that his very survival was in question. Perhaps it was this tone, the tone of a person experiencing a nightmare as a routine, that provoked a reaction even in official circles.