The faces of the image of the People's Commissar Yezhov Photo: ITAR-TASS In December 1937, the Cranes of the Soviets Burriously celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Cheka -GPU -OGPU -NKVD. It was the peak of the fame of the People's Commissar Nikolai Yezhov. However, there was not so much time left before the disgrace of one of the most ominous figures of Soviet history.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug opened a criminal case on the fact of an emergency with an airplane , as a result of which, according to various sources, up to 4 people died. The case was initiated on violation of the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport, which negligently resulted in the death of more than two persons.

The founder of Open Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, called on Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, to fulfill her civic and professional duty and not register Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate. On Tuesday, December 19, Khodorkovsky wrote about this in his Telegram . The former head of Yukos believes that Putin's registration as a candidate is contrary to the Russian Constitution.

A British investment group has demanded $500 million from Russia, accusing the country of "corporate theft" in a fight for control of a coal mine in Siberia. Lawyers for Lehram Capital Investments, who specialize in buying distressed assets, allege that the coal mine was illegally seized with the assistance of local officials after a company representative was arrested. Writes about it The Financial Times . Lehram Capital Investments said one of its directors was illegally jailed in 2013.

Former head of US national intelligence James Klepper told CNN that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using his US counterpart Donald Trump as an asset. Klepper called "theatrical" Putin's recent call to Trump, which the Russian president made to thank him for the information that helped prevent the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg.

The Russian government will allocate 7 billion rubles. for additional payment of pensions in 13 regions, reported on December 19, Tuesday, on the website of the Cabinet. Residents of the Moscow, Murmansk, Sakhalin, Magadan and Arkhangelsk regions will receive an additional payment. Also pensioners from Komi, Yakutia, the Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Okrugs, from the Jewish Autonomous Region, from the Kamchatka, Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories.

According to the latest data, in a train crash that fell off a flyover onto a highway, three people died and about 100 were taken to hospitals, writes The Washington Post . Earlier it was reported about six dead. The exact causes of the accident will be determined by investigators who will conduct a thorough investigation, the newspaper notes. But it is known that the train was moving at a speed of 81 miles per hour, while in this section the speed limit is 30 miles per hour.

reports on Tuesday, December 19 Oleg Sorokin, Vice Speaker of the Regional Legislative Assembly, was detained in Nizhny Novgorod, TASS . The reasons for the detention are still unknown. Law enforcement agencies conduct searches at Sorokin's house. According to local media reports, the vice speaker is suspected of committing economic crimes. Oleg Sorokin worked as mayor of Nizhny Novgorod from 2010 to 2015. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2016.

The US delegation at a meeting of the UN Security Council voted against the Egyptian resolution calling to condemn the decision of US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley criticized the project and accused the UN of hostility towards Israel.

Russian officers who were part of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC) left the territory of the self-proclaimed DPR and are already in Kyiv-controlled Soledar. This is reported by the Donetsk News Agency . “Today, Russian officers managed to get out of our territory and cross the line of contact. Currently, they are in Soledar,” said Ruslan Yakubov, head of the DPR representative office in the JCCC.

How the Gulag was born * Photo: * * RIA Novosti/STF * In Ryazan, the concentration camp was established ... in the former convent (Kazan). ... there were merchants, priests, “prisoners of war” ... There were workshops at the camp - Tkatsky, Portnovskaya, Shoemzhnaya and (in 1921 it was already called) - “General works”, repair and construction in the city.

For the first time in Russia, a successful attack was carried out on a bank with the withdrawal of money abroad through the international financial information transfer system SWIFT. According to preliminary data, the Cobalt group was involved in the attack, Kommersant writes . The cyberattack was recorded on December 15th. The name of the bank and the amount of damage were not disclosed.

The UN has released a report on international migration. It says that about 258 million people live outside their homeland today, which is 49% more than in 2000. In 2017, half of all international migrants lived in just ten countries. Most of all migrants - 49.8 million people, or 19% of the total - live in the United States. Saudi Arabia, Germany and Russia are in second, third and fourth place with about 12 million migrants living in these countries.

reports on Tuesday, December 19 The lawyers of the ex-head of the Ministry of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev appealed the verdict of the ward, Interfax . The agency writes that the court received a "brief appeal." The defense asks to cancel the verdict and acquit Ulyukaev, who was sentenced to eight years of strict regime. The former minister was convicted by the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow on December 15. In addition to the prison term, he was fined 130 million rubles.

Dmitry Gudkov applied for a rally in Moscow on December 24 as an analogue of the Day of Free Elections holiday, which the mayor's office does not want to allow. The former deputy wrote about this on Tuesday, December 19, on his Facebook page . According to Gudkov, if the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, does not want a holiday on the 24th and calls it a rally, then he is obliged to coordinate this rally.