According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2017 the volume of sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest military-industrial companies in the world grew by 2.5% and amounted to $398.2 billion. The first place in the SIPRI rating is occupied by the United States - in 2017, the total volume of arms sales by American companies increased by 2% and amounted to $ 226.6 billion, or 57% of the total in the rating, Kommersant writes .

Russia took 19th out of 25 places in the ranking of the effectiveness of budget spending, which was prepared by experts from the Higher School of Economics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the initiative of the Acting Governor of the Primorsky Territory, Oleg Kozhemyako, to transfer the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok. It is reported by RBC , referring to the President's resolution in a letter to Kozhemyako.

14 partners and associates of Donald Trump during his election campaign and the beginning of the presidential term, communicated with the Russians, follows from the data of the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. According to The Washington Post , the Russians offered to help Trump in his presidential campaign and in business, there were offers of compromising information on Hillary Clinton. It was repeatedly proposed to organize a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Political scientist Georgy Satarov reflects on the role and prospects of the FSB in the latest Russian reality On December 7, the Moscow Court of Appeal reduced the verdict to Lev Ponomarev from 25 days to 16. The decision was made by Judge Anna Seliverstova. Her sentence is simply open mockery, since the initial verdict of the Tver court was unlawful. But I'm not talking about that. Everything is clear to everyone. And an unclear future, as usual.

Parliament will not vote on a draft deal between the UK and the EU. What's next - the resignation of the government or the second referendum, - learned Masha Slonim British Prime Minister Theresa May announced today in the House of Commons that the vote in Parliament on an agreement with the EU to withdraw the UK from the European Union, which was supposed to take place on December 11, is postponed, and she is going to Brussels for additional consultations.

The court extended the term of arrest for Oyub Titiev, head of the Grozny representative office of the Memorial Human Rights Center, for three months. “Oyub was arrested for another three months — until March 22, 2019 (the period is counted from December 22 — before this date there was a previous extension),” reported . Memorial Titiev has been under arrest since January 9 on charges of illegal acquisition and possession of drugs.

Politician, head of the Krasnoselsky district of Moscow, Ilya Yashin, asked the Prosecutor General's Office to check the legality of the participation of Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev in the United Russia congress, which was held on December 7-8. Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev took part in the congress of the United Russia party.

The European Union for holding “so-called elections” in the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR has included nine people on the sanctions list. The restrictions affected the heads of election commissions of the unrecognized republics, as well as Leonid Pasechnik, elected head of the LPR, and Vladimir Bidevka and Denis Miroshnichenko, heads of the People's Councils of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR.

Despite the possible participation of President Vladimir Putin in the farewell ceremony for human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva, ordinary citizens will not need special accreditation. It is necessary only for media representatives, Ekho Moskvy reports with reference to the explanations of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Earlier it was reported that due to the possible participation of Putin, the FSO will deal with accreditation , and access to the House of Journalists may be limited.

The Main Military Prosecutor's Office began checking information about the possible supply of foodstuffs to the National Guard at inflated prices, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service opened a case on the presence of signs of violation of the legislation on state defense orders when supplying products to the Russian Guard by the Friendship of Peoples meat processing plant.

Rosfinmonitoring, when checking the Panama Dossier, found 4,197 offshore companies controlled by Russians. These companies made financial transactions totaling over 5 billion rubles. Many of them are associated with “governors, deputies and ministerial corps,” said Vitaly Andreev, head of the Rosfinmonitoring anti-money laundering department, at the conference “Priority areas of anti-corruption policy in Russia and the world” at the Higher School of Economics, RBC reports .

On December 10, the EU will begin discussions of the possibility of adopting the “Magnitsky Law” in 28 states - members of the Commonwealth.

Farewell to Lyudmila Alekseeva in the House of Journalists on December 11 will be held under increased security measures. Media accreditation is handled by the FSO, Novaya Gazeta writes .

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's "My Step" bloc won with a score of 70.43% in the early parliamentary elections in Armenia. The second place with 8.27% was taken by the Prosperous Armenia party, whose leader has repeatedly expressed support for Pashinyan. The allies of the latter, represented by the Bright Armenia party, took the third place with 6.37%. The rest of the political forces did not overcome the necessary barrier to enter the National Assembly, News.am reports .