The withdrawal of US troops from Syria creates the prospect of a political settlement in the country, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “A very important story that can stem from this decision is a real, real prospect for a political settlement,” she said on Channel One (quoted by TASS ).

The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund approved a program to support the economic policy of Ukraine in the amount of $3.9 billion and the first loan tranche for $1.4 billion. “Such decisions by the world's leading financial institutions ensure the constancy of our confident movement and strengthen Ukraine's stability against the backdrop of complex internal and external challenges.

Vitaly Mutko has left the post of President of the Russian Football Union, and Sergei Pryadkin will act as President of the Russian Football Union until the Conference of the RFU, the organization said on Twitter. The conference is to be held on February 22. Earlier, Mutko suspended his activities as president of the Russian Football Union for six months after he fell under the sanctions of the International Olympic Committee. He was replaced by RFU General Director Alexander Alaev.

Blocking threatens to connect to the services "Google.Analytics" and "Yandex.Metrics" Take a look here my young internet lovers and prepare your sites to be blocked. Because from today, in general, any site in the country violates the law and stores personal information of Russian citizens "on American servers in California." As I wrote today , there was a court session in the morning, and the Smart Voting website was blocked.

Estonia has made the first arrests in a money laundering case involving Danske Bank, arresting 10 former employees of the bank's Estonian branch. It is reported by Reuters . Danish, Estonian, UK and US authorities are investigating transfers totaling €200bn through a tiny Danish bank branch in Estonia between 2007 and 2015. “On Tuesday, the criminal police detained six people, and on Wednesday four more.

An unscheduled inspection by the Ministry of Justice of the movement "For Human Rights" was organized at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, the ministry's press service reported. The demand was received by the department on December 7, Interfax reports . The sudden check became known on December 18, the movement "For Human Rights" must provide documents for the last three years. They relate to accounting, staffing, grant projects.

The State Duma adopted in the third, final reading the law on the abolition of national roaming for cellular communications in Russia. “According to expert estimates, roaming within the Russian regions arose due to the presence of special regulation, in which each of the telecom operators made connections through a single all-Russian telecom operator, which caused additional costs for such operators.

Ukraine plans to make a new passage through the Kerch Strait with the involvement of international partners. This was stated in an interview with BBC News Ukraine by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov.

The US Treasury announced the inclusion of Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga, also known as "Petrov" and "Boshirov", on the sanctions list of those suspected of attempting to assassinate Sergei and Yulia Skripal. In addition, .

It was decided to block the website of the Smart Voting project due to Google and Yandex counters, says Alexei Navalny On December 19, the Tagansky Court of Moscow decided to block the website of Alexei Navalny's Smart Voting project for violating the rules for storing personal data. By a court decision, not only the 2019.vote page is blocked , but also its mirrors. Earlier, Roskomnadzor added the site to the register of violators of the rights of personal data subjects.

A package of amendments on the partial decriminalization of the article on inciting hatred, introduced by the President, was adopted by the State Duma in the final third reading. In accordance with the amendments to the Criminal Code, it is assumed that actions aimed at inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliating a person's dignity, will be recognized as criminally punishable if they are committed repeatedly within one year.

US President Donald Trump announced the victory over the terrorists in Syria, the troops are preparing to leave the country. Trump wrote on Twitter about the victory over the "Islamic State" * (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation as a terrorist organization), noting that this was the only task of the US military in Syria.

A gun was put to the head of the deputy editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Sergei Buntman, on the street near the Shinok restaurant, where on December 18 the birthday of the editor-in-chief of the radio station, Alexei Venediktov, was celebrated. Buntman's wife Lydia Skryabina announced this on Facebook. According to her, she and Buntman, having left the restaurant, were waiting for a taxi.

The US Treasury intends to lift sanctions on Rusal, En+ and EuroSibEnergo in 30 days. At the same time, Oleg Deripaska will remain on the sanctions list, all his property and legal entities, where he owns 50% or more, will be frozen, the Finance Ministry said in a statement .

Officials no longer need Putin's direct roar every time. After all, they are not fools, they learned in 18 years to catch, and predict, and read between the lines The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation will conduct an unscheduled inspection of Lev Ponomarev's For Human Rights movement, Ekho Moskvy reports. Important news. Especially in the context of the recent HRC meeting, where almost every speaker reminded Putin of Ponomarev's unfair arrest.