A woman holds a placard that reads “No to Putin’s terror” as Russian nationals wait in line to vote in the presidential elections at the Russian embassy in Prague, Czechia, 15 March 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK Czech deputies have adopted a legal amendment which imposes new restrictions on Russians in the country hoping to apply for Czech citizenship, the parliament’s website revealed on Wednesday. The vote passed by 92 votes to 35, with 47 abstentions.

Timur Ivanov, photo: SOTAvision Since the arrest of Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov in April 2024, investigators have opened 20 cases against department employees and contractors for fraud, bribery and theft, The Insider calculated based on open data. It follows from them that the total amount of damage estimated by investigators is at least 6.5 billion rubles. However, in some cases against employees of the Ministry of Defense, damages are not specified.

New Year decorations in Moscow, 11 December. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY A total of 70% of Russians thought 2024 was a “difficult” year for the country on the whole, a survey published by the state-owned Russian Public Opinion Research Centre on Wednesday has found. By contrast, 23% of those surveyed said the year had been a “successful and positive” one, while 7% had difficulty answering, the survey conducted on 6 December among 1,600 Russians aged 18 years and over revealed.

An environmental disaster risks leading to the death of dolphins, fish, birds and plants. It also calls into question the holiday season. Volunteers clean up oil spills on the coastline after an incident in the Kerch Strait, Anapa, Russia, December 18, 2024. Photo: press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation / EPA-EFE On the morning of December 15, during a storm in the Kerch Strait, two tankers carrying fuel oil, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were in trouble.

Military experts say Russia is likely to seize another key stronghold in eastern Ukraine Ukrainian servicemen conduct a tactical medical exercise at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region, 14 December 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/24TH MECHANISED BRIGADE PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT The situation on the frontline in eastern Ukraine is becoming even more dire as Russia’s ongoing advance in Donbas may lead to Ukraine abandoning an important logistical hub in the region.

Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv on 2 December. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told French daily Le Parisien that the Armed Forces of Ukraine lack the strength to recover Crimea and Donbas militarily in an interview published Tuesday.

Is it dangerous to fly now? And how will prices rise? In just two days at the end of November, six aviation accidents occurred in Russia involving the Sukhoi Superjet aircraft, the main “hope” of the Russian aviation industry. A total of 209 air incidents have been recorded since the beginning of 2024, a third more than last year. Many foreign airliners in Russia are idle due to sanctions, and their replacement with domestic aircraft is proceeding extremely slowly.

Parliament supported the ban on issuing passports to those who do not refuse Russian ones. The diaspora considers the law discriminatory Photo: Caro / Sorge / Scanpix / LETA The Czech Parliament adopted an amendment to the Lex Ukrajina law, according to which Czech citizenship will be granted to Russian citizens only if they refuse a Russian passport. 92 people voted “for” the bill, 35 “against”. Another 47 parliamentarians abstained.

Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that the Ukrainian army cannot return the annexed Crimea and Donbass on its own. He spoke about this in an interview with the French newspaper Le Parisien. On negotiations with Putin Journalists asked Zelensky what compromises he was willing to make to end the war in Ukraine and whether he could “at least temporarily” give Crimea and Donbass to Russia. “We cannot give away our territories.

How the Chechen leader turned into an informal Middle Eastern envoy of Russia and how much these services cost the Kremlin Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov during a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, September 28, 2023.

A photo exhibition outside of the North Korean embassy in Moscow, 30 October 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV Hundreds of North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia’s partially occupied Kursk region, The Guardian reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed senior US military official. The official said that their latest estimate was “several hundred casualties”, which would include everything from light wounds up to being killed in action.

The scene of the explosion that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in Moscow on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV Law enforcement officers in Moscow have detained an Uzbek citizen suspected of placing the bomb that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant in an explosion outside his apartment block on Tuesday, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced on Wednesday.

“New Europe” shows a map of regions and tells what and where foreigners are now prohibited from doing A food delivery man waits for an order outside a store in Moscow. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov / EPA-EFE This year, the Russian authorities have significantly complicated the already difficult life of foreigners.

Exactly five years ago, COVID-19 appeared. We tell you what has changed in medicine during this time Vaccination in Russia. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov / EPA-EFE In December 2019, the first cases of infection with a new pathogen, coronavirus, were registered in China. Just a couple of weeks later, the first outbreaks of the disease were recorded, and in the spring of 2020 the pandemic began. In total, the virus has killed more than seven million people.

Photo: Korea Central News Agency/EPA-EFE Several hundred North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia against Ukraine were killed or wounded during the fighting in the Kursk region. The BBC , Associated Press , The Guardian and The New York Times write about this. “According to our latest estimates, the DPRK suffered losses of several hundred people. This includes everything from minor injuries to death in combat,” an unnamed US military official told the media.