19 years without Anna Politkovskaya. What letters came to the editor of Novaya Gazeta on the day of her murder? Portrait of Anna Politkovskaya and flowers at the entrance to the house where she was killed, Moscow, October 8, 2006. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov / EPA On the 19th anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe, and former editor of Novaya Gazeta, Ekaterina Glikman, tells what letters people wrote to the editor on the day of Anna’s death.

On Putin’s 73rd birthday, deputies gave a standing ovation, officials wrote congratulations according to the manual, and children were forced to sing about him Vladimir Putin meets with his proxies in the Kremlin after the next elections, Moscow, March 20, 2024. Photo: Sergey Ilnitsky / EPA On October 7, Vladimir Putin celebrates his 73rd birthday. Every year, in honor of the dictator’s birthday, actions are held throughout Russia or public congratulations are published.

The judge delivering her verdict in court, Krasnodar region, Russia, 7 October 2025. Photo: Krasnodar region courts’ press service/ Telegram A court in the southern Russian Krasnodar region has fined a married couple 60,000 rubles (€630) for singing Ukrainian songs during a birthday party in their own home, the regional courts’ press service reported on Tuesday. Anton and Svetlana Petrenko were found guilty of “discrediting” the Russian army and each fined 30,000 rubles (€315).

The Slavyansky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory fined the spouses Anton and Svetlana Petrenko 60 thousand rubles for performing Ukrainian songs. This was reported by the press service of the Kuban courts. Both were found guilty under the administrative article of “discrediting” the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). Each spouse was fined 30 thousand rubles.

A passenger examines her mobile phone at Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow, 7 July 2025. Photo: EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV The Russian authorities have begun blocking foreign SIM cards from accessing the internet and texting services for 24 hours after entering the country, the Belarusian Communications Ministry said on Tuesday.

Photo: 66 ru Vice-Mayor of Yekaterinburg Rustam Galyamov asked the local head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Viktor Poznyak to “sort out” the situation with teenagers who are “terrorizing” public transport drivers. This was reported by 66 ru with reference to the corresponding letter.

Another attempt to launch a messenger for believers has failed. Why do modern media technologies not submit to the Russian Orthodox Church? Passers-by look at their phones near an Orthodox church in St. Petersburg, May 30, 2022. Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky / AP Photo / Scanpix / LETA “Start-up” turned out to be the finish line At the end of September, Russian federal media announced the launch of the Orthodox messenger Zosima, which can be downloaded from the Google Play app store from September 24.

Photo: Anacondaz A censored version of the track “Mom, I Love” by the Anacondaz group has appeared on the Yandex Music service, New-Europe drew attention. The following phrases were missing from the track: “cocaine”, “Satan”, “necrophiliac”, “betrayed the country”, “whores”, “withdrawal”, “drug trafficking” and others. Thus, in the chorus of the song only the words “Mom, I love” remained. Instead of cut words, the track features guitar riffs.

What is important to know about the new Russian budget? We explain on graphs Photo: Maxim Shipenkov / EPA The Russian government submitted to the State Duma a draft law on the federal budget, and along with it a document with a long title “Main directions of budget, tax and customs tariff policy for 2026 and for the planning period of 2027 and 2028.” It describes how much the federal treasury and all federal subjects will spend in total.

Photo: pexels In Russia, they began to block the Internet and sending SMS messages for foreign SIM cards. This was reported the day before by the telegram channel “Well, people, let’s go!” and Mobile Research analyst Eldar Murtazin . Today the information was confirmed by the Ministry of Communications of Belarus and the Kazakh operator Tele2 .

A Russian diplomatic passport. Photo: Wikimedia Commons EU countries have agreed to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats within the bloc as part of a new raft of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Consular staff at Russian diplomatic missions in the EU will now have to inform the national authorities of any plans to leave their host country for other EU states.

Why was the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology given? Osaka University professor Shimon Sakaguchi (center) arrives for a press conference in Suita City, Osaka, Japan, October 6, 2025. Photo: Jiji Press/EPA The 2025 Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine are American scientists Mary Brunkow (Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle) and Fred Ramsdell (Sonoma Biotherapeutics, San Francisco), as well as Japanese scientist Shimon Sakaguchi (Osaka University).

Photo: Nobel Committee Photo: Nobel Committee The Nobel Prize winners in physics were John Clarke, Michel Devore and John M. Martinis. This was reported on the website of the Nobel Committee. They were awarded the prize “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electrical circuit.” Previously, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to scientists from the USA and Japan for research in the field of immunity.

A firefighter tackles a blaze in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, 7 October 2025. Photo: State Security Service of Ukraine Two people were killed in Russian drone and artillery strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson overnight, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced on Tuesday. According to Prokudin, a woman’s body was removed from under the rubble of a collapsed building and a 65-year-old man succumbed to his injuries, while a further 18 people were injured.

We ask ten questions for the dictator's 73rd birthday Will Putin live forever? Why is he hiding his children? What motivates him most: power, money or belief in his own greatness? On the birthday of the dictator, who turns 73 years old, these and many other questions will be answered by Mikhail Rubin, a journalist for the Project publication and co-author of the book about Vladimir Putin, “The Tsar in Person.”