Photo: Bank of Russia website At the beginning of 2026, Russia will experience a sharp rise in prices due to an increase in value added tax (VAT) and indexation of housing and communal services tariffs. This was stated by the head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina. According to her, some companies began to adjust prices taking into account innovations back in December, but the main effect is expected in the first months of 2026.

The 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced seven defendants in the case of the assassination attempt on Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov and participation in the “terrorist” organization National Socialism / White Power (NS/WP) to terms ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment. Mediazona reports this.

Baumanka associate professor Alexander Nesterenko was sentenced to three years in prison for saving Ukrainian songs on social networks Alexander Nesterenko during the announcement of the verdict in the Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow The Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow today sentenced 62-year-old Alexander Nesterenko to three years in prison. During the meeting, Associate Professor Baumanki made his last word. New Europe publishes it in its entirety.

A screen displays a live broadcast of Vladimir Putin’s annual Direct Line call-in show in Moscow, Russia, 19 December 2025. Photo: EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV Vladimir Putin used his annual Direct Line call-in show on Friday to restate his hardline positions on the war in Ukraine, criticise “the Kiev regime and its European sponsors” and respond to carefully vetted questions from members of the public and journalists.

Photo: social networks In pre-trial detention center No. 3 of the Belgorod region, serviceman Alexey Kostrikin, accused of murder and rape in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, committed suicide. Interfax writes about this with reference to the press service of the regional department of the Federal Penitentiary Service. Photo: social networks “On December 19, 2025, in pre-trial detention center No.

Yekaterinburg human rights activist Alexei Sokolov was accused of treason. We show why Alexey Sokolov during a court hearing, Yekaterinburg, December 18, 2025. Photo: Marina Moldavskaya / Kommersant / Vida Press On December 18, 2025, human rights activist Alexei Sokolov, arrested the day before in Yekaterinburg, was charged under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - high treason.

Photo: Espanola / Telegram The commander of the disbanded Hispaniola volunteer brigade, Stanislav Orlov, with the call sign “Spaniard,” has died, the telegram channel of the military formation reported . Stanislav Orlov. Photo: Espanola / Telegram Espanyol did not name the cause or date of Orlov’s death. “We cannot help but note that many are interested in the reasons for the death of the Spaniard, and we are no less interested.

Alexey Kostrikin. Photo: social media A Russian soldier accused of rape and murder in Russia’s western Belgorod region has committed suicide while in pretrial detention, regional news outlet Fonar reported on Friday. Alexey Kostrikin was originally detained on 30 October after he allegedly broke into a house in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, near the Ukrainian border, killed its 56-year-old owner, who local media later identified only as Sergey, and raped Sergey’s schoolteacher wife.

Alexander Nesterenko in court for his sentencing, 19 December 2025. Photo: Mediazona A Moscow court has sentenced a former lecturer at Russia’s prestigious Bauman State Technical University to three years in prison for “inciting extremism” by including Ukrainian songs in an online playlist, independent news outlet RusNews reported on Friday.

Screenshot from a video message from parents of schoolchildren. Source: "Wind" Parents of students at the Assumption School in the Odintsovo urban district of the Moscow region recorded a video message to Vladimir Putin, a source told the Veter publication.

A phone displaying the LitRes app. Photo: Chelyabinsk Regional Universal Scientific Library LitRes, one of Russia’s largest digital publishing platforms, has made approximately 4,500 of its titles unavailable to Russian customers amid fears that it could be fined for promoting the use of drugs, the company’s general director Sergey Anuryev told Russian business daily Kommersant on Thursday.

During a direct line with the population, Ramzan Kadyrov gave the answer to perhaps the main question that the republic wants, but cannot ask: he is alive. And again he will go to the elections of the head Photo: Ramzan Kadyrov’s telegram channel On December 14, Ramzan Kadyrov held a live broadcast in Chechnya dedicated to the results of the year.

A view of the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 16 February 2025. Photo: EPA / STRINGER Law enforcement agencies in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine have threatened locals who submitted critical video messages to Vladimir Putin in the run-up to his annual televised phone-in event on Friday, according to Telegram news channel ASTRA.

“New Europe” has collected everything that is known about the tragedy at the Assumption School Relatives of a deceased schoolboy at the entrance to the Assumption School in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, December 16, 2025. Photo: Maxim Shipenkov / EPA On Thursday, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow sent into custody a 15-year-old teenager named Timofey K.

Vladimir Putin once again took questions from vetted members of the Russian public during his annual call-in show on Friday Vladimir Putin during his annual Direct Line call-in show at Moscow’s Gostiny Dvor, 19 December 2025. Photo: EPA / SERGEI ILNITSKY Vladimir Putin has begun his annual Direct Line call-in show in Moscow — an hours-long ordeal in which Russia’s de facto leader responds to carefully vetted questions from members of the public.