In annexed Crimea, mobile Internet has officially begun to be slowed down and turned off. "New Europe" found out why even supporters of the war did not support such a measure Workers install a New Year tree on the embankment in Yalta, Republic of Crimea, Ukraine, November 29, 2025. Photo: Konstantin Mikhalchevsky / Sputnik / Imago Images / Scanpix / LETA The head of the annexed Crimean Republic, Sergei Aksyonov, introduced restrictions on the operation of the mobile Internet.

Photo: RusNews A Russian activist has been fined for “discrediting” the army after displaying lyrics from a popular Soviet children’s song on a handmade sign, independent news outlet RusNews reported on Wednesday. Dmitry Rykov, from the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals, was fined 49,000 rubles (€530) over a solo picket held on 13 December.

Photo: social networks Photo: "Precedent" Early in the morning of December 23 in Novosibirsk, security forces broke into the house of Yevgeny Belozerov, a father with many children, who was picketing on Red Square and asking Vladimir Putin to allocate money for new housing. Belozerov himself told the Precedent publication about this. According to him, security forces broke a window in the house. Belozerov, hearing the noise, woke up.

Nude characters, a sex scene and a monologue about suicide were cut from the film The platforms “Ivi” and Viju censored the Oscar-winning film “Burnt by the Sun” by Nikita Mikhalkov, removing approximately three minutes of running time from it. This was reported by the “We Can Explain” channel. The scene in the bathhouse, where the main characters performed by Nikita Mikhalkov and Ingeborga Dapkunaite are shown half naked, and their daughter is completely naked, was removed from the film.

One of the victims named Marat at the crime scene. Photo: “Team Against Torture” Orenburg security forces beat three residents of the Orenburg region with a whip, doused them with gasoline and threatened to set fire to them, demanding to confess to the crime. Team Against Torture reports this. The victims' names are Amir, Askar and Marat. On November 19, they left the village of Skalistoye in the Orenburg region towards the neighboring city. They were soon stopped by police officers.

At the beginning of the war it was destroyed by Russian bombs. Now this is the pride of propaganda People near the restored theater in Mariupol, Donetsk region, Ukraine, December 9, 2025. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA On December 25, a drama theater will be opened in Mariupol, destroyed on March 16, 2022 as a result of a Russian air strike.

How Transnistria is coping without the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine A Tiraspoltransgaz gas distribution station in Transnistria, Moldova , 4 February 2025.

Dmitry Stenkin. Photo: Mediazona A Moscow court has sentenced a Russian serviceman to life in prison for murdering a woman and attempting to abduct her two daughters, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Tuesday, citing the court’s press service. Dmitry Stenkin, 40, was found guilty of murder, attempted murder, the kidnapping of minors and breaking and entering.

Dmitry Kozak speaks at a Russian Security Council meeting on 21 February 2022, three days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Kremlin.ru Dmitry Kozak, a longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, presented a range of reforms aimed at liberalising Russia, including a mass amnesty, to the Kremlin before stepping down from his post in September, according to state-affiliated business news outlet RBC.

Authoritarianism is contagious. Following Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Bulgaria, legislators in Kazakhstan have now declared war on LGBT people Photo: e-cis.info “In order for early elections to take place without unnecessary noise, of course, it is necessary to close the mouth of civil society. Who did they choose first to introduce prohibition amendments?

Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on 23 December 2025. Photo: Zelensky / Telegram Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has for the first time publicly set out the contents of a 20-point draft peace plan being discussed with the US, Europe and Russia, RBC-Ukraine has reported . Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Zelensky said that the core 20-point document was being developed alongside separate draft agreements.

The majority of Russians surveyed (55%) expect the end of the war in Ukraine in 2026 and “the achievement of set goals.” This is stated in the report of VTsIOM, which was presented at a thematic round table of the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISR), Vedomosti writes. “Everything else—foreign policy, sanctions, economics, social issues—is perceived as fragmentary in relation to the main issue that worries fellow citizens [ending the war in Ukraine],” the study says.

Issues of territories and control over Zaporizhia NPP have not yet been resolved Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky for the first time named all 20 points of the peace plan, which Ukraine, Russia and the United States are currently discussing. RBC-Ukraine reports this. The current version of the document, according to Kyiv, lists the following: Confirmation of the sovereignty of Ukraine.

A man pushes his bicycle through the streets of Siversk, on 18 February 2023. Photo: EPA/OLEG PETRASYUK Ukrainian troops have fully withdrawn from Siversk, a key stronghold in the country’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Russia claimed to have captured the town.

Stories of Russian women who do not want to have children Illustration: Lyalya Bulanova At the end of 2024, a law banning “childfree propaganda” came into force in Russia. Now refusal to bear children cannot be “promoted” on the Internet, media, cinema and advertising. An exception was made only for nuns and their vow of celibacy - the Russian Orthodox Church specifically asked for this. A journalist from New Europe spoke with Russian women who consciously decided not to have children.