The behavior of the Russian authorities during election campaigns every time demonstrates that the authorities are seriously not paying to competitors or citizens. In fact, any election action - say, Putin’s program or his participation in the debate turns into an imitation of the campaign. This is our democracy. The special nature of Russian democracy (or “democracy”, if you like) every time clearly and even convexly manifests itself during federal election campaigns.

The number of victims of the explosion in the Italian restaurant in the south-west of Moscow increased to three people, the website of RIA Novosti reports. On January 12, a man died in hospital No. 36, who received almost 100 percent of the body burns. According to Interfax , we are talking about the 38-year-old cook of the restaurant. The explosion occurred in the Italian restaurant Il Pittore on the afternoon of January 9th.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who nominated his candidate for the president of Russia, published the election program. On January 12, a document called "Program 2012 - 2018" was published on the Putin 2012 website. This site was launched in noon on January 12, 2012.

Illustration: Sergey Elkin The behavior of the Russian authorities during election campaigns every time demonstrates that the authorities are seriously not paying to competitors or citizens. In fact, any election action - say, Putin’s program or his participation in the debate turns into an imitation of the campaign. This is our democracy. The special nature of Russian democracy (or “democracy”, if you like) every time clearly and even convexly manifests itself during federal election campaigns.

The head of the Accounts Chamber (SP) Sergey Stepashin sent a report to the chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin about the work of his department for 2011, the Izvestia newspaper writes. It follows from the document that over the past year, illegal budget expenses in Russia reached 718.5 billion rubles ─ more than in the last decade. So, in 2008, the joint venture revealed violations by only 97 billion, in 2009 ─ already at 238, and in 2010 ─ 484 billion rubles.

The Vedomosti newspaper draws attention to the report of an expert close to the Kremlin, which states that Vladimir Putin should not respond to protests to win the elections, but work as ahead, consolidating his support groups.

Dmitry Medvedev instructed the First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to form an interdepartmental working group to identify and suppress financial transactions aimed at legalizing income received by criminal means, the President of Russia reports. The regular working group will be formed under the leadership of Zubkov and will consist of representatives of law enforcement agencies, the Bank of Russia and the Federal Tax Service.

The UK sent the HMS Dang destroyer to the Persian Gulf, Interfax reports with reference to the Chinese news agency Zhongo Sinwan. Made according to the Stealth technology, HMS DARING is considered the most modern and equipped ship of the British Navy. The destroyer left the English port of Portsmut last Wednesday, according to calculations, he must arrive in the bay area at the end of January 2012.

The Italian restaurant II Pittore exploded on January 9 in the south-west of Moscow previously belonged to Rafael Grigoryan. Kommersant himself believes that the institution was taken away from him. “I built this restaurant in 1998 with my own hands, ” 77-year-old Rafael Grigoryan, who had previously headed a large trust of building materials in Armenia, told the Moscow Komsomol member . The building was commissioned as a trading pavilion, tenants opened the Italian cuisine “Il Pitter”.

The State Duma Council decided to invite on January 27 to a meeting of the Chamber of the Chairman of the CEC Vladimir Churov, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Rashid Nurgaliev and the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. According to Interfax , the invited will answer questions from deputies relating to the State Duma elections in December.

The external debt of Russia grew by 10.2%, to $ 538.940 billion as of January 1, 2012, the preliminary data of the Bank of Russia, which is located in RIA Novosti , testify. The indicator for January 2010 amounted to $ 488.940 billion. Earlier on Thursday, December 12, at a meeting of the Government Presidium, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the external debt is only 2.5% of GDP.

The US Air Force has concluded a contract with the American company United Launch Services for the withdrawal of new satellites to orbit, Defense News reports. The amount of the contract amounted to 1.5 billion dollars. According to the terms of the agreement, the company will have to bring to orbit two military meteorological satellites of the DMSP-19 and DMSP-20, MUOS-3 communications satellite, as well as three intelligence apparatus.

Entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov, who announced his intention to run for president of Russia, considers mass rallies against falsifications in the elections by a sign of the end of the “era of controlled democracy” in Russia. The businessman wrote about this in an article published on the website of the British newspaper Guardian .

The Roscosmos once again clarified the time and place of a possible fall in the fragments of the Russian Interplanetary Station Fobos Grunt, the website of Roscosmos reports. The possible place for the fall of the unsuccessful parts of the apparatus is located in the Indian Ocean between the east coast of Africa and the island of Madagascar with approximate coordinates of 47 degrees of eastern longitude and 7 degrees of southern latitude.

Two first -graders who disappeared in Bryansk on January 11 were found alive, the RIA Novosti website reports. It was reported that they were in one of the apartments of the Bezhitsky district of the city. According to Interfax , the girls spent the night with a friend, as one of them lost a mobile phone and was afraid to return home. Pupils of the first grade of school No. 63 Nastya Boraborkina and Olya Markelova did not return home on Wednesday after classes at school, which ended at 13.00.