The opposition still looks like a pale shadow of Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Lukashenko gave the first press conference in the rank of President of Belarus, who was elected to the highest post for the fourth time in a row. As experts suggested, Lukashenko paid the main attention to the events on December 19 on Independence Square in Minsk, as a result of which hundreds of participants in the rally were beaten and arrested.

In Chelyabinsk, as a result of a fire in the hostel of the Pedagogical College, three students died. As the Radio Liberty correspondent Alexander Valiev reports, the fire report was received on the back of the duty officer at half past four in the night. The fire arose in the building of the dormitory of the Pedagogical College. About 100 people were evacuated.

Tatyana is fat Alexander Genis: In the coming year, the whole world will celebrate the most important anniversary - the twentieth anniversary of the new Russia. On the eve of this date, which, of course, we will talk about the whole next year, I proposed this topic to the old friend of our program Tatyana Tolstoy, who recently stayed in New York. Tatyana, in your opinion, can you summarize the 20th anniversary of the new Russia?

The largest producers of raw materials for potassium fertilizers - Uralkali and Sylvinite companies - announced the upcoming association. As a result of a transaction, the total volume of which is estimated at about 8 billion dollars, the second company in this industry arises - after the Canadian Potash Corporation. Both companies are developing the same deposit of potassium salts in the Perm Territory - Verkhnekamskoye, in which almost a quarter of their global reserves are concentrated.

Yulia Tymoshenko The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine charged the exceeding power to the former prime minister of the country, the leader of the Opposition Party "Fatherland" Yulia Tymoshenko. According to Tymoshenko herself after an interrogation on Monday in the Main Investigation Department, a subscription about a lower leave was taken from her.

Forests and firewood of the Moscow Region ... The results of an independent examination of the project for laying the Moscow-Sank-Petersburg highway through the Khimkinsky forest were published. Experts explained the failure of the route approved by the government and found eleven alternative options. They intend to appeal to the Constitutional Court of Russia in order to verify how much the Constitution is the amendments to land and forest legislation.

One of the presidential candidates Vladimir Neklyaev is beaten by the police In Belarus, the Central Electoral Commission announced that she processed 100 percent of the ballots submitted in the presidential election on December 19, 2010. The current President Alexander Lukashenko, according to official figures, is gaining 79.67 percent of votes. In the elections in 2006, 83 percent of voters voted for Lukashenko.

Correspondent of the newspaper Kommersant Oleg Kashin Journalist Oleg Kashin, brutally beaten by unknown in Moscow in early November, was transferred to another medical institution. Earlier it was reported that the correspondent of the newspaper Kommersant was discharged from the 36th city hospital on December 16. The wife of Kashin Evgeny Milov told Interfax that investigators, for security purposes, forbade the journalist to disclose the date of his discharge.

It is clear that the main topic of the day is Belarus. It is clear who is the main source of evil. It is clear that the struggle in the near future seems unpromising. I have a large list of phones of the Minsk politicians and experts, one of them will take part on the air of "Freedom". The one who has not yet been arrested.

The Laureate of the Nobel Prize of the World, Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi demanded that the lawyer Nasrin Sotuda, who was arrested on September 4 on charges of anti -government propaganda, immediately release from prison. Ebadi said that Sotude's life is in danger. The prisoner kept a dry hunger strike for 15 days in protest against the room in a single camera. Shirin Ebadi urged the UN Human Rights Council to intervene in this matter.

Ilya Repin. "Don Juan" A private museum of Russian art was opened in Prague, which presents the works of representatives of the academic school of Russian painting of the XVIII-XX centuries. In the small room of the museum - more than 150 paintings from the collection of collector Valery Larionov. Here you can see the little-known work of Russian Marinists, including Ivan Aivazovsky and Alexei Bogolyubov, as well as the canvases of artists-forwards: Vasily Polenov, Ilya Repin, Valentina Serova.

Yuri Dracohroust Like many other dramatic public events, clashes of the participants in the opposition demonstration with the police in Independence Square in Minsk left many unclear issues. Who exactly hit the glass in the Government House? Why didn't it reach the assault on the building? Why did some opposition leaders be beaten, while others were not? What was guided by Alexander Lukashenko, making a decision on the rigid use of force ?

Vladimir Ryzhkov Anna Kachkaeva: Today my guest is a politician and historian by education Vladimir Ryzhkov. It is clear that after what happened in Belarus, however, the Russian leadership said that nothing special happened ... Vladimir Ryzhkov: Well, from the point of view of the leadership of Russia, really, what is there? Well, they falsified the elections, well, dispersed with batons ...

Vadim Dubnov The elections of the President of Belarus that passed on December 19 ended predictably: according to official figures, Lukashenko scored about 80 percent of votes. Without waiting for the results of the vote, the opposition took people to the streets of people, and the law enforcement agencies began to disperse them, which led to mass arrests and beatings .

The United States strongly condemn the use of force against the participants in the opposition shares in Minsk, the United States Embassy said in Minsk “We are extremely concerned about the use of force on the part of the authorities, the beating and detention of several presidential candidates and violence against journalists and activists of civil society,” the statement says.