The country is gripped by protests on an unprecedented scale, with hundreds of people killed. Demonstrators demand the overthrow of the regime. Has a new Iranian revolution begun? Will Trump decide to take new blows? And what will Russia do if it loses its most important ally in the region?

Massive anti-government protests continue in Iran. According to human rights activists, at least 2,400 protesters have died during the dispersal of protests since the end of December. Tens of thousands of people were detained. There are fears that mass executions could begin. US President Donald Trump did not rule out “very tough measures” in response to repressions against protesters. He called on Iranians to continue coming out to protests.

Whether the scrappage tax helped Avtovaz, how the authorities force fleets to buy Russian cars and how businessmen react to the unpopular measures of the authorities, we discuss in the “Facing the Event” program with Denis Kasyanchuk, economic editor of The Bell.

What does depression mean in the iron and steel industry?

Vladislav Baumgertner The body of the former head of Uralkali, Vladislav Baumgertner, who disappeared a week ago, was found in Cyprus , Fontanka and the Greek media Philenews and Protagon report, citing sources. The body was found on the southern coast of Cyprus, Philenews notes. According to the publication, investigators are awaiting final identification. Baumgertner disappeared on January 7.

At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, cases of arson of railway infrastructure, buildings of military registration and enlistment offices and government institutions became more frequent in Russia. In Bashkortostan, FSB officers reported the detention of a 22-year-old native of Ufa ( his name was not given ) while preparing sabotage at fuel and energy complex facilities.

Osip Mandelstam On January 14, 1891, the poet Osip Mandelstam was born in Warsaw. On October 12, 1938, sentenced to five years in the camps for “counter-revolutionary activities,” he was brought to Vladivostok. That same year, on December 27, Mandelstam died. And his exile epic began four and a half years earlier, on May 17, 1934, when the poet was arrested in Leningrad. Mandelstam’s burial place has not yet been found and is unlikely to be discovered*.

The end of the Soviet period of Ukrainian history and culture (1917–1991) was marked for me by the renewal of one of the most famous writers of that time. His bold, comical, but at the same time serious self-promotion still works, although he himself is already in another world. He announced that from now on three persons, three heroes, coexisted in him, each of whom until recently would have had to challenge the other two to a duel. The first hero is Orthodox. The second is a communist.

Rally in support of protests in Iran, London Orientalists visiting Sergei Medvedev Iran is engulfed in protests of unprecedented proportions - dozens of cities and all provinces of the country are participating in them, and the death toll is in the hundreds. Demonstrators are demanding the overthrow of the regime; many are waiting for the return of the heir to the Iranian throne , Reza Pahlavi , and the restoration of the monarchy.

Mikhail Savva Political scientist and head of the Ukrainian expert group "Sova" Mikhail Savva was put on the wanted list in Russia. The Sovetsky District Court is considering his criminal case of evading the duties of a “foreign agent” - Savva was assigned the corresponding status in October 2023. The Kavkaz.Realii website found a card with the details of the wanted man in the Ministry of Internal Affairs database collected by the Mediazona publication.

Maternity hospital No. 1, Novokuznetsk On January 12, 2026, it became known about the tragedy in Novokuznetsk maternity hospital No. 1. Nine newborns died here during the New Year holidays.

Ramzan Kadyrov. Archive photo In 2025, Ramzan Kadyrov remained one of the main figures in Russian domestic politics, but attracted attention not for his ambitions or loud statements, but for his state of health.

Alexey Voinov Often, emigrants either forced or voluntarily change their range of interests - what they were passionate about in their homeland remains in their previous life. Alexey Voinov, one of the best translators of French literature into Russian, paradoxically found new breath by moving to Europe. In 2025, the Babel publishing house (Tel Aviv) published two novels in his translations, and in Paris, in Russian and French, the autobiographical book “Winter without Snow” was published.