Radio Liberty News: final release

Vladimir Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting of the Russian Security Council on the evening of January 21, said that he was ready to send $1 billion from Russian assets frozen in the West, including in the United States, after the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine, to the so-called Peace Council being created under the chairmanship of Donald Trump, where he was invited by the US President.

Gennady Trukhanov The Pechersky District Court released the former mayor of Odessa Gennady Trukhanov from 24-hour house arrest, Suspilne reports, citing his lawyer Alexander Lysakov. According to him, Trukhanov’s preventive measure was changed to “personal obligation.” At the end of October 2025, he was placed under house arrest.

A US Coast Guard member observes the tanker Bella, which was seized by the Coast Guard on January 7, 2026. On Tuesday, the US military seized another tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The tanker Sagitta, with a cargo of Venezuelan oil on board, is the seventh tanker detained since early December by the US Coast Guard as part of an operation to blockade tankers operating in violation of sanctions. In a statement, U.S.

A court in Moscow fined Alexander Filippov 1,000 rubles, who was accused of destroying a memorial plaque of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He was found guilty of petty hooliganism, the press service of the capital's courts reports . No other details are provided. On the evening of January 18, unknown persons smashed a memorial plaque installed on the house on Lesnaya Street, where Politkovskaya was killed on October 7, 2006.

Broken memorial plaque on the house of Anna Politkovskaya, photo by Victoria Artemyeva (Novaya Gazeta) Lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, who were killed in Moscow 17 years ago, on January 19, 2009, were remembered in Russia and other countries earlier this week. Just recently, Evgenia Khasis, one of those convicted for this murder, was released.

In the twentieth century there were four waves of Russian emigration. The fifth wave, Putin's, began in the 2010s as a flight from an authoritarian regime. There are many writers, artists, scientists, journalists - most of the enlightened class has left. What is the culture of Russian diaspora?

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the WEF in Davos Information digest “Time of Freedom with Andrei Sharogradsky.” Wednesday, January 21 Information digest “Time of Freedom with Andrei Sharogradsky.” Wednesday, January 21 Ukraine is trying to restore the energy sector destroyed by Russian strikes The shelling of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the reaction to it at the IAEA Vladimir Zelensky refused to go to the WEF in Davos European leaders and Canada criticize Donald Trump for

Tanker in an oil terminal The European Union has banned imports of products made from Russian crude oil to cut Moscow's profits from the war in Ukraine. This hit oil refineries in Turkey and India. Analysts warn of loopholes allowing refiners to hide the origin of crude oil or re-export it through countries not subject to restrictions, and call for stricter controls.

In 2025, the Lithuanian authorities recognized 1,721 citizens of Belarus and Russia as posing a threat to state security, public order or human health. This was reported by the Migration Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania. Among them are 1,634 citizens of Belarus, which is almost three times more than in 2024 (598 citizens).

Collage: Putin, Trump, Zelensky Trump announced a meeting with Zelensky in Davos The dispute between the United States and Europe over control of Greenland has disrupted the agreement on a plan to restore Ukraine after the end of hostilities, The Financial Times claims. According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, the signing of a “prosperity plan” for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine planned at the World Economic Forum in Davos was postponed.

Akhmadjon Kurbonov The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced citizen of Uzbekistan Akhmadjon Kurbonov to life imprisonment in the case of the murder of the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces of the Russian Armed Forces, General Igor Kirillov, and his assistant. He was also fined one million rubles, RBC reports .

Radio Liberty news: accuracy, efficiency, impartiality