In the first half of the year, 2.7 thousand organizations specializing in tourism stopped working in Russia, which is 52.3% more than a year earlier. This data is provided by Kommersant with reference to the Kontur.Focus service. The increase in the number of companies in the tourism market during this period was the smallest in three years – 0.84%. Kommersant explains this, in particular, by cooling demand.

Protests against the resignation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, Kyiv, July 16, 2026 Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is considering the possibility of resigning the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky, the Financial Times writes , citing a source.

Strike on a Russian ship in the Black Sea “This is not even piracy anymore, which is what the Ukrainian regime is doing. Pirates at least rob and take it for themselves. But here it’s neither for themselves nor for the people,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said about Ukrainian attacks on Russian ships in the Azov and Black Seas.

Jens Spahn The head of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag, Jens Spahn, announced his resignation amid a scandal involving the birth of a child through surrogacy. N-tv reports this with reference to the politician’s letter. Spahn notified the leaders of the CDU and CSU, Friedrich Merz and Markus Söder, that he was leaving his post as head of the parliamentary faction. Spahn and his husband used the services of a surrogate mother outside of Germany, where surrogacy is prohibited.

At the site of the AZAL airliner crash Azerbaijan will soon resume direct flights to Russia in a number of directions closed after the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny. This was stated by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov following negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Screenshot from a video of the strikes on Iran, which was published on July 18 by the US Central Command On Saturday, Iran resumed attacks on US allies in the Persian Gulf after another overnight strike by the US military, Reuters reports . In Kuwait, a desalination plant was hit and operations at the international airport were suspended due to the threat of missile and drone attacks.

The Rostov garrison military court sentenced former Ka-52 helicopter pilot and author of the Voevoda Broadcasts telegram channel Alexey Zemtsov to three years in a general regime colony. He was found guilty of threatening to kill, extortion with violence and intentional damage to property. The case is related to Zemtsov’s conflict with an assistant on a telegram channel, whom he suspected of having a relationship with his wife.

The Ukrainian Defense Forces have significantly increased the number of medium-range strikes this year. Donbass.Realii (a project of the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty) witnessed one of the combat operations of the 1st separate center for unmanned systems of the Unmanned Systems Force. The Ukrainian Defense Forces are scaling up middle strikes - medium-range strikes - hitting air defense systems, deployment points and other objects in the operational rear of Russian troops.

Illustrative photo Residents of the village of Gunayka Fourth in the Tuapse district of the Krasnodar Territory recorded a video message to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev due to constant power outages. According to villagers, there is no light in the houses for 18 hours a day - from five in the morning to 11 in the evening, and water disappears along with it: there is no central water supply in the village, and the pumps in wells and boreholes operate from the network.

The elites no longer trust Putin, the oligarchs are looking for exits to the West, and Z-propagandists are breaking down on live television. Psychosis or learned helplessness? Psychiatrist Prokofiev about the blindness of Russians. Should we wait for mobilization before the elections or will the Kremlin try to hold out until the fall?

Illustrative photo The Ust-Dzhegutinsky district court of Karachay-Cherkessia fined a local resident 30 thousand rubles, considering his comments in the telegram channel “ChP Cherkessk” as “discrediting” the Russian army. The content of the comments is not given in the document, and the name of the person fined is also not mentioned.

Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the new leader of the Labor Party and the country's next prime minister during a special Labor conference in London. July 17, 2026 Andy Burnham became the leader of the ruling Labor Party in Great Britain. He will succeed Keir Starmer as Prime Minister on Monday 20 July. This was announced at a special Labor conference on 17 July.

The Office of the Investigative Committee for the Yaroslavl Region announced the initiation of a criminal case against “a suspect recognized in Russia as a foreign agent, located on the territory of a foreign state.” She is charged with an article about public calls for activities directed against the security of the state. We are talking about Yaroslavl journalist Marina Skorikova, who left Russia, and was recognized as a “foreign agent” in March 2026, TASS and RIA Novosti report.

Tamás Šujok Hungarian President Tamas Szuyok said that he signed the amendments to the Constitution adopted by parliament, according to which his powers should be terminated. Shuyok said that he could not refuse to sign the document, since in this case he would have violated the laws of the country. At the same time, he noted that he considers the amendments to violate constitutional principles. Šujok's powers will cease the day after the law is published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny.

Illustrative photo In Volgograd, police detained five local residents who were recording a video message to the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin. They complained about the shortage of gasoline in the region and the fact that officials, unlike ordinary citizens, are allowed to fill full tanks without restrictions. Protocols were drawn up against the detainees under the “rally” article, writes the portal site V1.ru.