Alvi Karimov, press secretary of the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, called on the French authorities to look into the situation with the detention of five Russian citizens in France. “It is typical for the French prosecutor’s office and authorities to make loud statements and then say that “ we were mistaken ” . We first need to figure it out, find out, and then make a statement,” Karimov said in a conversation with the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Torshin will be responsible for issues of interaction between the Central Bank and parliament and the government. This is the second appointment in a week at the Bank of Russia: on January 21, Ksenia Yudaeva will transfer monetary policy issues to Dmitry Tulin.

The Russian economy will contract by 3% in 2015, according to the IMF report. This is due to a sharp drop in oil prices and increased geopolitical tensions. The fund significantly worsened its forecast compared to estimates in October 2014: then in Russia, the organization’s experts expected weak growth in 2015 of 0.5% Photo: TASS The Russian economy is expected to decline by 3% in 2015. This is stated in the IMF report published on the organization’s website.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has the right not to advertise his personal life. This opinion was expressed in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper by the press secretary of the head of state, Dmitry Peskov.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk wrote a letter to the Minister of Energy.

Photo: Getty Images/Fotobank Yesterday, another deferment expired, which the Federal Service for Labor and Employment (Rostrud) granted to the Russian Football Union (RFU) to pay off the debt to head coach Fabio Capello. Rostrud has already announced that it will conduct an unscheduled inspection of the RFU.

Banks should pay more attention to clients who carry out transit transactions and demand from them, if suspicion arises, documents on payment of taxes. The Central Bank thus wants to start fighting tax evasion through the withdrawal of capital abroad Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC Banks will now have to pay increased attention to clients' transit operations and require them to provide documents confirming payment of taxes. This is done to detect schemes for transferring capital abroad.

Alessandro Michele has become the new creative director of the Gucci fashion house, replacing Frida Giannini in this post, reports Bloomberg . The chief executive officer of Gucci owner Kering SA, Francois-Henri Pinault, approved the appointment. The day before, he took part in the Gucci men's show in Milan, which was supervised by Michele. The procession at the Milan exhibition was accompanied by music from the film A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford, Giannini's predecessor.

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma today proposing an extension of the so-called dacha amnesty until March 1, 2018 throughout Russia. This was announced by the author of the initiative, Chairman of the Duma Committee on Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov, reports TASS . He explained that the goal of the project is to enable citizens to formalize their rights to residential real estate that actually belongs to them.

Photo: EPA Active hostilities have resumed in southeastern Ukraine. If on Sunday the militia attacked the Donetsk airport, then the next day clashes began in the vicinity of Mariupol, representatives of the Kyiv military say. The leadership of Ukraine, Russia and the self-proclaimed republics declare their readiness for negotiations, but the date for new consultations in the Minsk format has not been set.

Russians are refusing to make purchases in foreign online stores, say representatives of services that deliver goods from the USA and Europe. Due to the depreciation of the ruble, the price of clothing and electronics no longer seems attractive to Russians. Now customers have switched to goods from China, says one of the largest players in the Russian market, eBay.

The world's largest oil services company Schlumberger announced plans to purchase a 45.65% stake in Russia's largest drilling company Eurasia Drilling Company (EDC). The total value of the transaction is estimated at $1.7 billion Photo: REUTERS 2015 Under the terms of the agreement, EDC, whose shares are currently traded (in the form of depositary receipts) on the London Stock Exchange, will delist and cease to be a public company.

Against the backdrop of slowing economic growth, the situation on the labor market in Russia remained favorable, experts from the international organization noted Photo: Getty Images In Russia, almost zero economic growth is forecast in 2015, while the main reasons for concern are serious risks of economic recession and continued capital outflow, according to the updated United Nations report “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015”.

Russia is preparing a team of specialists to investigate the explosion near Volnovakha, which killed 12 people. This was stated by the director of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Alexander Brod, reports . RSN “We can’t get around the bus situation. We are negotiating with foreign colleagues, a Russian group has already been formed. It includes lawyers and several representatives of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

The British banking conglomerate HSBC has tightened its forecast for a decline in Russian GDP to 3.5%, Bloomberg reports . In October 2014, the bank predicted a contraction of the Russian economy by 1%. Overall, HSBC believes economic growth in the 13 oil-exporting countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East will slow to 1.8%, down from an October forecast of 2.6%. HSBC estimates that the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, faces a budget deficit of 11% of GDP.