On June 26, at the age of 73, Sergei Ivanov, the former defense minister, head of the presidential administration and deputy prime minister who competed with Dmitry Medvedev to succeed Vladimir Putin in 2008, died. Writer Dmitry Bykov takes a principled and compassionate look at Sergei Ivanov’s path from the KGB Higher School to the VTB United League, the organization that announced his death.

The head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, stubbornly keeps the rate high. Photo by ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / POOL / AFP The budget crisis, superimposed on the fuel crisis, the ultimatum of the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, the fall in oil prices and the deterioration of relations with Trump - all this happened last week and did not pass without a trace.

America is preparing for its 250th anniversary: ​​the Declaration of Independence of the United States was adopted on July 4, 1776. Two weeks ago, Russia celebrated its Independence Day - the Day of Adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty. Independence and sovereignty, sovereignty and independence. We'll talk about them in more detail over the next week. In Russian political newspeak, “sovereignty” and “independence” have long become synonymous.

What are the demographics of the United States? Writer and columnist for The Washington Post George Will believes that it is worse than people think. Drawing on a report by political economist Nicholas Eberstadt, he reveals how America is losing people. We are publishing a translation of Will's article. A decline in the US population—possibly, likely, and certainly unfortunate—is not inevitable.

Oleg Kashin The collection “House Number,” a joint project between Republic and Vidim Books, is a unique testimony to the fifth year of a full-scale war. The authors of the “literary issue” of Republic are Dmitry Glukhovsky*, Polina Barskova*, Polina Aronson, Mikhail Yampolsky, Elena Fanailova, Vladimir Sorokin and many others. The collection can be pre-ordered on the publisher's website.

George Simion, leader of the Romanian far-right AUR party, at a press conference for foreign media at the party's headquarters in Bucharest Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP By the end of June, Romania was left without a working government: parliament this week rejected another candidate for prime minister. President Nikušor Dan was faced with a choice between the seemingly impossible reassembly of the pro-European coalition and early elections.

On June 24, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow sentenced former Moscow City Duma deputy and deputy chairman of the Yabloko party Maxim Kruglov to seven years in a general regime colony in the case of disseminating “fakes” about the Russian army. Even before his arrest, Kruglov decided to write a book about his favorite director, Paul Thomas Anderson. He continued working on the text in the pre-trial detention center.

There is already an understanding at the research level that treatment for depression should be multifaceted. A new review in The Lancet shows that this view is now being reflected in clinical practice. Depression is a very common illness: more than one fifth of adults will experience it during their lifetime. Diagnosed depression alone affects 5.7% of adults worldwide and is the second leading cause of disability.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reminds French President Emmanuel Macron of the EU's dependence on China. Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP Even 20 years ago, the EU was confident that China would follow the path of Japan, South Korea or Taiwan. The world factory will produce cheap goods, buy European technology, depend on Western markets and gradually move towards a liberal economy. The opposite happened.

A drop of 9.9% per day is a record for 2026. Korean indices fell in March and June, but those falls were more modest. Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP On June 23, the South Korean KOSPI fell by almost 10%. Trading had to be stopped twice in one day. Samsung and SK Hynix lost more than 12%. Indices also fell in other Asian countries, and this process was started by Elon Musk’s unrestrained plans, which the market could not digest.

Bernard Guetta, Member of the European Parliament Photo by MARTIN BERTRAND / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP On Tuesday, the Ukrainian army destroyed a railway bridge across the North Crimean Canal with drone strikes, a former chalk plant in Alekseevka, Belgorod region was hit, a missile threat regime was declared in the Moscow, Astrakhan, Penza, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as in Tatarstan, Mordovia and Chuvashia.

Andy Burnham Photo by OLI SCARFF / AFP Britain is changing its prime minister for the seventh time in ten years: Keir Starmer is leaving his post; his most likely replacement is Andrew Burnham, who is called the “King in the North.” He broke into parliament through elections held literally under him. The party perceived his victory as hope that the impending collapse could be avoided.

Having received a truce in the war with Israel, Hezbollah again filled part of Beirut with photographs of Iran's rulers - past and present. Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP It looks like the war in Iran is over. Trump continues to occasionally threaten with bombs - but a memorandum of understanding has already been signed at Versailles, and the truce has become permanent.

On June 12, the new EU Migration Pact came into force. It radically changes the rules for granting political asylum in Europe and will also affect thousands of Russians.

Javier Miley holding a replica of the World Cup Photo by MATIAS BAGLIETTO / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP It would seem: Argentina is the current world champion, and first place in the FIFA rankings, and the team began the group stage with a confident victory over Algeria with a score of 3:0, and Messi scored a hat-trick, which means he is in good shape - but still the bookmakers do not believe in the team’s new championship.