Annual inflation in Russia reached its highest level since 2015. This means, among other things, that the indexation of pensions will lag behind the real increase in prices. On December 29, Rosstat published preliminary data on inflation for 2021 - it reached 8.4%, a six-year high. This is higher than the forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development (7.4%) and the forecast of the Central Bank (7.4-7.9%).

Presidents of Russia and the United States Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden will hold their second telephone conversation in a month on December 30, said Emily Horn, a spokeswoman for the US National Security Council. The request for a conversation came from the Russian side, writes CNN, citing Horn's statement.

Inflation for the whole of 2021 was at the level of the November maximum and became the highest in the last six years, follows from the message of Rosstat. According to preliminary data, in 2021 inflation in Russia reached 8.39%, food - 10.62%, services rose by almost 5% (4.98%). The statistical office should publish the final data on January 12. Annual inflation was last higher in 2015 at 12.9%. Already in 2016, it decreased to 5.4%.

A court in St. Petersburg released blogger Yuri Khovansky (included in the register of individuals involved in terrorism and extremism) from a pre-trial detention center. The arrest has been replaced by a ban on certain activities, but in the public justification of terrorism case, he still faces up to seven years in prison. Khovansky is forbidden to leave the house from 18:00 to 10:00, use the Internet and telephone.

Presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko met in St. Petersburg on December 29, the day after the informal summit of CIS leaders. One of the agreements is joint exercises on the territory of Belarus in early 2022.

The Gamaleya Center announced the high efficiency of the Sputnik V nasal vaccine against a new omicron strain. This version of the drug will be available in early 2022. A message from the developer of the drug at the Gamaleya Center appeared on the official Twitter account of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Russia takes second place in the percentage of the population owning cryptocurrency. At the same time, the legal aspects of the interaction of digital assets, members of their families, partners and counterparties are not fully adjusted. For whom, the regulation of this sphere remains especially relevant in the coming year and what risks this process carries, says Alexey Stankevich, managing director of Phoenix Advisors.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) believes that Severstal, NLMK and MMK inflated prices for their products in a non-market way, said the head of the department Maxim Shaskolsky in an interview with RTVI . We are talking about Severstal, NLMK and MMK, he explained. “This is a violation of antitrust laws, despite the fact that market conditions did not contribute to such a price increase. And we believe that there are violations here.

The cost of OSAGO for some drivers may rise in price by more than one and a half times, warned the head of the All-Russian Union of Insurers Igor Yurgens. This is due to the initiative of the Ministry of Finance to quadruple payments to victims of road accidents. In an interview with Izvestia, Yurgens said that the new CMTPL regulation could lead to a rise in the price of the policy by up to 60%.

The Moscow City Court decided to liquidate the human rights center "Memorial" (recognized as a foreign agent), reports . RIA Novosti According to the Ministry of Justice and the Moscow prosecutor's office, the center did not mark its publications on the website and in social networks as created by a foreign agent. At a meeting held on December 23, the prosecutor said that the lack of marking can form a negative image of the state and lead citizens to depression.

Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma a draft of a new law on citizenship. The document is placed in the database of the lower house of parliament. As noted in the explanatory note to the draft, the current law "generally provided the necessary regulation." However, the amendments to the Constitution "raised more sharply the questions" that have accumulated over the twenty years that have passed since the adoption of this document.

The United States and the European Union condemned the liquidation of "Memorial" (recognized as an NGO-foreign agent). The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, noted that "the suppression of freedoms will ultimately weaken those who engage in such activities." Representative of the US State Department Ned Price at a briefing commented on yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court to liquidate the international "Memorial".

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin promises “minimal” restrictions on the background of “Omicron” The Russian authorities make positive statements against the backdrop of Omcrone: Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin promises only “point” restrictions if necessary, and President Vladimir Putin speaks of the high efficiency of “satellite V” in the fight against a new strain.

By the end of the second year of the pandemic, Russians continue to experience anxiety over the coronavirus, but now the fear of contracting COVID-19 has been replaced by fears due to QR codes and restrictions imposed by the authorities, Kommersant . writes As follows from the “National Anxiety Index” prepared by the CROS agency (it is described by the newspaper), the main source of anxiety in 2021 was the coronavirus pandemic and everything connected with it.

For the second year of the pandemic, domestic billionaires got rich by $101.39 billion - their total fortune increased to $576.72 billion, calculated Forbes . Pavel Durov and Tatyana Bakalchuk were at the top of the capital building rating in 2021. The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, became the richest among Russian billionaires in the outgoing 2021 - his fortune added $13.81 billion to $17.24 billion (estimated as of December 20).