Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden had a 50-minute telephone conversation ahead of talks between Russia, the US and NATO in Geneva in early January. They agreed to "continue the dialogue", but during the conversation, sanctions were mentioned, and the severance of relations, and the "inadmissibility of nuclear war." Kremlin version the contents of the conversation was the first to retold Putin's aide for foreign policy, Yuri Ushakov, .

For the first time, Fitch has assigned a credit rating to Yandex - the Russian IT company received a BBB level with a stable outlook. Fitch said in a release that the agency has assigned Yandex a long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of BBB, as well as a BBB instrumental rating on the company's unsecured debt. The BBB rating means that the company is categorized as an investment company with good credit status and high solvency.

The death rate for 11 months of 2021 compared to January-November 2020 increased in Russia by 18.5%, said the head of the operational headquarters Tatyana Golikova. In November, the number of deaths from coronavirus exceeded 87 thousand people - this is a new monthly anti-record.

Both Russia and the world end in 2021 in a state of even greater uncertainty than a year ago. Only one thing is clear: events in the global economy and in the stock market, like the last two years, will be determined by coronavirus. With the help of economists, we compiled three scenarios of the development of events for the 2022th-how the situation in the world and in Russia will take shape, depending on the aggressiveness of new strains, which will happen to the economy and the markets.

On December 30, the Ministry of Justice updated its register of media-foreign agents - it included eight more individuals, including writer Viktor Shenderovich, Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and founder of the Kholod publication Taisiya Bekbulatova.

Tesla is recalling 475 thousand electric vehicles in the United States, which roughly corresponds to the company’s entire production in 2020, Bloomberg writes . All 356 thousand Model 3s produced from 2017 to 2020 are being recalled. When opening and closing the trunk, the wiring harness of the rear view camera may be damaged and the picture may disappear. On 119,000 Model S models produced since 2014, the front trunk lock, which could cause the lid to open suddenly, will be replaced.

Tesla is recalling 475,000 electric vehicles in the U.S., roughly equivalent to the company's entire production in 2020, writes Bloomberg. All 356,000 Model 3s produced from 2017 to 2020 are being recalled. In them, when opening and closing the trunk, the wiring harness of the rear view camera can be damaged and the picture can be lost. The 119,000 Model Ss produced since 2014 will have their front trunk latch replaced, a defect in which the lid could suddenly open.

The euro and the dollar rose against the Russian ruble in the last trading session on the Moscow Exchange in 2021 - their values ​​updated their maximum since the end of November. The ruble is falling ahead of the upcoming talks between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. The American and European currencies have risen in price by more than a ruble. By 15.40 Moscow time, the euro was trading at 85.095 rubles (+1.25 rubles), the dollar - at 75.047 (+1.05 rubles).

Rosstat recalculated Russian GDP for 2020 and 2019. According to a new estimate, in 2019 the country's economy grew more - not by 2.0%, but by 2.2%, and in the coronavirus 2020 it fell less - not by 3.0%, but by 2.7%. In nominal terms, GDP amounted to 109.6 trillion rubles and 107.3 trillion rubles, respectively. These figures mean that GDP at the end of 2020 decreased by only 0.56% compared to the beginning of 2019, and not by 1.06%, writes RBC.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Russia will not increase tax rates in the next three years, including personal income tax (PIT). “And what will happen next, in the three-year period? We are not planning any innovations here, raising rates, be it personal income tax rates, be it income tax rates, VAT,” he said in an interview with Rossiya-24. .

In 2021, the index of economic hope of Russians fell below the level of 1998: there are almost five times more citizens who expect further economic difficulties than those who expect prosperity, writes RBC. The traditional index of economic hopes of Russians was prepared by Gallup International, the Russian part was provided by the Romir research holding.

The authorities have proposed making the single tax payment mandatory for all businesses from January 2023. This is provided for by a new bill, which is submitted to the State Duma. It follows from the explanatory note that the single deadline for paying taxes is set on the 20th and 25th of the month in order to simplify the payment calendar.

The Mediazona publication (included in the register of media that act as a foreign agent) was included in the register for receiving money from advertising on Google and links to other foreign agents. This was written by the publication itself, which received documents from the Ministry of Justice.

Chinese taxi service Didi, which raised $4.4 billion in a (poorly negotiated) IPO in New York just a few months ago, is in decline, according to the Financial Times. The company is suffering losses and even cutting revenue after regulators forced it to stop signing up new users and remove dozens of Didi Chuxing-owned apps from virtual stores. Didi's operating loss rose to $6.3 billion in the first nine months of 2021.

The wealth of most Russian billionaires increased in the second year of the pandemic - 70 out of 104 Russian participants in the Forbes global list got rich. But there are those who have suffered significant losses in 2021. Forbes has compiled a ranking of the poorest billionaires in the past year. The leader in this list was Senator Suleiman Kerimov, whose family owns 76.3% of the shares of the gold mining company Polyus.