Economics The Insider December 18, 2024 After nearly fourteen years of devastating civil war, Syria is struggling to restore external ties and receive international assistance to rebuild its destroyed economy and infrastructure. The European Union has already agreed to send a diplomatic mission to Syria. During the war years, cities turned into ruins, villages were deserted, and the drug Captagon became the main export product.

An administrative protocol has been drawn up for the Moscow company UniPage, which helps applicants enroll in foreign universities. 20.33 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of an “undesirable organization”). This was reported by Mediazona with reference to materials received by the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow. The reasons for initiating the case are unknown, the date of the hearing has not yet been set.

Roskomnadzor plans to strengthen control over the Internet in Russia by obliging telecom operators to provide information that will allow them to identify devices connecting to the network. These measures are aimed at preventing access to information prohibited in Russia and “protecting citizens from possible negative consequences.” The corresponding draft order was published on the portal regulation.gov.ru, which Vedomosti drew attention to.

Telegram channel “112” reported the detention of two suspects in the attempt on the life of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov the day before in Moscow. It is alleged that they have already allegedly given evidence and told investigators about the organizers of the murder. The Izvestia newspaper writes about this. Later, the detention was confirmed directly by the Ministry of Internal Affairs , the FSB and the Investigative Committee .

The UK has imposed sanctions against Coral Energy, which, in its opinion, is the core of the Russian oil market. This decision was made as part of measures aimed at increasing pressure on Moscow ahead of possible peace negotiations with Ukraine. The company's activities were first documented in February 2024 in a Wall Street Journal article. The sanctioned commodity trader is based in Dubai and is run by a group of businessmen from Azerbaijan.

In Poland, a court found 21-year-old Russian hockey player Maxim Sergeev guilty of espionage and sentenced him to two years and 11 months in prison. L'Equipe writes about this. He will be deported to Russia on May 26, 2025; before that, Sergeev will serve his sentence in Lublin prison. According to media reports, the hockey player played in the Polish team Zaglebie, from where he was sent to the farm club (backup squad).

In 2024, Russian government agencies hid 385 open data sets, To Be Precise reports . This was a record figure over the past three years, according to the publication’s open data tracker. According to the study, the total number of deleted or hidden datasets in 2024 increased by 16% compared to 2023. Among the departments that most actively restrict access to information are the Ministry of Finance, Rosstat and the Federal Tax Service.

Senior researcher at the Academy of the General Staff, Candidate of Philological Sciences Ruslan Mavleev registered a patent for a computer program for “automatic generation of fakes and deepfakes.” Sistema (Radio Liberty project) drew attention to this.

A Polish court has found 21-year-old Russian hockey player Maksim Sergeyev guilty of espionage and sentenced him to two years and 11 months in prison, according to a report by the French sports newspaper L’Equipe . Sergeyev is set to be deported to Russia on May 26, 2025. Until then, he will serve his sentence in a prison in Lublin. According to the report, Sergeyev was part of the Polish team Zagłębie Sosnowiec since 2021 before being sent to its youth squad.

Many observers feared that the use of Western missiles on Russian territory would provoke a new wave of escalation from Moscow. Instead, Russia deployed the “Oreshnik” — a new intermediate-range ballistic missile equipped with hypersonic warheads — targeting the Pivdenmash aerospace plant in Dnipro. Putin described the missile's impact as comparable to a nuclear strike or a meteorite , though experts remain skeptical about its effectiveness when used without a nuclear payload.

The son of the chairman of the Qualification Board of Judges of the Republic of Tatarstan, Radik Gilmanov, Marat Gilmanov, was detained in the case of justifying terrorism, sources from Izvestia and KazanFirst report.

News The Insider 17 December 2024 Apti Alaudinov, commander of the “Akhmat” special forces, pictured on a billboard alongside the following inscription: “The best general is the one who wins without fighting. Sun Tzu.” RU On Dec.

Apple decided to reduce the presence of branded services in Russia from mid-December. iPhones.ru reports this with reference to a source in the corporation. This is the first change in the company’s operating conditions in the Russian Federation since the spring of 2022, the service clarifies. The changes will affect: Apple TV+, where some content will no longer be released in the Russian region. In the future, it is planned to show only trailers there.

The Czech Parliament passed in the third reading the Lex Ukrajina 7 bill, extending temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees and including an amendment suspending the consideration of applications for Czech citizenship from Russian citizens until the end of hostilities in Ukraine. 92 deputies voted “for”, 35 “against”, more than 40 abstained and more than 20 did not participate in the vote.

Forward of the Rostov football club Nikolai Komlichenko, in an interview with Championship.com, said that he was shocked by food prices in Russia. According to the footballer, his favorite Uzbek tomatoes cost more than a thousand rubles per kilogram, which is why he buys them no more than once every two weeks. “In general, the prices scare and shock me. For example, there are Uzbek tomatoes that cost more than a thousand. My wife and I love them very much. They are really tasty!