The authorities of several dozen Russian regions have allocated money for the purchase of VPN services for government agencies, according to the Shot Telegram channel. The tenders note that the VPN will be used for “the needs of a regional public warning system.” The authorities of the Tyumen region allocated the largest amount: they plan to spend 198 million rubles for these purposes this year.

Massive slaughter of livestock in a number of Russian regions was carried out due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, writes the People of Baikal publication, citing unnamed interlocutors. According to them, the discovery of a dangerous and rapidly spreading disease was not officially reported due to the threat of a ban on the export of meat and milk from the country.

The Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced blogger Artyom Chekalin, ex-husband of Valeria Chekalina (Lerchek), to seven years in a general regime colony and a fine of 194.5 million rubles in the case of illegally withdrawing 250 million rubles from Russia to the UAE. He was taken into custody in the courtroom. Kommersant reports this.

A family from occupied Melitopol sentenced by a Russian court in a “terrorism” case to terms ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment. Photo: Mediazona As of mid-March 2026, Russia has charged at least 2,278 Ukrainian citizens under terrorism and extremism statutes, according to calculations by the independent research association Parubets Analytics. At least 1,417 of them are known to be in custody, while 879 are considered missing.

Pope Leo XIV during a prayer for peace, April 11, 2026. Photo: Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu US President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to criticize Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy” amid criticism from the Vatican. “I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s acceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons.

A US federal court has dismissed Donald Trump's libel suit against The Wall Street Journal. The reason for the proceedings was the publication of a postcard signed by Trump and addressed to Jeffrey Epstein, Reuters reports . We are talking about a 2003 greeting card, which, according to the WSJ, was part of an album for Epstein's 50th birthday.

TASS, in a report entitled “Press TV: Iran did not allow two US ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz” writes : “At least two US Navy destroyers were unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This was reported by Press TV.

Available in English An oil slick formed in the Black Sea off the coast of Anapa. This is evidenced by Sentinel satellite data studied by The Insider, and also written by the Agency. The oil spill was recorded by satellite images taken on Sunday, April 12. The oil slick stretches approximately 40 km from the coast of Anapa deep into the sea. As the Agency clarifies, ecologists estimate its area at approximately 110 square meters. km.

Peter Magyar, leader of the Tisza party, which won the parliamentary elections in Hungary, believes that the new Hungarian government will have to negotiate with Moscow. He stated this in an interview with the newspaper Népszava: “It would be nice to have a government that deals with the real problems of the Hungarian people. Of course, in this case we will have to sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian president. The geographical position of Russia and Hungary will not change.

11394 Books The Insider April 13, 2026 The publishing house Freedom Letters published Nikolai V. Kononov’s book “Cryptopopulist. Who does Pavel Durov work for? This updated and expanded biography is based on the 2012 book The Durov Code: The Real Story of VKontakte and Its Creator. The author met Durov more than once and corresponded with him for many years. In the new edition, Kononov talks about what happened to Durov after he left VKontakte and created the Telegram messenger.

The elected Prime Minister of Hungary Peter Magyar held his first press conference after winning the elections, the contents of which are reported by 24.hu. He said that he does not support Ukraine in its quest for accelerated accession to the EU, since, in his opinion, the country must go through a standard procedure, which will take at least ten years.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Sunday evening that it would begin blocking all ships entering or leaving Iranian ports on Monday morning. Shortly before this, US President Donald Trump wrote that the US military would block all shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade will begin at 10 a.m. ET (5 p.m. Moscow time). It covers all sea vessels entering and leaving Iranian ports, regardless of their affiliation with any country.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has lifted its recommendation not to travel to Hungary following the defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party in yesterday's elections. According to Minister Andrei Sibiga, the risks for Ukrainian citizens have lost their relevance. “This election campaign, unfortunately, was filled with manipulations around Ukraine, but now it is behind us.

A team of researchers from the University of Warsaw has reconstructed the costumes of the rulers and church hierarchs of the medieval Christian Nubian kingdom of Makuria, which existed in the 9th-14th centuries in the territory of modern Sudan. The study was published in the journal Antiquity. The “Costumes of Power” project (2022–2024) covered five outfits: two royal, two royal mothers’ costumes and one bishop’s.

A Paris court found Lafarge, the cement division of the Swiss group Holcim, guilty of financing terrorism and violating European sanctions, Reuters reports . According to the court, the company's Syrian subsidiary paid jihadist groups in 2013-2014 to ensure the smooth operation of a plant in northern Syria at the height of the civil war. It is noted that this is the first time that the company has appeared before a French court on charges of financing terrorism.