The press secretary of the head of Chechnya, Alvi Karimov, stated that it was not a special operation that was taking place in the Gudermes district, but a passport check, Interfax reports. Earlier, Rosbalt, citing sources, reported that a large-scale special operation was being conducted in Gudermes. According to the publication, about 400 masked fighters allegedly stormed the block where members of the Yamadayev family live. The operation allegedly involved equipment and special forces.

Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin confirmed that the leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov proposed to nominate the general director of the Lenin State Farm in the Moscow Region, Pavel Grudinin, as a candidate for President of Russia. Rashkin said this on the air of Ekho Moskvy . Rashkin emphasized that this is only one of several stages of nomination.

The government has submitted to the State Duma a bill establishing the possibility of paying taxes through multifunctional prices for government services (MFC), according to the Cabinet’s website. “The ability to pay tax payments directly to the MFC will reduce the time costs of citizens,” the government explains.

The US may launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korean weapons depots and missile launch pads, The Telegraph reports , citing two former and one current White House official. The publication's sources claim that the US administration has recently sharply stepped up preparations for a military scenario in order to "hit North Korea in the nose." Officials are concerned that diplomatic efforts are not yielding results.

A Wisconsin court has sentenced Joseph Jakubowski to 14 years in prison for robbing a gun store and sending an anti-government manifesto with threats to US President Donald Trump, the Wisconsin State Journal reports . At the hearing, Jakubowski asked the judge: "Give me freedom or give me death." He also said he didn't care about "damn laws." In April, Jakubowski stole about 18 firearms from a gun store, then burned his car and sent Trump a 160-page anti-government manifesto.

The driver of the white SUV that hit pedestrians in Melbourne deliberately drove the car into people, Yahoo7 reports, citing Victoria Police spokesman Russell Barrett. It is too early to talk about a terrorist attack - the driver's motives are still unknown, the police noted. A car drove into a crowd of people at high speed near Melbourne's main train station on Thursday, leaving 14 people, including a child, hospitalised. The driver of the SUV was detained.

At a meeting of the Council for Culture and Art, Russian President Vladimir Putin generally approved the idea of ​​introducing a non-tax levy on the distribution of foreign films in Russia. He proposed developing a mechanism to support domestic cinema, RIA Novosti reports. Director Vladimir Khotinenko proposed introducing a tax on foreign films that are released in Russia at the meeting. He proposed using the proceeds to support domestic cinema.

December 21, 2017, 00:17 / Finance Exclusively by subscription Investors could invest up to 400 billion rubles in concession bonds InfraOne experts assessed the infrastructure bond market Olga Adamchuk Investors could spend up to 400 billion rubles on concession bonds and similar bonds.

Russia continues to fight the corrupting influence of the West / Andrey Gordeyev / Vedomosti The amendments, introduced on Tuesday evening by deputies Pyotr Tolstoy and Leonid Levin, as well as senators Andrei Klishas and Lyudmila Bokova, supplement the rules on media outlets that were adopted just a month ago – foreign agents.

December 21, 2017, 11:40 / Business / News The top manager of Gazprom announced the amount of tax payments of the company in 2017 undefined Vedomosti .

The Kremlin press service reported on a telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and the King of Saudi Arabia, which took place at the initiative of the Saudi side. The report says that Putin and Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud discussed the escalation of the conflict in Yemen. The King of Saudi Arabia expressed concern over the launch of a ballistic missile in the direction of Riyadh by militants of the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement on December 19.

Russian market of mainline tractors is moving towards doubling of sales growth / Andrey Makhonin / Vedomosti The Russian market for long-haul trucks has been growing for the second year in a row. According to the results of 10 months of 2017, their sales increased by 83%, according to data from Andrey Toptun, Head of the Analytics Department at the Avtostat agency.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin commented on the experiment with the dachshund, which caused a negative reaction from Internet users and criticism from animal rights activists. He assured that all animals that took part in such experiments are alive and serve a good purpose. "Conducting an experiment with animals became possible only when scientists were convinced of its safety," TASS quotes Rogozin as saying.

State Duma deputies have adopted a law on the creation of a register of persons dismissed due to loss of trust. It will contain information about persons dismissed due to loss of trust for committing a corruption offence for a period of five years. The law comes into force on 1 January 2018. The register will be placed in the federal state information system on the Internet. The procedure for maintaining the register will be determined by the Russian government.

"With the [national security] strategy I have unveiled today, we declare that America is in the game and determined to win!" Donald Trump, President of the United States “The implementation of the designated goals and objectives, including strengthening the global position of the United States through force, may pose a potential threat to <...> security.” Nikolay Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia