At a meeting in the government, it was agreed that market participants would determine the parameters of agreements to control food prices by December 15, and sign them on December 20, two interlocutors close to the meeting participants and a federal official told VTimes. VTimes sent a request to the government and the Ministry of Agriculture. This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin expressed concern about the rise in prices for certain products.

In Moscow, from Monday, December 14, registration for vaccination against COVID-19 will open for new risk groups. They include trade and service workers, MFC employees and cultural workers, said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. “Due to the nature of their work, they come into contact with millions of citizens, they take risks themselves, and in case of illness they pose a threat to others,” Sobyanin wrote on his blog.

The Nord Stream 2 company announced the resumption of construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, RIA Novosti writes . The pipe laying is carried out by the Russian vessel Fortuna. The Fortuna pipelayer will lay a 2.6-kilometer section of the pipeline in Germany's exclusive economic zone in waters less than 30 m (100 ft) deep. On the morning of December 11, it became known that Fortuna had arrived at the construction site of Nord Stream 2.

Mastercard and Visa have banned the use of their cards for payments on Pornhub, one of the largest porn sites in the world. According to Reuters, the payment systems' decision was influenced by an article by The New York Times that many videos posted on an adult website contained scenes of child sexual abuse. After an investigation confirmed the presence of illegal content on the platform, Mastercard stopped working with Pornub permanently. Visa has suspended payments pending an investigation.

From December 31, residents of the Moscow region are allowed to visit cafes and restaurants only if they have a certificate with a negative coronavirus test. This is stated in the decree published on the website of the Moscow region government. Later, the authorities clarified that this only applies to parties and corporate events. The restrictions do not apply “to events that are held on premises and for which tickets are provided indicating the visitor’s specific seat,” the document says.

The Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office are conducting an investigation in connection with the poisoning of politician Alexei Navalny, but a criminal case has not been opened because there are no materials, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with members of the Human Rights Council. A transcript of the meeting was published on the Kremlin website.

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma to toughen punishment for individuals and media outlets recognized as foreign agents and violating the rules of operation. The document was published on the website of the lower house of parliament. The authors of the bill propose to punish criminally individuals-foreign agents who did not submit an application for inclusion in the appropriate register within the prescribed period or did not report on their activities.

Photo: Sofya Sandurskaya/Agency "Moscow" In the article: Will the situation of attitude to power affect On Thursday, Rosstat announced the number of Russians who died in October from Covid: the resulting figure is three times exceeds the calculations of the opera staff to combat coronavirus. There were 22,571 people - twice as much as in September, follows from the data of Rosstat. This is the largest monthly number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (based on the photo) claims that the EU demands undermine the British sovereignty photo: 10 Download Street/OGL 3 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned compatriots to prepare for the exit from a common market with the European Union without a trade agreement.

Photo: Dmitri LovetSky/AP/TASS For five months, Russia has been living according to a comprehensively updated constitution. After this time, we can conclude that the process of reconfiguring the domestic political system, determining the status and functionality of power institutions, including the prospect of the notorious “transit of power”, was central to the political class and ruling elites.

The Cuban authorities, starting January 1, 2021, will unite the Cuban peso and the Cuban convertible peso, which are used simultaneously in the country. As President Miguel Diaz-Canel said, the country has created the conditions to begin streamlining the monetary system. The unified exchange rate will be set at 24 Cuban pesos per $1, the Juventud Rebelde newspaper reports .

The Sputnik V production plant in Moscow, which is being jointly created by the R-Pharm company and the city government, will become the largest site for the production of domestic vaccines, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. His words are reported by Interfax. The plant will produce about 10 million doses of the vaccine per month. This will be enough to vaccinate not only Muscovites, but also residents of other regions, Sobyanin noted. It is planned to invest 10 billion rubles in production.

Norwegian Equinor (formerly Statoil) bought 49% in Krasgeonats LLC, a Rosneft enterprise that owns licenses for 12 oil and gas fields in Eastern Siberia. Equinor estimates the stake at $550 million, of which cash is $325 million. The rest is including investments in geological exploration, says a person close to one of the parties to the deal.

The British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has agreed on joint research with the N.F. Gamaleya, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and R-Pharm. They will conduct clinical trials of a combination of their vaccines, AstraZeneca said on its website. Combinations of different vaccines could help boost the immune response and increase drug availability, the British company said in a statement.

Korean director, winner of the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals Kim Ki-duk died in Latvia. As the Delfi portal writes with reference to director Vitaly Mansky, he died from complications caused by the coronavirus. According to the publication, Kim Ki-duk arrived in Latvia on November 20, and has not been in touch since December 5. The director wanted to apply for a residence permit and buy a house, but he did not show up for the scheduled meeting.