25 Highlights 2013

2013 ends. There were a lot of amazing events, predict that it was almost impossible - on the arrest of Sergei Polonsky, belted with a towel, in the jungles of Cambodia to release Mikhail Khodorkovsky, thanks to the efforts of German diplomacy. We have tried to select the most colorful events of the year, of which the Russians tried to learn as much as possible and talked a lot.

The events that have left us indifferent.

January. Reports of the arrest in Cambodia businessman Sergei Polonsky

In the beginning of January, there were reports about the arrest in Cambodia Sergei Polonsky on charges of causing physical harm to local seamen. From that moment began a series of misadventures infamous businessman. In April, he was released from prison on bail and on his own recognizance. He fled to Israel, where he applied for citizenship. In August, quickly left Israel and returned to Cambodia, where in November, was arrested and put in prison in Phnom Penh. The country's authorities are considering his extradition to Russia, where he is accused of stealing more than 5, 7 billion rubles from the holders of the residential complex "Kutuzov mile".

January. Russian citizenship Gerard Depardieu

3 January it became known that the French actor Gerard Depardieu has become a Russian citizen. Passport he was awarded for his contribution to the development of Russian Culture and Cinematography, said a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov. He then gave an apartment in Saransk and Grozny. In February, Depardieu received permanent registration in the capital of Mordovia.

February. Chelyabinsk meteorite

On February 15, the Chelyabinsk region has fallen meteorite. It was the most powerful cosmic explosion of the body is not over the ocean since the fall of the Tunguska meteorite. Residents of the Urals were impressed by the unusual phenomenon in the sky and filled the blog post about a strange object, which flew directly over the houses. As a result of the explosion and shock waves affected more than 1,600 people, windows were broken in 7000 buildings. In autumn from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul got the largest fragment of the meteorite weighing 600 kg. Chelyabinsk decided to patent itself "meteorite capital of Russia".

March. The financial crisis in Cyprus

In March, the financial crisis broke out in Cyprus. The EU has allocated in the form of aid to Cyprus € 10 billion A Cyprus instead restructured the two largest banks in the country -. Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank (Laiki), where bank depositors whose deposits exceed € 100,000, lost up to 60% of invested funds.

Services traditionally Cypriot banks actively used the Russian citizens and legal entities. The deposits on the island of Russians kept up to € 35 billion, and about € 20 billion accounted for deposits of companies and banks.

March. Boris Berezovsky death

A disgraced Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, died March 23, 2013 at the 68 th year of life. His body was discovered by a security guard in a house in Berkshire near London. Press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that shortly before his death, Berezovsky wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, in which he asked forgiveness for the mistakes and hope to return to Russia.

April. Case of embezzlement in Skolkovo

In the middle of April, the fund "Skolkovo" was searched, and a criminal case against a senior vice president Alexei Beltyukova Fund (pictured left) for his article "embezzlement on a large scale." Before that, the fund audited information about the misuse of 3, 5 billion rubles allocated from the budget. Among the serious violations, which revealed the supervisory authority, was the construction of the center facilities without permits and unjustified issuance of science grants. In the case he was questioned as a witness, president of the fund billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.

May. Surkov's resignation

May 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the resignation of Vladislav Surkov, a deputy prime minister - the head of the government staff with the language of their own accord. According to Putin, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary, Surkov's resignation was linked to deficiencies in the performance of the May presidential decrees. September 20th Surkov was appointed Assistant to the President, he was instructed to oversee the development of bilateral relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

May. IPO Qiwi

The company Qiwi, which owns one of Russia's largest payment terminal networks, held an IPO on Nasdaq. The company was valued at $ 884 million. The company's shareholders, including Mail.ru Group and Japan's Mitsui & Co, were able to make money by selling their shares of $ 212, 5 million, most of the securities bought specialized investment funds from the United States.

June. Snowden arrived at Sheremetyevo

June 23 a US citizen Edward Snowden, who worked for the CIA and the NSA, and transmits media materials about secret programs used by US intelligence agencies to spy on Internet users, unexpectedly flew to Moscow. He spent five weeks at the airport "Sheremetyevo" and 1 August granted political asylum in Russia for one year. Since then, he lives in Russia. His lawyer Anatoly Kucherena in November reported that the American took a job at one of the major Russian Internet companies.

June. Divorce couple Putins

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila Putina announced their divorce June 6, 2013 in a joint interview after the ballet "Esmeralda". They said that the decision to divorce - the mutual. And they called it the reason - continued Vladimir Putin employment. Married couple Putins lived for almost 30 years. They have two daughters - Maria and Katerina.

September. Preventing a US military strike on Syria

In late August, Washington announced its readiness to strike at the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Thus it was supposed to be the US response to the use of chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21 in which the Western countries have accused Assad. Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria and took the initiative to convey the Syrian arsenal of chemical weapons under the control of international observers. US President Barack Obama endorsed the idea and promised to postpone the attack on an Arab country if its government will offer Russian. Damascus agreed to the proposal.

July. Alexei Navalny sentence

July 18 Leninski district court of Kirov sentenced Alexei Navalny to five years in prison, and entrepreneur Peter Ofitserova - to the four on charges of stealing timber SUE "Kirovles" to 16 million rubles. Navalny and officers were taken into custody. But the day after Navalny and preventive Ofitserova measure was changed on his own recognizance pending the entry into force of the verdict. Navalny made the decision yet to participate in the elections of the mayor of Moscow. In October, the Kirov regional court changed the sentence on charges of defrauding the "Kirovlesa" with real on probation.

September. Early elections of the mayor of Moscow

In June 2013 the current mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin decided to resign and hold early direct election of the mayor. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on early retirement Sobyanin, and elections were held in a single day of voting on September 8. Sobyanin won them victory, gaining 51, 37% of the vote. His closest rival - opposition leader Alexei Navalny - received 27, 24% of the vote and subsequently tried unsuccessfully to challenge the election results in court.

September. Arrest in Minsk, the general director of the "BRIC"

August 26 general director of the Russian company "Uralkali" Vladislav Baumgertner was detained in Minsk after the meeting with Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich, he was charged with abuse of power and authority. Another defendant in the case of "BRIC" has become a senator and billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who owns stake in the company. It happened after the end of July, "Uralkali" has announced the release of the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), in which his partner was "Belaruskali". Thereafter, commodity prices have fallen sharply.

In late November, Baumgertner was extradited to Russia, where the first was held in a Moscow detention center, and was subsequently placed under house arrest. In December, the company changed the main shareholder. Group "Onexim" Mikhail Prokhorov bought from Kerimov his pack and gained control over 27% of shares of "BRIC". A company "Uralkhim", the main owner is Dmitry Mazepin, closed a deal to purchase 20% of the "BRIC" from other shareholders. Baumgertner was dismissed from the post of the General Director. With the advent in the "BRIC" the new owners of the company's partnership with BPC can be renewed, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

September. Reform of the Academy of Sciences

September 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As a result of the reform of the Academy of Medical (RAMS) and Agricultural Sciences (RAAS) are attached to the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main tasks assigned RAS scientific activity. And all the goods and Research Institute transferred to the jurisdiction of the Federal Agency for Property Management Russian Academy of Sciences. The proposed reform of the government provoked sharp criticism among academics, the newly elected head of the Academy of Sciences Vladimir Forts met on this occasion with Putin. As a result, the bill was changed.

October. Pogroms in Biryulyovo

On the night of October 10 in the area of ​​West Biryulyovo the south of Moscow was killed by local resident Yegor Sherbakov. killer face fixed surveillance cameras, the story was widely publicized. Outraged crime people gathered at the gathering, demanding to find the murderer and close ovoschebazah where he supposedly worked. The gathering ended with riots and pogroms. Two days later he was arrested a suspect in the crime - the visitor from Azerbaijan Orkhan Zeynalov.

October. The resignation Onishchenko

In October, he was relieved of his post and appointed assistant to the prime minister, Gennady Onishchenko, who is almost 10 years old and had led the Rospotrebnadzor chief sanitary doctor of Russia. Onishchenko famous irreconcilable struggle with bad habits of Russians and razlichnchmi epidemics, bright style of public speaking. Onishchenko fearlessly declared a trade war - a ban on imports into Russia of products from countries with which Moscow has escalated relations. The most striking example - a ban in 2006 on the import of Georgian mineral water "Borjomi" Georgian wine and brandy, which was filmed only this year.

November. The criminal case against former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov

In late November, investigators have opened a criminal case under article "negligence" against the former Minister of Defense of Russia Anatoly Serdyukov. It was suspected that, as defense minister, he ordered the construction of the highway department due to an elite recreation "Zhitnyaya" in the Astrakhan Region, the owner of which was my sister's husband, Valery Serdyukov Puzikov. Serdyukov was dismissed from his post as defense minister as a result of loud corruption scandal that broke out in October 2012 around the holding subordinated to the Ministry of Defense "Oboronsersis".

November. Boeing-737 plane crash in Kazan

November 17th passenger Boeing-737 crashed while landing at Kazan airport. Killing all on board - six crew members and 44 passengers, including two children. Among the dead - the son of the president of Tatarstan Irek Minnikhanov and Head of Federal Security Service in Tatarstan Alexander Antonov.

November. Euromaidan

on November 21 Maiani Square in Kyiv began mass protests against the decision of the Ukrainian government to suspend the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union. After a hard disperse demonstrators special unit "Berkut" during the night of November 30, the participants euromaidan began to demand the resignation of the President and the Ukrainian government and early elections.

November. The beginning of the banking crisis - withdrawal of the license from the Master Bank

The Central Bank of Russia November 20, revoked the license of the Moscow Master-Bank, which owns one of the largest ATM networks in the capital. Since then I started stripping banks. December 13 the Central Bank revoked the licenses of three banks - Bank of Smolensk, Investbank and FFT. December 24 licenses were revoked at the Bank "Askold" and the bank "Rublevskiy".

November. Olympic torch into space

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazan on November 9 carried the Olympic torch of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 from the International Space Station (ISS) in open space. From this Olympic torch will be lit main Olympic flame in Sochi.

November. Twitter

IPO

The initial public offering of shares of the microblogging service Twitter has become one of the most anticipated events of the Internet market in 2013. November 7 Twitter the company on Thursday entered the IPO, placing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). the opening price of $ 45, 1 per security at the offering price of $ 26. In the first half hour of trading Twitter shares rose more than 90%, reaching $ 50, 9.

December. Reorganization RIA Novosti

December 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on liquidation of RIA Novosti and the creation on its base of international news agency "Russia today". The new agency was headed by leading TV channel "Russia-1" Dmitry Kiselev. The head of administration Sergei Ivanov, the Kremlin told RIA reorganization for two reasons: the need for more rational use of budgetary funds allocated to the state information resources. And the need to "improve the efficiency of state-owned media."

December. Pardon Khodorkovsky

December 19 Vladimir Putin after their traditional big press conference, told reporters that the former owned Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is serving a sentence for tax evasion and embezzlement, handed him a petition for clemency, in which he indicated that he is sick mother. The next day, the President signed a decree to pardon Khodorkovsky. A few hours later, the former owner of Yukos was released and flew to Germany. Behind bars, Khodorkovsky has spent more than 10 years.