Old New Year has passed, the Christmas holidays are over, and 2026 has fully come into its own. The wild start to the new calendar stretch—Nicolás Maduro’s nighttime flight, the resurgence of piracy in the Atlantic Ocean, and blood-soaked Iran—may have pushed into the background the fact that we have now been living for four years in the largest war in Europe in the last 80 years.

#Analytics #WarinUkraine #state #europe #Zelensky #violence #society #forecasts #Putin #Russia #USA #Trump

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Unprecedented mass anti-government protests continue in Iran—something never before seen in the history of the Islamic Republic. While Donald Trump makes vague promises to help the protesters and progressive Western public opinion remains silent, the number of Iranians killed by the regime may already be in the hundreds. Reliable information about the situation in the country is scarce: in Iran, it’s «tradition» to shut down the internet in such cases. Iran expert, Telegram channel author, and writer of «All Iran» Nikita Smagin (the Russian Ministry of Justice considers him a foreign agent) explains why the Islamic Revolution has erupted in mass protest, what the ayatollahs fear, and what lessons the Kremlin might draw from the situation in this eastern country.

#bigtalk #state #dictatorship #interview #Iran #IslamicRevolutionof1979 #NikitaSmagin #society #Internetshutdown #protests #repressions #Russia #sanctions #USA #Khamenei #censorship

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The Ukrainian city of Sumy is located 30 km from the Russian border and 20 km from the front line. A correspondent from «Most» visited there before the New Year holidays

#WarinUkraine #lifeinUkraine #FreedomofRussiaLegion #newYear #society #celebration #reportage #Russia

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In December 2025, Moscow began to be actively decorated for the New Year as part of the «Journey to Christmas» festival. Its prototype was the Strasbourg Christmas Market on Manezhnaya Square, which in December 2012 made a splash among Muscovites and visitors to the capital. After that, city hall decided to include the city’s Christmas celebration in the ongoing mega-festival «Moscow Seasons.» By 2026, however, little remained of Strasbourg and its Christmas traditions. But an imaginary Europe, now almost out of reach, still peeks through the New Year’s tinsel—just like other realities of recent years.

#state #Moscow #newYear #society #reportage #SergeiSobyanin #escapism

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The story of how the Soviet Grinch stole Christmas is telling in many ways. At first, the totalitarian regime shamelessly declared established family traditions to be barbaric. Then, after failing, Stalinism retreated a bit and, as a compromise, offered Soviet citizens a new holiday—with recognizable trappings, but stripped of its original meaning. Soon, the next generation came to perceive the Soviet New Year as an unshakable custom from time immemorial.

#householdandchildren #state #ideology #History #everydayculture #lenin #newYear #society #holidays #religion #theUSSR #Stalin #traditions

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Near Lesnaya metro station in St. Petersburg, at 61 Lesnoy Prospekt, stands a building with columns. This is the «house of specialists,» built in the 1930s in the style of Stalinist neoclassicism. Creative and scientific intelligentsia lived here, including artist Nathan Altman, radio engineer Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich, and writer Alexander Kuprin. It was from here that many were taken during the «Great Terror.» Now, plaques of the «Last Address» project are installed on the house for former residents who became victims of political repression in the USSR. The last two names appeared on the facade on Sunday, December 14 — on the day of remembrance for academician Andrei Sakharov. A «Most» correspondent attended the ceremony for installing the memorial signs.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #historicalmemory #cultureofmemory #society #Petersburg #Thelastedge #Putin #reportage #repressions #Stalin

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Teachers are being fired, students expelled from universities, schoolchildren interrogated by the FSB, and criminal cases are being opened against their parents. Since February 2022, all this has been happening thanks to informing within educational institutions. The scale of today’s persecutions cannot be compared to Stalin-era purges: millions suffered then, while now it’s hundreds and thousands. But the logic of today’s repressions in Russia increasingly resembles that of the 1930s and 1940s in the USSR.

#Rhombus #WarinUkraine #state #childrenandparents #lifeinRussia #education #society #repressions #specialservices #theUSSR #Stalinism #school

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Sociologist Lev Gudkov has been studying public attitudes in Russia since the time of Perestroika. In the late 1980s, he worked at the All-Union Center for the Study of Public Opinion, from which he left in the early 2000s along with Yuri Levada’s team. From 2006 to 2021, Gudkov headed the Levada Center—the largest independent organization conducting sociological surveys in Russia—and then became its scientific director. Both the Levada Center and Gudkov himself have been designated as foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice. Drawing on years of sociological surveys of post-Soviet society and the historical experience of countries that went through fascism in the 20th century, we spoke with the renowned researcher about the most likely scenario for Russia’s future.

#future #WarinUkraine #state #degradation #democracy #dictatorship #europe #lifeintheUSSR #west #interview #LevadaCenter #society #afterPutin #forecast #reforms #Russia #socialsphere #sociology #futurology #Economy

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In December 1965, the President of France was elected by popular vote for the first time. This historic event forever changed the country’s political landscape: even today, all attention is focused on the «prophetic» figure of the head of state, and the presidential model of the republic has become deeply rooted in French political tradition. Moreover, General de Gaulle’s dominance was truly challenged at the ballot box for the first time. But how did the French come to feel the need for a nationwide vote for their national leader? And why does this crucial electoral reform continue to poison France’s political life today?

#elections #state #electoralreform #society #thepresident #France #CharlesdeGaulle

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Two years ago, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared the «international LGBT social movement» an extremist organization. Since then, simply having a certain sexual orientation or gender identity can be used as grounds to accuse anyone who draws the state’s attention of extremism. LGBT people are afraid to go to the police or court, even if they themselves are the victims of crimes. Here are the stories of three people who have gone through such experiences.

#state #lifeinRussia #LGBT #personalexperience #violence #intolerance #society #humanrights #thatone #repressions

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The smallest town in Lithuania, Panemune, is located in the west of the country. Across the river, the Russian town of Sovetsk is visible, where for several years a huge letter Z — the official symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — has been displayed on the facade of one of the buildings. The two towns are connected by a pedestrian bridge — one of the few functioning crossings between Russia and the EU. Every day, the residents of Panemune look at that letter and the opposite shore.

#WarinUkraine #KaliningradOblast #Lithuania #NATO #society #aftertheUSSR #reportage #Russianthreat #Balticcountries

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On Monday, the Montenegrin government approved amendments to the law on foreigners. The innovations not only significantly tighten the conditions for obtaining a residence permit but also apply even to those who have long lived in the country. In other words, the law has retroactive effect. Now the only hope is that the country's parliament will fix this.

#Balkans #business #residentcard #state #EuropeanUnion #legislation #personalexperience #theproperty #society #Russia #scandal #Turkey #Montenegro #Emigration

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This fall, the 16-episode series «Chronicles of the Russian Revolution» by Andrei Konchalovsky was released on the Start online cinema platform. The creators of the series openly claim: all freedoms in Russia are only harmful. Which, however, is the norm for Russian historical series.

#AndreiKonchalovsky #state #dictatorship #historicalmemory #medina #society #aftertheUSSR #revolution #Russia #freedom #series #Stalin #TV #FSB

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On National Unity Day, a correspondent from «Most» visited Vologda for the unveiling of a monument to the most famous dictator of Russian medieval times. A monument to Stalin has long been there

#lifeinRussia #IvantheTerrible #historicalmemory #society #Regions #reportage #Stalin

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Dictatura is a settlement in the Plavsky District of the Tula Region. A correspondent from «Most» visited there and spoke with local residents about their living conditions and self-identification.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #society #Regions #reportage

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Recently, the Russian project «Word of the Year — 2025» summed up the results of the interim voting. In the nomination «National Word,» the leader was «anxiety» (25%). Why has this happened only now?

#WarinUkraine #state #drones #lifeinRussia #society #psychology #fear #Economy #language

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Society, raised on «traditional values» and contempt for difference, has grown hardened and blind, walling itself off from those who are not like everyone else with a barrier of indifference. And children with disabilities pay the highest price for this.

#state #children #disability #inclusion #personalexperience #violence #intolerance #society #Russia #USA

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The sad path of Venezuela: it could have been the American Qatar, but became a country-run criminal organization.

#Venezuela #state #dictatorship #History #cartels #LatinAmerica #drugs #neoliberalism #NicolasMaduro #society #crime #protests #rawmaterialseconomy #HugoChavez #benevolentreforms

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«I see no reason why democratic, free, independent Karelia, Ingria, Smalandia, or Amberland (even if some of these names still sound fantastical to some) couldn’t become part of the European Union or NATO in the foreseeable future,» says Ukrainian politician Oleg Magaletsky. A participant in the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Pride, in 2022 he founded the Forum of Free States Post-Russia — an international discussion platform whose participants aim for the breakup of the Russian Federation into several independent states. Most.Media publishes his conversation with Vadim Shtepa, editor-in-chief of the magazine Region.Expert.

#future #WarinUkraine #state #dictatorship #discussion #Empire #independentstate #society #aftertheUSSR #republics #Russia #freedom #Ukraine #federalism #Emigration

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In the event of a shutdown, government agencies stop receiving funding, civil servants do not get paid, and consequently, most government institutions in the country cease to operate, except for those vital to life. The last time such an event occurred was six years ago—during Donald Trump's first presidential term.

#America #BarackObama #state #DemocraticPartyoftheUnitedStates #JoeBiden #DonaldTrump #healthcare #society #rightandleft #RepublicanPartyoftheUnitedStates #insurance #finance

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