How did the opening of the Olympics go, what did Putin agree with Xi Jinping, and what oil and gas contracts did Moscow and Beijing conclude, what do the Kremlin think about blood feuds – the main news in the RBC review
- In Pekin the opening ceremony took place XXIV Winter Olympic Games. The Russian team, due to doping sanctions, participates under the Olympic flag, and instead of the Russian anthem, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 will be performed instead. Although the Olympics officially started only today, the competitive program of the Games began on February 2. You can read about what is happening at the Games in compilation RBC.
From Putin to the Prince of Monaco: guests of the Beijing Olympics. Photo report
- In Beijing today, not only the opening of the Olympic Games took place, but also negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. As a result, the parties published a policy statement in which China supported Russia’s demands for non-expansion of NATO, security guarantees in Europe and strategic stability. Russia, in turn, confirmed its refusal to recognize China’s independence and condemned the politicization of the issue of the origin of the coronavirus. In addition, during the visit to China, Gazprom signed an agreement on gas supplies to China via the Far Eastern route, and Rosneft on the supply of 100 million tons of oil to Chinese refineries.
- The issue of blood feud is traditional for Chechnya, but such a tradition does not correlate with Russian law, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, told reporters. The question of the Kremlin’s attitude to such traditions was raised in connection with the threats expressed by Chechen officials against the family of ex-judge Saidi Yangulbaev.
- Moscow clinics stopped taking a second test for coronavirus after recovery. Previously, this was required to generate a QR code for a person who had been ill at the State Services.
- 61% of Russians face “wage slavery”, the survey showed. This is the proportion of those who did not choose a payroll bank on their own. At the same time, 81% of respondents know about the possibility of changing it through the accounting department.
- The Elysee Palace has announced consecutive visits of French President Emmanuel Macron to Moscow and Kiev. He will visit Russia on February 7, and the next day he will go to Ukraine.
-
For the first time, a woman can become the new NATO Secretary General. Of the five candidates for this post named by the DPA agency, only two are men. In addition, the list of candidates included a representative of a post-Soviet country, the current prime minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas. Other candidates include former British Prime Minister Theresa May and former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. Jens Stoltenberg, who has led NATO since 2014, will step down in September. He has already found a new job: the Norwegian government appointed him head of the Central Bank in advance.
-
The share of AvtoVAZ in the domestic passenger car market at the beginning of this year for the first time since 2017 fell below 20%. Back in January 2021, it was almost 23%, and at the end of last year it decreased from 21.5% to 20.9%.