Moscow theater hostage crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted a pardon to Sergey Khadzhikurbanov, a former policeman sentenced to 20 years for orchestrating the assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. This decision follows Khadzhikurbanov's involvement in military actions in Ukraine.

Active citizens in Sofia want the Sofia Municipal Council to transfer the name of "Boris Nemtsov Square" from the area around Joliot-Curie Metro Station and the Embassy of North Macedonia to the area directly in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation. Here is the full statement of the activists:

The alley, located between Dragan Tsankov Boulevard and the fence of the Russian Embassy in Sofia, will be named "Heroes of Ukraine". This was voted by the municipal councilors in Sofia Council. The alley is located along 96 meters between Nezabravka Street and Nikola Mirchev Street.

The decision was taken with 36 "For", 16 "Against" and none abstained.

Dodik is presently the current Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite state presidency, and in theory spends most of his time in Sarajevo.

Former militants from "bandit units" in Syria are now a real threat after the defeat of Islamic State, as many of them may be now planning to return to Russia, the RIA news agency cited the head of Russia's FSB security service as saying on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the first public indication that he will run for a new term in the 2018 elections, in comments made during a visit to Eastern Siberia, reported Reuters.

Putin was answering a question from a group of villagers in the Siberian republic of Buryatia via a TV link, organized during the president's visit to the eastern regions of Russia.

A Russian court handed on July 13 jail terms ranging from 11 to 20 years to five Chechen men for organizing and carrying out the contract killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

A Russian court sentenced a man convicted of murdering opposition leader Boris Nemtsov to 20 years in jail on Thursday and handed terms of between 11 and 19 years to four other men convicted of being his accomplices.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained seven suspected members of the Islamic State group who allegedly planned terrorist attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Urals.

The group, arrested in Yekaterinburg, comprised citizens of Russia and countries of Central Asia and was led by one of its members who had  arrived from Turkey, FSB said in a statement on Monday.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Monday said they arrested seven Islamic State members who planned to carry out terrorist attacks.

According to RT, the leader of the group that intended to stage attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Sverdlovsk region "came from Turkey."