The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a long interview to the American podcaster of Ukrainian origin Lex Friedman. Commenting on Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine, Zelensky cited the war in Chechnya as an example. He metaphorically noted that the President of Russia was destroying Chechens "with love" - ​​"suffocating in his arms."

Investigators began an investigation into the incident in the village of Essentukskaya, Predgorny District, Stavropol Territory. At school No. 7, during the New Year's celebration, some students took out the flags of Armenia and Greece at the dance and started waving them. The teacher reacted to the situation by taking away the flags from the schoolchildren.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with the relatives of the dead crew members and the surviving flight attendants of the Embraer plane of the AZAL airline. On December 25, 2024, he was following a flight from Baku to Grozny and crashed in Aktau (Kazakhstan).

Real estate and other property worth more than 500 million rubles were confiscated from the ex-head of the Department of Social and Economic Development of the North Caucasian Federal District, Igor Hranovsky. Since March 2024, he has been under arrest and accused of embezzlement of budget funds.

The so-called "mask action" took place near the parliament building in the capital of Georgia. Demonstrators protested against the ban on the use of face coverings, including medical masks, during peaceful assemblies, introduced at the end of last year. Georgian Dream introduced the corresponding amendment to the law in an accelerated manner. Violation of this rule is subject to a fine of 2,000 GEL.

The police opened a criminal case on the arson of the Muslim center "Nur" in Serpukhov near Moscow. The "autonomous combat group" of the banned neo-Nazi movement NS/WP Crew in Russia took responsibility for what had happened.

The father of a 16-year-old girl born in Chechnya addressed the human rights commissioner in the republic, Mansur Soltaev, with his condolences. According to the man, the girl was detained by the juvenile department when she received her passport because she was wearing a hijab. Law enforcement officials explained that such a form of clothing represents a "danger to society."

The member of the European Parliament from Latvia, Ryhards Kols, who actively supports the Georgian opposition, called the visit to Tbilisi by the President of the OSCE PA Pia Kauma, scheduled for January 8-10, a "catastrophic and untimely step". According to the MEP, the Georgian authorities will present this visit as a "propaganda victory" against the background of the strengthening "autocracy" in the country.

The monthly salaries of the administration of the Central Election Committee of Georgia increased by more than 20%. This was reported by Mtavari TV channel.

Crimean Tatar activist Teymur Abdullaev, imprisoned in IK-2 in Bashkortostan, began to lose consciousness and caught a cold. This is due to being in the cold cells of the SHIZO, where he is regularly placed.