The parliament of North Ossetia–Alania has re-elected Sergei Menyailo as head of the republic for a second five-year term. Sixty-six deputies took part in the vote: 61 backed the incumbent, while five voted for Oleg Varnavin, deputy general director of Selengaуголь LLC. No one voted for the third candidate, Chermen Dudati, a regional parliament deputy and director of the V. V. Tkhapsaev North Ossetian Academic Theatre.
The international non-governmental organization «Reporters without Borders» has released an annual world rating of freedom of speech. In it, Russia took the 164th place out of 180 possible, having dropped to 9 positions at once.
The authors of the rating report that since the announcement of the Russian military operation on the territory of Ukraine in 2022 almost all independent media have been shut down, blocked or declared by foreign agents" and undesirable organizations". Everyone else goes through military censorship.
Azerbaijan ranked 151st, Armenia 49th, Georgia 77th. Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands are among the most successful countries. These same countries are leading the ranking of the happiest countries in the world.