Russian Reality

White House spokesman Psaki: The US does not plan to evacuate Americans from Ukraine evacuation of Americans from Ukraine, TASS reports. According to Psaki, the United States does not plan to evacuate its citizens. She announced this to reporters on December 7. Earlier, at a briefing following the talks between the leaders of the United States and Russia, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States does not believe that Russia has decided to attack Ukraine … The White House does not see signals that indicate Putin's decision to invade, he said. On December 4, US intelligence “discovered” that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine, and mapped the proposed offensive on several fronts … The Kremlin denied the information of the Western media.

“BBC”: the city with the most congested roads in the world turned out to be London Inrix navigation service analyzed traffic in large cities of the world and found out that it was most intense in London. The capital of Great Britain in 2021 topped the ranking of the places with the longest traffic jams, according to the BBC. Over the entire 2021, London drivers spent an average of 148 hours to overcome congestion – just one percent less. than before the coronavirus pandemic, and significantly more than in other metropolitan areas. Paris is named next in terms of traffic congestion – there this year drivers stood in traffic jams for 140 hours on average. The third place was taken by Brussels (134 hours), and the fourth and fifth – by Moscow (108) and New York (102). In 2020, London took 16th place in the ranking. According to experts, the

Head of the Hydrometeorological Center Vilfand: four Russian regions await abnormal cold Scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman Vilfand predicted anomalously cold weather for four Russian regions until the end working week, TASS reports. According to Vilfand, cold weather awaits the Arkhangelsk and Magadan regions, Karelia and Chukotka. The temperature there will drop below normal by 7-11 degrees: in the Arkhangelsk region to 20-21 degrees below zero, in Karelia to 18-23 degrees below zero. The forecaster added that the strongest temperature deviations will be in the Magadan region and in Chukotka. The temperature there will drop to minus 48-49 degrees. Earlier, the leading specialist of the Phobos center, Mikhail Leus, spoke about the weather for the next three days in the central part of the European territory of Russia: a Balkan cyclone will pass over the country, it will bring a large amount of precipitation and cooling.

Ushakov: in the conversation between Putin and Biden there was a place for jokes and exchange of compliments The talks between the Russian president and the American leader were of a business nature. This was told by the assistant to the head of Russia Yuri Ushakov, reports TASS. At the same time, he noted that in the conversation there was a place for jokes and exchange of compliments between the presidents. Earlier it was reported that Biden welcomed the opportunity to communicate clearly and directly with Vladimir Putin. According to the adviser to the head of the United States on national security, Jake Sullivan, the discussion between Biden and Putin was direct and frank. On December 7, the presidents of Russia and the United States held an online meeting. The White House reported that the main topics of the talks were the situation in Ukraine, strategic stability, cyber security and

Economist Chernikov: alcohol excise tax will increase by 4-5 percent from January 1, 2022 Prices for alcoholic products will rise by the New Year, warned Sergei Chernikov, associate professor of the Faculty of Economics at RUDN in a conversation with the Prime agency. The economist explained that from January 1, 2022, alcohol excise tax will increase by 4-5 percent. In this regard, manufacturers are already trying to compensate for the expected losses due to the loss of demand. As an example, he cited vodka, the cost of which, at a minimum price of 230 rubles, is only about 36 rubles. Another 6 rubles is pledged as profit for the manufacturer. The rest, about 190 rubles, is excise, VAT, retail mark-up and transport. “If now the price for a ton of wheat suddenly doubles again, then the cost of the bottle itself will rise by about 9 rubles. At the same