Serbia on December 10 completed the interconnector to a pipeline in Bulgaria that would allow the Balkan country to diversify its gas supplies and reduce its dependence on Russia.
Activists on December 10 protested against the crackdown inside Russia on independent journalists, including Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran journalist of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service who has been held in Russian custody since October 18.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticized Germany's ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, for his remembrance of war victims and plea for peace during a church Christmas concert.
A court in Kazan has rejected an appeal by Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran journalist of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, against another court's decision to fine her 10,000 rubles ($110) for "failure to inform Russian officials about holding a second citizenship."