Already today, starting with the tiny Russian border garrison on Ratmanov Island and ending with the westernmost Russian region - Kaliningrad, the new 2017 will begin its victorious march. What it will be like is the biggest mystery that only time, humanity and each of us will answer. However, the future is shaped by the past, and it is in the past that the seeds of future change are buried. What the coming year will bring with it is the fruit of what people managed to create in the outgoing 2016. Everything - from small personal problems and joys to global political conflicts and achievements of the past year - will affect the course of history in the coming year.

Life decided to recall all the most important political events of 2016 in order to understand with what historical baggage the world will cross the milestone and enter the new year.

Standing on the threshold of a new year, we can say that in 2017 we are certainly waiting for global changes. For example, the new US administration may agree to ease anti-Russian sanctions, despite the latest unfortunate demarche associated with the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats at the end of the year. After the inauguration of the new US president on January 20, world politics as a whole may change course dramatically. It is no secret that the United States is one of the political giants, which also largely determines European politics. And if Donald Trump fulfills his promise - and deals with the issues of his country's domestic policy and establishing contacts with Russia - then we can assume that we will face "global warming" with the West, after which anti-Russian rhetoric will no longer be necessary.

As a result of a possible rapprochement between Russia and America, the EU, which is bursting at the seams, may, as they say, be left out of work. If the US President ceases to support the European Union and NATO, then following the UK, as already announced in the outgoing year, a number of countries will hold a referendum on leaving the EU. Among the main contenders for exit is France, without which the European Union will certainly not be able to function. And given the imminent migration crisis and the inability of the authorities of European states to contain this wave, new leaders may appear in the country, which can also significantly affect the warming between Russia and the West.

The focus of world development will increasingly shift to the East, to the Asia-Pacific region, where world finance, technology, education, and, inevitably, military power will go after production. The focus of the new American administration, as Trump has already stated during his election campaign, will shift towards confrontation with China.

The world will obviously not become a safer and fairer place, new ones will still be formed in it and continue existing conflicts, because the qualitative fundamental disagreements have not been overcome - the scientific, technological and economic gap between the advanced part of the world and its periphery is only growing. In these circumstances, Russia needs to continue to build up its own industrial and intellectual potential in order to enter a new era with a self-sufficient economy, a strong and solidary society with a minimum of conflicts and capable armed forces able to protect our interests anywhere in the world. And such a Russia will not be afraid of any challenge or aggressor.

The editors of mger2020.ru sum up the results of 2016: we will be reminded of it by the first launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, the launch of an energy bridge to the Crimea, the restoration of relations with Turkey, the victory in the competition for the right to host the World Festival of Youth and Students in 2017.

Unfortunately, speaking of the outgoing year, one cannot but recall the terrible plane crashes, terrorist attacks and other tragedies in Russia, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States, in which hundreds of innocent adults and children died.

We present a selection of key events that influenced both internal politics Russia, and changed the situation in the world.

Russia strengthens its positions in international rankings

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin topped the ranking of the most influential people in the world according to Forbes magazine. The head of state is the leader of this list for the fourth year in a row. “Both in their homeland, and in Syria, and in the presidential elections in the United States Russian leader continues to achieve everything he wants, ”Forbes notes.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the activities of the President are approved by 86.8% of citizens - this is the annual maximum recorded by sociologists of VTsIOM in December. “I think that people see that I work hard, openly, honestly and sincerely strive to achieve the results that the country needs. I believe that they also see that not everything can be done - we have smart, observant people. But I believe that the main thing is a sincere desire for the maximum result, for the country to feel more secure, and people to live better,” Vladimir Putin said, commenting on high level trust.

The removal of Russia did not go unnoticed at the Paralympics itself. At the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Andrei Fomochkin, a member of the delegation of the Belarusian national team, carried the flag of Russia as a sign of solidarity with Russian athletes. The leadership of Belarus supported the position of the Paralympic delegation of the country.

Preliminary voting of "United Russia"

This year, on the eve of the State Duma elections, United Russia became the only party to hold a preliminary vote. In total, 2781 people became participants in the primaries, of which 43% are non-partisans. 1,171 people were nominated on party lists, and 2,107 people were nominated in single-mandate constituencies. The final turnout for electoral participants on April 22, the day of preliminary voting, exceeded the mark of 10 million people.

On November 14, a telephone conversation took place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American leader Donald Trump. The head of state wished him success in the implementation of the election program and noted the readiness to build a partnership dialogue with the new administration on the principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

Migration pain in Europe and the fall of Merkel's rating

For the second year, Europe has been gripped by a migration crisis. Almost every month, the countries of the "Old World" come up with new methods to deal with the consequences of the endless flow of refugees from the Middle East: they close the borders of their states, spend billions of dollars on the return of constant control of border zones, contribute fabulous money to the fund for refugees.

For a year, every European has formed his own opinion about the causes of the second largest migration crisis after the Second World War. The vast majority of Europeans believe that migrants seek asylum because of threats from terrorist groups, including ISIS (banned in Russia), government military action, and poor social conditions in the refugee homeland. Another widespread opinion about the causes of the migration crisis is the US and EU military intervention in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

A poll conducted by the German television and radio company ARD showed that if the elections to the Bundestag were held on April 24, then only 33% of voters would vote for the bloc of conservative parties in the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, and 21% of voters would vote for the Social Democratic Party, which is a partner of the ruling coalition.

Nevertheless, German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains confident in the correctness of migration policy and refuses to tighten or partially change relevant legislation in order to increase the safety of Germans from a massive influx of migrants.

By the way, in June, the people of Great Britain made a resonant decision at a referendum on the country's exit from the European Union. According to official figures, about 52% of the population voted for Brexit. According to British political scientists, the outcome of the referendum indicates a major split in British society. Prime Minister David Cameron, who opposed Brexit, was forced to resign immediately after the announcement of the results of the referendum. The referendum on UK membership in the EU was the first sign of the collapse of the European Union: for example, after Brexit, other European states thought about leaving the EU.

Europe is against sanctions and for constructive relations with Russia

This year, European countries continue to talk about the lifting of economic sanctions against Russia.

At a meeting with the President of Russia, Fischer said that "those who are interested in relations with Russia are not happy about the existence of sanctions."

A French research center specializing in the field of international economics has estimated the losses of Western countries from the imposition of sanctions against Russia, and most of the losses are the result of the actions of the West, and not the response of the Russian side. AT economic study it says that between 2014 and July 2015, the loss is estimated at $60.2 billion.

Serbia, Italy, Cyprus, and the Netherlands oppose the sanctions. In addition, representatives of Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic spoke in one form or another for the lifting or easing of sanctions.

tragedy

In the outgoing year, we had to endure many tragedies that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

March 19 in Rostov-on-Don, crashed passenger liner Boeing 737-800. The plane crash of flight 981 Dubai - Rostov-on-Don occurred presumably at 3.40 Moscow time at the airport of Rostov-on-Don during a re-landing approach in difficult weather conditions. There were 62 people on board, all of them died.

On December 19, in Ankara, in the Gallery of Modern Art at the exhibition "Russia through the eyes of the Turks", Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was wounded. The diplomat died from his wounds. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the family of Andrei Karlov and instructed to present the diplomat for a state award. The head of state said that Moscow should know exactly who is behind the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.

On the morning of December 25, a Tu-154 plane crashed over the Black Sea in Sochi. There were 92 people on board, among them were the artists of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble. Alexandrova, journalists of the Zvezda TV channel and Channel One, NTV, as well as the head charitable foundation"Fair Help" Elizaveta Glinka, known as Dr. Lisa. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree declaring December 26 a day of mourning. As a sign of solidarity with Russia, Belarus has declared a Day of Mourning in connection with the plane crash. Citizens of the Republic bring flowers and candles to the building of the Russian embassy in Minsk, leave notes in the book of condolences. On behalf of President Alexander Lukashenko, state flags were flown at half-mast over the buildings of state institutions throughout the country, canceled entertainment programs on radio and television.

A series of terrorist attacks that took place in Belgium on March 22 stirred up the entire international community, forcing everyone to think about the need to unite to fight the main world threat - terrorism. According to the latest data, during the monstrous explosions, 34 people died and 135 were injured.

On the evening of July 14, a truck drove at full speed into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, where at that moment there were thousands of people dispersing after the celebration of Bastille Day. According to the latest data, 84 people died as a result of the attack. More than a hundred people were injured.

Vladimir Putin emphasized that “the recent terrorist attacks committed in various regions of the world once again show that terrorism can only be countered jointly, relying on the norms and principles of international law with the coordinating role of the United Nations”. “There shouldn't be double standards here, you can't divide terrorists into 'good' and 'bad'. And, of course, it is unacceptable and extremely dangerous to try to use terrorist and radical, extremist groups for political or geopolitical interests,” the President of the Russian Federation believes.

Russian military power in Syria

A year ago, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched a military operation to combat terrorists in Syria. As a result of intensive operations by military aviation, it was possible to seriously undermine the positions of ISIS and other groups, destroy the infrastructure of terrorists and prevent the collapse of the Syrian Republic.

Russia announced the organization of a humanitarian pause in Aleppo from September 18 so that everyone could leave the city and receive needed help, however, the militants prevent the exit of civilians.

On December 22, the command of the Syrian army announced that Aleppo was completely liberated from terrorists and came under the control of the country's government forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before, on December 29, announced that an agreement had been reached on a ceasefire in Syria and that he was ready to start peace talks. Three documents were signed: the first is between the Syrian government and the armed opposition on a ceasefire in Syria, the second is a set of measures to control the ceasefire, and the third is a statement of readiness to start peace talks on a Syrian settlement.

The outgoing 2016 was rich in various events that had big influence to global geopolitics. Report Agency has prepared an annual selection of the main ones.

One of the significant and, perhaps, unexpected events of this year was UK referendum to leave the EU- the so-called "Brexit", as it was dubbed in the Western media.

On June 23, in the UK, during a referendum, supporters of leaving the EU won, gaining 51.9% of the vote. 48.1% of the population voted to stay.

Russian political scientist Pavel Klachkov believes that a rather fierce struggle continues around the very procedure for Britain's exit from the EU, which is both political and informational and psychological in nature.

"We see that those forces in British society and the establishment - the Conservatives, who insisted that Britain remain in the union, do not give up. They make certain efforts within their powers, including raising any questions in the British Parliament with the fact that to slow down the exit process," P. Klachkov said.

In his opinion, the trend is towards the fact that the UK will still leave the EU: “It is inevitable. Perhaps the EU will crumble, it will no longer be what it was before. different world order.

Another significant event of the year for world geopolitics was US presidential election November 8, which in fact will determine the main directions of US foreign policy for at least the next 4 years. Republican candidate Donald Trump won the election with a majority of the Electoral College. These elections came as a complete surprise - Trump won despite the forecasts of most American experts and the media, who predicted the victory of the Democratic candidate - former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

At the same time, Azerbaijani expert Tofig Abbasov believes that Trump's victory was expected. “Why? Because the geopolitical situation that has now prevailed, in many aspects and signs, repeated the situation at the end of the 70s of the last century. And then the Democrats, led by Jimmy Carter, having made a series of failures at the external frontiers, seriously shook the position of the United States at the international level. The American voter did not forgive the series of failures of the Democrats, and Ronald Reagan won the election, promising the electorate a more coherent policy, a solution to social and economic troubles," T. Abbasov said.

According to him, Trump in some way repeats the style of his predecessor.

T. Abbasov expressed the opinion that under Trump foreign policy The US will be more agile, avoiding the obvious failures and offsetting some of the costs that the Obama administration blundered.

"If, in the context of positive changes, he also achieves some relief from the trends of tough confrontation with Russia, Iran, Cuba and other countries, this will allow achieving some detente, which has been asking for a long time in the world," the political scientist added.

Terrorist acts also this year, unfortunately, repeatedly shook the world in different parts Sveta. Until now, conflicts continue in Iraq and Syria, where the interests of various countries, including neighboring ones, clashed. And flashes of war reach, to one degree or another, distant countries, even Europe. So, in Pakistan in January, as a result of an attack by militants on a local university, 26 people were killed; in Istanbul in June of this year, as a result of a suicide attack at the airport, 45 people died; the explosion killed 10 people, including tourists from Germany and Norway, or a double bombing in Baghdad that killed 292 people. This year, terrorist attacks have not bypassed the EU countries either - on Bastille Day, a terrorist who drove a truck into a crowd of people on the embankment in Nice, a truck that drove into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people.

Orientalist Igor Pankratenko believes that in 2017 this growing trend in the number of terrorist attacks will continue.

"And this is not due to the activity of the Islamic State, in my opinion, there is often more of a franchise here, and sometimes - appropriation for propaganda purposes of what others have done. But with the fact that the current international approach to this problem is vicious. Terrorism today it is a weapon of the poor, deprived of hope and prospects, who see no other life than war," the expert notes.

In the context of the Middle East and South Caucasus region, another development that shocked the public was coup attempt in Turkey, which occurred on the night of July 15-16, when part of the Turkish military attempted to carry out a military coup in the country. However, thanks to the support of the people, power remained with the legitimate president and government of Turkey. The Turkish government blamed the terrorist organization FETÖ, led by US-based Fethullah Gülen.

Political scientist Elkhan Shahinoglu believes that the coup attempt took place with the direct support of pro-Gülen forces in the Turkish army.

"The results of the coup d'état are still being eliminated, because it was arrested a large number of of people. The echoes of the coup in Turkey will be present for a very long time," Shahinoglu said.

According to him, for years, the Gülen structure has been infiltrating Turkish state institutions, strengthening, trying to weaken the country from the inside.

"However, Turkey faces other problems, in particular, the fight against terrorism. We see every day that explosions occur in Turkey. The FETÖ movement is trying to use external forces to destabilize Turkey. I think that Turkey, as a strong state, will be able to neutralize the threat in face of the movement and will be able to achieve success in the fight against terrorism," Shahinoglu stressed.

Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has remained unsettled for over 25 years. And this year, this smoldering conflict broke out at the very beginning of April - from April 1 to April 4, active clashes of the parties took place on the line of contact, known as "April War".

As a result of this war, the heights around the village of Talysh were completely liberated by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, and the strategically important Laletepe height, in the direction of the Fizuli region, also came under the control of the Azerbaijani troops. The ministry also reported that as a result of the events, the losses of the Armenian side exceeded 200 people killed and more than 500 wounded.

Conflictologist Yevgeny Mikhailov believes that the results of the April military clash showed that Azerbaijan is ready to recapture its territories.

"The army of the republic has received the latest weapons and knows how to work with them," said E. Mikhailov.

In his opinion, Russia will try to prevent the escalation of the conflict in the future. "The efforts of our country prevented the April events from turning into large-scale bloodshed. I hope that already in the new 2017, the occupied regions of Azerbaijan will be returned peacefully," the expert added.

Probably, the visit ofHead of the Roman Catholic Church Francisin Baku as part of his tour of the countries of the South Caucasus region. The visit of the previous Pope John Paul II to Baku took place 14 years ago - in 2002.

During the visit, on October 2, the Pope met with a number of Azerbaijani officials, as well as with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The head of the Holy See also delivered a Mass at the local Catholic Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baku.

Political scientist Ilgar Velizade expressed the opinion that the visit of the Pope to Baku demonstrated the existence of interests between Azerbaijan and the Holy See in various fields which today form the agenda of relations between the two countries.

"This visit showed that the efforts that Azerbaijan has recently made to implement humanitarian projects together with the Vatican are bearing real and concrete results.

As for the prospects for cooperation, it is very important to note that this visit has become the basis for the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the Vatican, based on the already developed projects. Availability good relations between Baku and the Vatican will allow, at a minimum, to change the position of the Holy See towards impartiality in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement," the expert noted.

2016 was the year of the "black swans" - there were events that seemed incredible. Some of them will influence the global economy, and hence the Russian economy for many years to come. Lenta.ru, with the help of experts, names the five main events and phenomena of the outgoing year.

Out of nominations

25 experts took part in the preparation of the material. "Lenta.ru" conducted an open survey of specialists, they were asked to name the three main events of the outgoing year. In total, 75 votes were received for certain events. Based on these votes, the top 5 was compiled.

Experts represent the following companies and organizations:

Russian Academy of Sciences, VTB 24, Alfa-Bank, Promsvyazbank, Nordea Bank, Otkritie, RusEnergy, Amarkets, Veles Capital, Solid Management, NEO Center, BCS Ultima.

Less than half of the votes (47 percent) were given by experts for a number of events that did not make it into our top 5 - each of them was mentioned by analysts once or twice. But it is important to list them in order to form a complete economic picture of 2016.

This list includes the privatization of Bashneft, the adoption of the federal budget of Russia for, the arrest of the now former head of the Ministry of Economic Development Alexei, as well as the return of Alexei - the ex-head of the Ministry of Finance is writing a program economic development countries at the behest of the president.

Added to this are the actions of two regulators: the Bank of Russia, which decided not to change the key rate in 2016 (it remained at ), and the US Federal Reserve, which raised the base rate to .

Fifth place: alarming strengthening of the ruble

The Russian currency received 6 percent of analysts' votes. On January 1, 2016, the dollar cost 72.93 rubles (the official exchange rate of the Central Bank). In the first month of the year, it jumped in price to a historic high of 81 rubles. According to information as of December 26, 60.85 rubles are given for the American currency. Since the January bottom, the ruble has risen by almost 25 percent.

For such a somersault, Bloomberg awarded the Russian currency the title of the best in emerging markets, calling the rise in the rate a radical strengthening. Citigroup Corporation, in turn, recognized the ruble as an instrument.

This is what causes analysts' concern. When they say that it is profitable to invest in the ruble, no one has in mind ordinary Russians. We are talking about speculators engaged in carry trading, who earn on the strengthening of the national currency. In a nutshell, the players use the difference in interest rates in certain countries: in the US they are low, in Russia they are high. You can borrow dollars cheaply at low interest rates and convert them into rubles. The Russian economy lives in conditions of a high key rate of the Central Bank (10 percent). The reverse conversion of rubles into dollars allows speculators to capitalize on the difference in rates. And everything is fine until the players began to massively withdraw from the Russian currency.

According to the head of the department of international capital markets at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yakov Markin, this situation creates the prerequisites for an explosive devaluation.

“Stabilizing the ruble, moving it towards overvaluation based on carry trading and preparing for a future explosive devaluation of the ruble is exactly the mechanism that has been one of the key facts of the financial crisis in Russia in the past,” he comments.

The expert believes that the current situation is extremely risky: at the first sign of problems, players will withdraw money from the country, and the ruble will collapse. Lowering the key rate will help reduce the risk, the economist believes. Monetary easing will make carry trading less profitable.

Fourth place: price growth in Russia is at a historic low

And again an internal phenomenon. 8% of the votes were cast for him. Inflation in Russia reached its minimum value in 2011 - 6.1 percent. If nothing extraordinary happens in the next five days, this record will be broken. Since the beginning of 2016, the consumer price index has grown by 5.3 percent.

The Central Bank expects inflation to drop to 4 percent in 2017. To achieve this goal, the Bank of Russia keeps the key rate at a high level.

“If the Central Bank manages to reduce inflation to 4 percent by the end of next year and keep it close to this mark over the next years, this will have significant consequences for the economy. The regulator will set lower rates, which will be the foundation for a healthy economic growth”, - says Olga Lapshina, chief analyst at Nordea Bank.

Third place: Brexit

In June, British citizens from the European Union. Brexit was supported by 51.9 percent of the referendum participants. 11 percent of expert votes were also given for this event. The United Kingdom has a new prime minister and is preparing to leave the EU, but Brexit is also having a huge impact on the global economy.

“The shocking decision of the British people led to increased volatility in world markets in the summer, but most importantly, it forced the reassessment of the positions of European currencies and markedly strengthened Euroskeptics. Elections will be held next year in a number of countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands) that can bring new surprises,” says Evgeny Loktyukhov, head of industry and capital markets analysis at Promsvyazbank.

Sergey Khestanov, macroeconomic adviser to the CEO of the Otkritie brokerage house, in turn, notes that the possible triumph of Eurosceptics for the global economy means an increase in customs barriers, a reduction international trade and worsening GDP dynamics in China, which supplies a lot of goods to the EU. The situation in China, suffering from the lowest growth rates in the last quarter of a century, the expert considers the main threat to the global economy. Brexit made it even more dangerous.

Runner-up: Trump is the new President of the United States

Billionaire Donald Trump, President-elect of the United States, receives 13 percent of the analyst vote. Make America Great Again is the slogan of Reagan and Trump, which for the most part refers specifically to the United States economy. The US GDP growth rate is too low (2.4 percent in 2015) given the depth of the crisis into which the country collapsed at the end of the 2000s. At the same time, the real median income of the American household has not recovered to the level of 2006. There has not been such a weak ten-year dynamics since the Great Depression.

The economic program of the rich Republican promises a radical demolition of the established system. Taxes are proposed to be reduced for all social strata. Companies registered abroad - return to their homeland. In addition, Trump can be called an isolationist - in this sense, he is very close to the Eurosceptics. President-elect strongly condemns the Trans-Pacific and Transatlantic Trade Agreements. He also doesn't like NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Area between Canada, the US and Mexico. According to Trump, all these agreements only reduce the number of jobs in the United States, dooming millions of Americans to poverty. It remains to be seen how Trump will implement these ideas.

“If Trump's rhetoric doesn't get out of hand, we will see a rollback in the process of globalization. This carries risks to world trade, and therefore to developing countries, ”comments Evgeny Loktyukhov from Promsvyazbank.

On the other hand, the analyst continues, the implementation of the Republican program can have a positive impact on the global economy. According to his calculations, it is quite capable of keeping the US economy from slowing down and supporting demand for raw materials next year. In addition, Trump's victory, if not removed, then at least weakened the prospects for tightening anti-Russian sanctions, Loktyukhov argues.

Trump also has special plans for American black gold. He intends to impose a profit tax on oil importers, lift the embargo on licensing sites located in federal territories, open licensing on the outer continental shelf and encourage the construction of new pipelines, recalls Mikhail Krutikhin, a partner at the consulting company RusEnergy.

“This is a whole big program. On the one hand, this is self-isolation, on the other hand, access to world markets with its own liquefied gas and oil,” the expert argues.

Event of the Year: Taming Oil

“The most important thing is the agreement with OPEC. True, I do not believe that it will work, but the very fact of its conclusion has significantly pushed up oil prices,” says economist Sergey Khestanov. His position was supported by 15 percent of expert votes.

At the end of November, the OPEC countries finally (they went to this for almost the whole year) agreed to limit production. The allowable production threshold for the entire cartel is 32.5 million barrels per day. Against the backdrop of positive news, Brent oil jumped in price to $51 per barrel.

Nevertheless, the main event of the year, according to experts, is not a real event. Yes, it had a real impact on the market - prices went up. But this deal raises too many questions. The main one is how OPEC and other countries will control each other? There are no penalties for breach of contract. He rests on a good word. All analysts who put the OPEC agreement on taming oil prices in the first place are skeptical.

The cartel often violates its own quotas, and its members in the past sought to sell as much raw materials as possible even at the expense of prices, experts explain. At the same time, the implementation of the positive scenario (OPEC and other parties to the agreement carefully adhere to the provisions of the agreement) will support oil quotes at the level of $55-60 per barrel. Otherwise, every news about violation of quotas will reduce the cost of a barrel.

The good news is that this year there will be no more difficult Mondays and no less difficult Tuesdays. We have only one, but the most long-awaited day of the week - Friday - and 24 hours to sum up the outgoing year.

Leap year 2016 was only one day longer than it should have been, but it seems that so many things happened in those 366 days. historical events that will change the structure of politics, economics and social life in the world.

But for Russia, and especially for Moscow, the outgoing year has become no less full of turning points. We remembered the main things from the world of politics, culture, sports that the residents of the Russian capital experienced in 2016.

POLITICS: Parliamentary elections in Russia

Elections to the State Duma Federal Assembly The Russian Federation of the VII convocation was held on September 18, 2016 according to a mixed system: 225 deputies were elected on party lists and another 225 - in single-mandate districts.

With a turnout of 47.9%, slightly more than half of the voters voted for the leading party (Dmitry Medvedev), three more - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Gennady Zyuganov), the Liberal Democratic Party (Vladimir Zhirinovsky) and A Just Russia (Sergey Mironov) overcame the barrier of 5 %, which other candidate parties did not pass: Communists of Russia (Maxim Suraikin), Yabloko (Emilia Slabunova), Party of Pensioners (Vladimir Burakov) and Rodina (Aleksey Zhuravlev).

new speaker State Duma of the seventh convocation, which began its work in October, became the first deputy head of the presidential administration.

The speaker of the previous composition of the Duma was. This time he entered the parliament in the Kingisepp single-mandate constituency Leningrad region and to the last he said that he would not refuse the mandate. However, on the eve of the elections, Vladimir Putin appointed him to the post of head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, which he had headed for almost nine years before that.

CULTURE: Another phenomenon

Van Gogh set the trend. Van Gogh was replaced by Serov, surpassed by Rokotov, repeated the sad experience with an even louder scandal, heavy artillery “fired” at Moscow museums by the troika of the Vatican Pinakothek - Raphael, Bellini and Caravaggio. The queue for exhibitions became a new socio-cultural phenomenon in Moscow in 2016.

Frost, heat, rain, thunderstorms, kilometer-long crowds, expensive tickets ... This year, art lovers are not allowed, and for the sake of meeting with the beautiful, visitors to the exhibition of Valentin Serov "On the 150th anniversary of his birth" at the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val (CHA) at a frost of minus 14 degrees at the end of January, they broke down the front door of the museum, made a stampede and chanted “Open!”.

In total, several truly interesting exhibitions were held in Moscow this year, which in total were visited by almost a million Russians - these are “Ivan Aivazovsky: On the 200th anniversary of his birth” and “Valentin Serov. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth” in the Central House of Artists, “Raphael. The poetry of the image. Works from the Uffizi galleries and other collections in Italy" in the State Museum fine arts named after A. S. Pushkin, “Masterpieces of the Vatican Pinakothek. Bellini, Raphael, Caravaggio" and "From Elizabeth to Victoria. English portrait from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London" in the Tretyakov Gallery.

More than a hundred thousand spectators gathered the exhibition "Lev Bakst" in the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, and the "record holder" for - 730 thousand - was the "Photobiennale-2016".

What to do with such a sudden excitement, and consequently, cases around exhibitions, neither those Muscovites who have visited exhibitions year after year, and now simply cannot get through the queues, nor the organizers know. However, the trend is set, albeit such a sudden one.

CORRUPTION SCANDAL: Belykh, Ulyukaev and Zakharchenko

The autumn marathon of arrests of high-ranking corrupt officials is also a trend of the outgoing year, although not so sudden. In the middle of summer, the head of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, was caught red-handed in one of the Moscow restaurants, accused of taking a bribe for.

The launch of the Moscow Central Circle, and with it at least partial unloading of the metro, residents, and especially those who use commuter trains, have been waiting for many years, because now it is not necessary to get to the central interchange stations or wait for ground transport to get to one or another district of Moscow, remote from the center.

The road is served by 134 pairs of high-speed "Swallows" with an average speed of up to 50 kilometers per hour and a maximum capacity of up to 1200 passengers, so that a full circle of such a ring lasts 84 minutes, and the fastest crossings ("Crimean" and " Upper boilers”, “Business Center” and “Kutuzovskaya”, “ZIL” and “Avtozavodskaya”) take about two minutes each.

All trains are equipped for the movement of people with limited mobility, equipped with toilet rooms, Wi-Fi outlets.

But the MCC is not the only transport innovation of the capital metro in 2016: in the same September, three new stations were put into operation at once on the section of the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line. "Butyrskaya", "Fonvizinskaya" and "Petrovsko-Razumovskaya" became a continuation of the northern section of the branch line from the station.

By the way, in 2017 it is planned to put into operation the remaining stations under construction on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya branch - Okruzhnaya, Verkhnie Likhobory, and Seligerskaya.

DISCUSSED: Monument to Prince Vladimir and Pokemon GO!

The main thing about the monument is that it is very. But he caused discontent in Kyiv. During his visit to Slovenia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko could not even restrain himself and called the erection of the monument an attempt at a hybrid appropriation of history: “In the Kremlin, they erected a monument to our Kyiv prince Vladimir,” Poroshenko said.

No matter what anyone says in politics, but a monument to the collector of Russian lands, Prince Equal to the Apostles Vladimir, who baptized Russia, was unveiled on People's Day on Borovitskaya Square in Moscow and, according to a survey by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, was liked by the absolute majority of the Russians surveyed, who saw in his installation the preservation of historical memory and a symbol of the unity of peoples.

Initially, a multi-ton monument was planned to be built on Sparrow Hills, but after voting on the Active Citizen portal, a more central location was chosen for it, closer to the tourist attractions of the city.

But this summer it became a real sensation in the networks, from which Moscow, like many large cities in the world, did not stand aside.

Pokemon Go is a free game for mobile phones based on augmented reality technology. the main objective strategies - "catch" virtual monsters that are "arranged" in various geo-positions of a real city.

The sensational development of the Japanese company Nintendo, the augmented reality game Pokemon GO!, released on July 6, made couch potatoes and fans computer games get up off the couch to go in search of monsters along the Moscow alleys. In the capital, such is Ilyinsky Square, which in the summer was almost completely attacked by zombified teenagers.

Especially for fans of the quest The Ministry of emergencies The Russian Federation even issued its recommendations for the safe “catching” of strategy heroes, because during its passage, players disconnect from reality, do not pay attention to traffic lights, and gather in places of increased danger and on the roads!

Fortunately, the hype around Pokemon subsided almost as quickly as it did, especially after a number of tragic, scandalous and ridiculous cases, including -. For example, blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky from Yekaterinburg even faces a very real prison term because of virtual monsters.

INCIDENTS: Fire in the Otradny Printing House

Since the beginning of 2016, several events have occurred in Russia related to the death of people under tragic circumstances: this is in Vorkuta, a plane crash in Rostov-on-Don that claimed the lives of 62 people, in which 14 schoolchildren died, a wave of 77 fatal hawthorn poisonings and Russian Ministry of Defense Tupolev Tu-154 crash that killed 92 people.

For Moscow, such a terrible event was a fire in. In the early morning of Saturday, August 27, the fire that engulfed the building of the Printing Express Printing House on Altufyevskoye Highway cut off the escape routes for 17 young women, 14 of them were citizens of Kyrgyzstan, who could not get out of the building.

Firefighters were able to cope with the fire in a few minutes, but they did not know in which part of the building the employees of the printing house were closed and could not save them in time: all the girls died, suffocating in the changing room.

During the investigation of the tragic incident, more than 30 administrative cases were initiated, the director of the enterprise, Sergei Moskvin, turned himself in to the law enforcement officers.

SPORT: Ice Hockey World Championship 2016

The doping scandal almost deprived the Russian team of the main sports festival - Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro - and led to the complete suspension of the country's Paralympic athletes.

But it was this year that our country hosted the 80th, anniversary Ice Hockey World Championship 2016 from May 6 to May 22 at two ice arenas in Moscow (“VTB Ice Palace” - the main venue) and St. .

The last time the Russian capital hosted such sporting event in 2007. The gold of the final meeting this time went to the Canadian team - it beat Finland with a score of 2: 0, which returned home with a silver medal. The Canadians took the lead thanks to goals from Connor McDavid and Matt Dushane. The latter was thrown in less than a second before the end of the meeting already into an empty net, and the first - in the 12th minute.

By the way, the Maple Leaves won this championship 26 times already and came close in terms of the number of titles to the domestic teams (in total, the teams of the USSR and Russia won the world championships 27 times).

Our team, alas, this year won only bronze, but the athletes were able to beat the US team in the match for third place. For two teams scored nine goals, and on account of the Russians, to the great delight of the assembled fans, there were seven goals.

RECORD: "Circle of Light" -2016

Muscovites remember the year 2015 for an important patriotic event - the Immortal Regiment procession on May 9 on the day of the 70th anniversary great victory in which more than 500 thousand people took part.

But this year, Moscow has become the host city of another large-scale record: the Circle of Light festival on September 23-27 at Krylatskoye, which has become the most massive light show in the world, entered the Guinness Book of Records. Laser video installation on the facade of the complex of buildings of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with an area of ​​19,099 square meters broke all the records set so far.

More than 1,000 lighting devices and 220 video projectors were used at the festival venues - the light output of more than 4.5 million lumens also set a record for such events.

The 2016 festival took place at six venues. in four days, the most recognizable buildings of the capital were lit up.

A film about the history of the university was projected on the building of Moscow State University, VDNKh was decorated with natural ornaments, and the ballets Carmen and Swan Lake were shown on the walls of the Bolshoi Theater. Almost three million Russians visited the festival over the weekend.

THE GREAT DONE: Iskander, Krachkovskaya, Popov, Ivanova, Zeldin

“When will this year stop taking the best,” singer Madonna wrote on her Twitter on December 26, on the day of the death of the world icon, the American lead singer of Wham! George Michael.

Unfortunately, the singer turned out to be right: in 2016 there were no talented actors, singers, performers, writers, directors. Many of them have gone into relatively young age. On January 11, the world music industry lost singer David Bowie, three days later the actor passed away, after the writer, singer Prince, boxer, singer Leonard Cohen, Israeli politician, Comandante, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, actress, performer of the role of Princess Leia in the movie "Star war."

During this year, Russia has also lost many legendary and talented names, in particular, the national theater. Honored artist, oldest artist in the world, actress died in Moscow at the age of 78 Ludmila Ivanova, performer of the role of Shurochka in the film "Office Romance", 87-year-old writer, sculptor passed away Ernest Unknown, human rights activist Elizabeth Glinka.