I did not name a single religious organisation in my speech, nor did I use a single religious book, and did not name a single religious figure apart from Christ and Buddha,? he said. A yoga teacher in Russia has been charged with illegal missionary activity under a controversial new law designed to fight terrorism. According to the law?s definition of missionary activity, it is necessary for the person conducting missionary activity to call for [people] to join some religious group,? he said. In August, a follower of Hare Krishna in southern Russia was charged with illegal missionary activity for telling passersby on the street about his beliefs and handing out literature. His comments won him fans described as ?Medvedev?s Girls?, who performed exercises on Red Square to promote yoga.

Russian MPs have backed a controversial bill reducing the punishment for some forms of domestic violence in a crucial second reading, despite protests from rights groups. Fury at Russian move to soften domestic violence law Read moreThe bill?s authors say the new measure removes a legal anomaly and will reduce domestic violence by giving first-time abusers a chance to reform. Conservative backers of the bill have nicknamed it the ?law on slaps? and complain that domestic violence is punished harshly. Last week Amnesty International appealed to Russia?s parliament not to pass the bill, condemning it as a ?sickening attempt to trivialise domestic violence?. But lawyer Maxim Krupsky told RBK news site that ?decriminalisation could untie the hands of people who potentially could commit domestic violence?.

In the past, Mr. Putin has expressed concern about domestic violence, even in the absence of serious injury. Ms. Aivazova asked Mr. Putin to support a special law on the prevention of domestic violence that had already been passed in 143 countries, including Russia?s post-Soviet neighbors Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. ?This shows that Duma deputies are not simply conservative or traditional, it shows that they are archaic.?Ms. Aivazova and other experts say that Russia has a serious problem with domestic violence. Mr. Putin thanked her, but the law remained in the State Duma, and Ms. Aivazova said she was not optimistic about its prospects. If Mr. Putin signs the measure into law, only injuries like concussions or broken bones, or repeated offenses committed in a family setting, would lead to criminal charges.

A senior official in the Russian cyberintelligence department that American officials say oversaw last year?s election hacking has been arrested in Moscow on charges of treason, a Russian newspaper reported Wednesday. The arrest raised the possibility that Mr. Mikhailov and Mr. Stoyanov had interfered in this cooperation. Mr. Mikhailov served in the F.S.B.?s Center for Information Security, the agency?s cyberintelligence branch, which has been implicated in the American election hacking. In another indication of high-level turmoil over cyberintelligence issues within the security agency, Kommersant reported on Jan. 13 that the director of the Center for Information Security, Andrei Gerasimov, would be fired. The newspaper article, in Kommersant, which cited unidentified sources in Moscow?s technology industry and the F.S.B., said the treason charges related to work on criminal hacking investigations.

"We have to get out of the bloc thinking of the 20th century," Seehofer told the newspaper. "I`m arguing for realpolitik not sabre-rattling," Seehofer told the newspaper. Merkel spoke on Saturday with U.S. President Donald Trump, but their joint statement made no mention of the sanctions issue. Trump this week said he was only in the early stages of considering ending the U.S. sanctions against Russia. The sanctions should be lifted this year, Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CDU), told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview to be published on Sunday.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, 29, faces extradition requests from both countries after being detained by Czech police on an Interpol arrest warrant issued by US authorities. Nikulin, a Russian citizen, was arrested in a restaurant in Prague on 5 October shortly after arriving in the city during a holiday with his girlfriend. Facebook Twitter Pinterest One theory is Nikulin ? even if not personally involved in the election hacking ? may know other hackers who were. ?He is unhappy about being detained for a long time in a foreign country and about the accusations against him. Adam Kopecky, Nikulin?s Czech lawyer, said his client denied both the US and Russian charges and suggested he had become a political pawn.