Vladimir Rozanskij

Like his father and Mao Zedong, Kim chose to travel on a special train rather than fly. In Vladivostok he gave his first interview to a foreign journalist. North Korea’s strongman wants help to deal with the US. Putin would like to build a bridge over the Tumen River, on the border between the two countries, but Russian companies are reluctant to invest in North Korea.

The comedian triumphed with 73% of the votes, a higher than expected result. The relationship with Russia and with Putin will be the first test. Poroshenko lost because of his heated anti-Russian nationalist tones, of the corruption in his ranks, for having abused the result on autocephaly, creating even more tension among the Churches. The Ukrainians, a religious people, want areturn to the "Majdan spirit".

His wife participated in a beauty contest and posted the photos on social media. As a punishment, the diocese transferred her husband a priest to a remote village in the Urals. The family crisis also affects the Uxorate clergy. Patriarch Kirill denounces the lack of education of seminarians in marriage. The drive to get them married quickly, before ordination, creating fragile and improvised unions.

The Evangelical Baptist community in Verkhnebakanskiy (Novorossiysk) is registered with the government, but does not have a place of worship of its own, so its members meet in private homes. According to police, all Baptist, Adventist, Pentecostal sects etc. are guilty of “breaking the spiritual unity of the Russian people "and should be banned.

Protests in Voronezh, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Lipetsk against the introduction of a personalized PIN. The total control of the individual is feared: an "electronic lager". Patriarch Kirill asks to respect those who reject electronic documents.

On his first trip abroad, the new Kazakh president, Kassym-JomartTokayev, met with Putin. The fifth Eurasian Economic Union summit will be held on 29 May. The new group is open to former Soviet republics as well as China and Mongolia. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is moving from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.

The substantial legitimacy of the vote confirmed, the run-off is scheduled for April 20. The two challengers, the outgoing Poroshenko and the comic Zelensky, confront each other on the relationship with Russia, with the European Union and with NATO. Ukraine seems determined to write its future without Moscow's interference.

Some 39 candidates are running in next Sunday’s presidential vote. The incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, is running an anti-Russian campaign. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is at 17 per cent in the polls. Comedian Zelensky is benefitting from a frustrated populace tired of corruption and war. He could win in the expected runoff.

28-year-old Anna Shekina defeated Sergej Zatsepin of "united Russia". The leaders of Putin's party have also lost in the regions of Khabarovsk, Vladimir and Khakazia. The triumph of "casual and disinterested" candidates. The wrath of the people against the tsar's bureaucrats.

The last ex-Soviet satrap of Central Asia, he leaves power after almost 30 years of uncontested domination. Khasim Zhokayev, the current Speaker of Senate, takes his place. The map of religions and tolerance.

Patriarchate spokesman Aleksandr Volkov warns the faithful against " mutual forgiveness ", a Lenten gesture, via social media and text messages. In April, the government plans to suspend the global Internet to avoid fake news. Large demonstrations in many Russian cities: "Russia is not Iran or North Korea: we are part of the civilized world".

A work by the writer Mikhail Shkarovsky claims the Third Reich had the Phanar in its sights. The pro-Soviet positions and the support of the "innovators". Ilarion: So far we had kept silent. A "technical" answer to the crisis in Ukraine.