Three Moscow airports neither received nor dispatched flights for abo…

In an interview with Pavel Zarubin of the Vesti programme, Vladimir Putin said the unrest in several European countries stems from those countries' own authorities' mistakes across different areas, including excessive government debt — above 100% of GDP, he said. Earlier he said his reaction to accusations that Russia had incited the unrest was surprise, calling such claims a clear overreach.

Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told the Vesti programme that Russia is ready to resume trilateral talks on Ukraine after National Unity Day on 4 November, calling that date the next deadline. He added that Moscow had been ready to resume talks after the State Duma election held on 18–20 September, but that the Ukrainian side broke that arrangement.

Education and Science Minister Valery Falkov told a meeting of the Russian Union of Rectors at Moscow State University that the 2026 admissions season saw a sharp rise in school leavers scoring 100 points on the Unified State Exam — up 40.9% year on year. The number of olympiad winners and prize-winners admitted as a priority also grew: by 5.5% for the All-Russian School Olympiad and by 4.3% for olympiads on the Russian School Olympiad Council list. He said it cannot be considered normal when all state-funded places in a programme go to olympiad winners. The ministry has already cut the list of olympiads granting admission benefits from 83 to 60 and plans to count only results of 10th and 11th graders, granting exam-free admission only to winners.

Former Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said his United Serbia coalition lost the snap parliamentary election and that the Student List, which emerged from mass anti-government protests, won. By his estimate the protest movement will take 135–140 seats and United Serbia about 105. He also said he would not obstruct his rivals and would not resort to lawsuits, complaints or appeals to the administrative court.

Senator Sergey Perminov, part of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly observer mission, told RIA Novosti that observers visited polling stations in many Belgrade districts throughout the day starting at 7 a.m. local time and recorded no violations of the law. He said claims of violations came from OSCE ODIHR observation missions but were not confirmed. Commenting on the attack on Vucic's mother, he called it a flagrant incident driven by high polarization in society, which police will investigate.

Asked on 25 October to assess US–Russian energy cooperation, Donald Trump spoke highly of the diesel supply arrangements reached by the two sides, saying Russia did not give oil to the United States but to the world, and that this was very good.

Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said preparations have begun for a trilateral Russia–China–United States summit on the sidelines of the APEC forum in China, and that Moscow, Beijing and Washington are in principle ready for it. He also said a bilateral meeting between the Russian and US presidents at the APEC summit has not yet been agreed, and that the discussion so far concerns the trilateral contact. The APEC summit will be held on 18–19 November in Shenzhen, China.

Commenting in the same television interview on the debt situation in European countries, Vladimir Putin said Russia's external debt is just 2.6% of GDP and total public debt 17.5%. He cited Italy for comparison, saying its public debt stands at nearly 139–140%.

Asked how much diesel Russia could supply to the US market, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow can supply it all — whatever partners want, within the volume earmarked for export. He also noted that after the diesel deal between Russia and the United States was announced, world oil prices fell by 5–6%.

A fire broke out in the building of Moscow's Theatre in the South-West at 125 Vernadsky Avenue. Operational services reported the location of the outbreak, evacuation from the building is under way and thick black smoke is billowing. The services said the fire was assigned an elevated complexity rating; the cause and the area affected are still being established and fire and rescue units are working on site. The theatre was founded in 1977 by artistic director and director Valery Belyakovich.

A draft law prepared by the Russian Education Ministry on new support and protection measures for teachers has been published on the federal portal of draft regulatory acts. It would grant Labour Veteran status to teaching staff with at least 25 years of service in educational organisations who hold or have held a relevant position. It also gives teachers the right to visit state and municipal museums free of charge at least once a month and to free legal assistance on matters related to their teaching work. New entrants would be guaranteed mentoring for at least one year and the right to additional professional training at least once every three years. Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said it is important that systematic work to strengthen the prestige of the profession is carried out in all regions.

This is an update to the 24 October reporting on the blackout in Sevastopol caused by a strike on energy infrastructure: Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said power was restored close to 2 a.m. Moscow time and almost the entire city had electricity until 9 a.m., but the lines were overloaded again afterwards. He said the Black Sea regional dispatch centre ordered a schedule of three hours on and three hours off, industrial facilities and shopping centres were ordered to cut consumption as much as possible, and freed-up capacity is to go first to residential buildings.

Lipetsk region governor Igor Artamonov said a rocket strike on the industrial zone of Yelets during the daytime of 25 October killed one person and injured six. The deceased was a security guard at the enterprise. One injured man, who worked in heat treatment of metal, was hospitalised with shrapnel in his thigh; two others suffered smoke inhalation; two with cuts refused hospitalisation; and one female employee received home treatment for an aggravated chronic condition. Besides industrial facilities, the facades of several apartment buildings and the building of the Yelets medical college were damaged.

This is an update to the 24 October report of a rocket strike on a plant in Oryol's Sovetsky district that injured eight: TASS, citing governor Andrey Klychkov, said the death toll from the strike on the enterprise on 23 October rose to four. According to the agency, 19 people sought treatment at hospitals and seven remain in inpatient care. The governor offered condolences to relatives of the dead.

Acting Bryansk region governor Yegor Kovalchuk said the Bryansk–Gomel train was hit by Ukrainian drones while it was in Novozybkov; a 44-year-old driver was taken to hospital immediately but died of his wounds. The regional head expressed deep condolences to the driver's relatives.

In a television interview Vladimir Putin said Russian LNG still accounts for about 20% of the European market and that Russia has never refused Europe supplies of raw materials, even as Europeans plan to stop buying what they still receive from Russia. He said Moscow also agrees on the need to move to renewable energy sources, but that this should be done gradually, as alternatives become ready for rational and economically viable use.

Citing several insurance company sources, Kommersant reports that the Russian National Reinsurance Company is discussing with market participants a clause in obligatory reinsurance contracts for terrorism and sabotage risks, including drone impacts: if payouts for events after 1 October 2026 exceed a loss threshold of 200bn rubles, the rate would rise to 50% of the maximum aggregate limit (currently 1%) and the reinsurer's liability limits would shrink fivefold. The paper notes that RNRC currently reinsures virtually all drone attack risks; payouts on inward reinsurance contracts in the first half of 2026 amounted to almost 38bn rubles.

This updates the 24 October reporting that Daniil Medvedev had reached the Almaty Open final for a second straight year: he beat Georgian player Nikoloz Basilashvili in three sets, 6:7 (6:8), 6:1, 6:3, and did not lose a single service game all week. It is his fourth title of the season and 25th of his career, and the first time he has won the same ATP tournament two years in a row. The ATP 250 event was held in Kazakhstan with a prize fund of $1,075mn.

Russian poet and essayist Yevgeny Chigrin died overnight after a long illness in his 66th year, having battled cancer for three years. His wife Olga told TASS that the last course of treatment in the summer produced no result, his condition worsened, and doctors were unable to save him that night.

European champions and three-time Russian champions Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovskii took silver in pairs at the event in Angers, France, scoring 197.66 points across two programmes — the first ISU Grand Prix medal for Russian skaters after a five-year absence due to suspension. Competing for Georgia, Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava won with 204.65, while Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel of Germany were third with 179.74. Russian skaters secured 11 Grand Prix quotas through Challenger-series events.

Rosaviatsiya said restrictions were imposed at Moscow airports Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky, with flights neither received nor dispatched for about half an hour before normal operations resumed. The outlet notes such restrictions are usually introduced because of drone-attack risks to the regions. No figures on cancelled or delayed flights were given.

US President Donald Trump told journalists the American oil-extracting industry should not be held hostage to the Ukraine conflict; asked about the US-Russia gas project in Alaska and deals involving LUKOIL, he said all these agreements "will be concluded at some point". He also said the only deal struck with Russia was its release of oil onto the world market. The outlet recalls that the US Treasury had earlier authorised transactions involving Russian diesel until 7 April 2027, and that Trump declined to apply a number of restrictions under the "hellish sanctions" law, including 500% additional tariffs on Russian goods.

According to the piece, IKEA has renewed its exclusive right to the IKEA Family trademark in Russia for 10 years. The right holder is the Dutch Inter IKEA Systems B.V. The new term expires in September 2036, the previous extension running to September 2026, and the application was filed several times. The mark is registered across 19 classes of the International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services, covering paints and cosmetics, tools and household appliances, jewellery and other goods. The piece also recalls that in March 2022 the Swedish IKEA group suspended operations in Russia and Belarus. It does not say whether this implies a return to retail operations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that Russia is creating "appropriate, favourable" conditions for foreign companies that remained in the country, adding that some companies "almost cried" when they left under pressure from West European governments, and that Russia has "many friends in Europe, but they were forced to leave". The text does not mention marketplaces and does not name Chinese sellers; how far this statement applies to Chinese cross-border sellers remains to be confirmed.

The Bank of Russia official rate interface shows no new rate set was published during the coverage day and the 24 October set remained in force: USD 80.5381, EUR 90.2429, CNY 12.0557 roubles, all at nominal 1. Requesting again with the publication day (26 October) returns the same set dated 24.10.2026.

RIA Novosti, citing Georgian customs data, reports that Russian beer exports to Georgia in January-September rose to USD 2.8 million, a new record high, up almost 40% from USD 2 million a year earlier. Germany was the largest beer supplier to Georgia over the three quarters at USD 7.9 million, the Netherlands second at USD 5.2 million, and Russia third.