Amid tensions over Moscow massing troops on the border with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden held virtual talks on Tuesday, December 7. The discussion took place behind closed doors and lasted about two hours. The White House was the first to release a readout, which stated that Biden had promised "strong economic and other measures" in the event that Russia launches a military offensive against Ukraine. In turn, Putin told the U.S. President that Russia wants to obtain "legally fixed guarantees" that would rule out NATO's eastward expansion.

Russia's censorship agency (Roskomnadzor) has sent a notice to Tor, threatening to block the web browser unless it removes "prohibited information" from its landing page, reported digital rights group Roskomsvoboda on Tuesday, December 7.

Blogger Yuri Khovansky, currently in pre-trial detention on charges of justifying terrorism, penned an open letter from jail, where he has been since June. In the text, Khovansky says investigators threatened him with serious prison time when he refused a plea bargain. Officers also allegedly promised "problems" for his girlfriend, Maria Nelyubova (who spoke about this before). Khovansky says the authorities suggested that they would plant drugs on her. Meduza is publishing a translation of Khovansky's letter.

Since August 2020, Russia has detained at least 20 Belarusian nationals facing persecution in their home country amid Alexander Lukashenko's opposition crackdown, says a new report from BBC News Russian. What's more, many of these detainees have been extradited to Belarus -- either in response to official requests from Minsk or for allegedly violating Russian immigration laws. In other cases, Russian law enforcement agencies have expelled Belarusian nationals without going through the courts. Meduza summarizes the Russian BBC's investigation here.

Russia has confirmed its first two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, Rospotrebnadzor announced on Monday, December 6.

State Duma deputies from Russia's ruling political party have reportedly been coached on how to respond to anti-vaxxer talking points and objections to pandemic restrictions on movement. Two sources in United Russia confirmed to the news website RBC that the party has circulated guidelines for public engagement to its deputies in the parliament. United Russia's press service told RBC that it regularly shares such materials with deputies to keep them informed and effective. The recommendations to lawmakers are a bit odd at times. Meduza summarizes the public messaging campaign Russia's ruling political party has concocted to counter disinformation and paranoia about the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccines developed to fight COVID-19.

The Russian Justice Ministry's registry of "foreign-agent media" now includes more than 100 individuals and organizations.

On December 2, Russia's Federal Security Service announced the arrest of three Ukrainian intelligence agents. According to the FSB, one of these assets was planning to set off bombs on Russian soil, while the other two -- a father and son -- had allegedly been paid to gather intelligence on strategic facilities. Ukraine's Security Service (the SBU) dismissed the news as fake, accusing the FSB of trying to discredit Ukrainian intelligence in an act of "revenge." Meduza looks into the detainees and uncovers how a 23-year-old coffee salesman from Kyiv and a father and son duo from a small village in western Ukraine ended up in FSB custody.

The state prosecution in the trial of Yuri Dmitriev has asked to prolong the historian's sentence, his lawyer Roman Masalev told TASS. This took place during a hearing at the Petrozavodsk City Court in Russia's Karelia on Friday, December 3.

Tomsk oppositionist and RusNews journalist Igor Kuznetsov, who is in jail pending trial for allegedly attempting to instigate "mass riots" using Telegram, is facing new charges.