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Alexey Navalny collapsed and died on Friday, in a prison colony north of the Arctic circle where he was serving a 19-year sentence under Russian laws on “extremist activities.” He was 47. In the West, the Kremlin critic was heralded as the Russian “opposition leader.” In Ukraine, he was denounced as a Russian nationalist. At…

Russia’s foreign currency reserves have continued to grow, surpassing $593 billion as of December 22, the country’s central bank has reported.  Statistics show the volume of international reserves increased by $5.5 billion, or 0.9%, in the week from December 15, largely due to “a positive market revaluation.”