News and readings of note from all around Russia.

In memory of actor Christopher Plummer, who died last week at age 91, we look back at his role as a dying Leo Tolstoy in the 2009 film, The Last Station.

This week's Odder News features Russian athletes making international news, low-tax sports gear, and more opportunity for restful shut-eye.

Icy winter waters were no threat to a talented reporter who dove in to save a puppy from the cold.

Russians are taking advantage of sub-zero temperatures to participate in the frozen Ramen challenge.

A couple in Kaliningrad has been jailed for posting a photo of their wedding.

This is how 2021 should start: a cat in Ulyanovsk was rescued from a trash compactor and awarded a government post.

“A person who would personify the hero of 2020, according to Russians, is honest, decent, and fair (13%). Of the options proposed, Russians most often referred to the heroes of the year as doctors and medical workers (55%), as well as EMERCON employees who save people in emergency situations (31%).”

-Results from a poll by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM)on who Russians consider to be the heroes of 2020

“Maximum conspiracy – this is of utmost importance. No one must be seen.”

– Konstantin Kudryavtsev, suspected as one of the FSB agents responsible for the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny in August, in a phone call with Navalny

A Moscow Zoo alligator with a rich history has been stuffed and will be on display at a Moscow museum.

“Not working at all is death… The authorities chose a blow worse than a lockdown. Any sane person understands that the coronavirus is terrible. But this does not mean that the coronavirus should kill an industry to the point that it cannot be restored in any way.”

- Alexander Konovalov, organizer of the “Map of Resistance,” a group of bars and restaurants in St. Petersburg that plan to defy new coronavirus restrictions calling to close all bars and restaurants from December 30 through January 3