Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev missed the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg due to a busy work schedule. Aliyev's administration also noted that his absence from the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on December 21 was due to Azerbaijan not being a member of the organization.
FSB officers published a video of the detention in the Kherson region of Ukraine of 66-year-old Crimean Tatar Bilyal Abdurakhmanov, who opposed the annexation of Crimea. A criminal case has been initiated against him under Part 2 of Art. 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in an illegal armed formation). The man faces up to 15 years in prison.
According to investigators, Abdurakhmanov was a member of the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan, which was recognized as “terrorist” in Russia. Russian law enforcement officers believe that the detainee took part in the blockade of Crimea in order to return it back to Ukraine. He is also accused of making statements about the need to destroy Russian troops in Ukraine.