Main News of December 22

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Yuriy Boyko, said he hopes the issue of the price for Russian gas has been settled

RUSSIA

* Moscow police on Sunday stopped a 12-car wedding motorcade in the south of the Russian capital after receiving a complaint that shots were being fired from the cars, a police spokesman said

POLITICS

* A deputy Russian foreign minister and Malta’s top diplomat held bilateral consultations in the Maltese capital Valletta, confirming the two countries’ urge to expand trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was released from prison on Friday on a presidential pardon, said Sunday he will not fund Russia’s opposition

BUSINESS

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratified free trade agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, according to documents posted in an official database of regulatory and legal acts

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law declaring that the full price of a consumer loan cannot be more than a third higher than the average market rate as determined by the Central Bank

SPORTS

* The Czech Republic grabbed its second victory at the third stage of the Euro Hockey Tour in Sochi, beating Sweden 2-1 on penalty shots in a pre-Olympic warmup