The following lists events that happened in 2014 in Russia. Incumbents President of Russia: Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia: Dmitry Medvedev Events January 9 January – Russian authorities investigate six suspicious deaths and at least one car explosion in southern Russia's Stavropol territory, about 300 miles from Sochi, the site of next month's Winter Olympics. 14 January – Russia expels American journalist David Satter from the country in the first such case since 1982. 17 January – Vladimir Putin cautions gay people should not "spread gay propaganda" when visiting the host city of Sochi. 18 January – Seven suspected militants are killed by Russian security forces in a shootout near Makhachkala in Dagestan. 20 January An Islamist group claims responsibility for the bombings and threatens attacks on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi. Mike Rogers accuses Edward Snowden of collaborating with Russia. 23 January – Supreme Court of Russia releases Platon Lebedev, a business partner of Russian magnate and former head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky, after he spent more than 10 years in jail. 29 January – Largest Russian TV providers disconnected leading independent Dozhd TV channel. The previous days the channel was criticised by Vladimir Putin's press secretary and Russian parliament members. February 3 February – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow. The suspected shooter, a 15-year-old student at the school, surrenders to authorities. It is one of the first school shootings to occur in Russia. 7 February Russia's Foreign Ministry calls new US sanctions against Iran a "direct violation of the Geneva deal" and "unacceptable". 2014 Winter Olympics: The opening ceremony is held in Sochi. A man attempts to hijack a Pegasus Airlines flight from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and demands to be flown to Sochi; the pilots turned off the inflight monitors and landed in Istanbul, Turkey, where the passenger was arrested. 9 February – A gunman kills two people at a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin. 12 February Russia says it will veto a U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria, claiming that the draft is an effort to prepare for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Russians Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov win the gold in pairs figure skating, becoming the first to do on home ice since Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier at the 1936 Winter