TODAY: Opposition activist torture claims; Miliband leaves with no breakthrough regarding diplomatic concerns; meets with rights activists; Putin and Medvedev popularity waning?; President in need of own power structure to realize reforms; Stalin resurrection an identity issue; Gorbachev on Russophobia; alcohol; jokes; artThe Other Russia reports that Konstantin Makarov, a member of the outlawed National Bolshevik Party, and organizer of an opposition rally planned for the 31st October in Voronezh, was detained and beaten by two policeman, one of whom was S. Yemkov of the notorious Interior Ministry's Center for Extremism Prevention.  According to Makarov, his torturers told him that he would face similar treatment after each rally held by the National Bolsheviks.  Foreign Minister Sergei ...

Bob has an opinion article in today's edition of the Guardian stressing the importance of linking human rights with foreign relations during David Miliband's visit to Russia this week, and elsewhere in the same paper, Mikhail Khodorkovsky's mother has issued her own appeal to the foreign secretary.

At least one report confirms that Khodorkovsky's case will indeed be discussed.

Miliband has started on this path already, apparently. He met with human rights activists today where, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Libery, he "expressed his concern over the killings of activists of nongovernmental organizations in Russia and the pressure that is being imposed on civil society."

Miliband also pressed Russia to

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TODAY: Lavrov keeps eagle eye on Georgia; Netanyahu's fears about Russian rogue scientists; Chubais takes the fall for hydropower plant disaster.  Litvinenko widow despairs over apparent British moves towards rapprochement.  Luzhkov-Baturina to take Nemtsov to court. UN report pessimistic on Russia's demographic decline; Ban Ki-moon voices approval for ecological care.According to the Moscow Times, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that Russia will survey shipping in the Black Sea to monitor Georgian 'provocations' which are a 'serious concern'.  Jorg Himmelreich in the International Herald Tribune suggests that much analysis of last year's Georgia-Russia conflict has overlooked the crucial matter of President Bush's Georgia policy.  Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko says that he believes that the ratification of the Lisbon treaty would benefit ...

The most dramatic account I've ever seen about the shooting of Paul Joyal (he did survive, and often shows up at Washington DC-area events on Russia), who was a producer on NBC Dateline's story to report on the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.  Looks like the local police are not pursuing the right leads.It was raining when Paul Joyal pulled into his driveway in this suburb 10 miles from the White House. As he stepped out of his car, nothing seemed amiss. He did not see two men lurking in the darkness. But suddenly, he was under attack, cold-cocked on the side of his head. The 55-year-old Joyal fought back. He elbowed one of the attackers in the gut and bowled ...

So when Scott Anderson wrote his investigative article for GQ on the alleged government frame up and subsequent cover up of the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings, we were taken back to all the gritty details from Alexander Litvinenko's book, Mikhail Trepashkin's interviews, and the questions covered in Andrei Nekrasov's haunting 2004 documentary Disbelief (see trailer after the jump).In an interesting interview with RFE/RL on the censorship experience, Anderson discusses how difficult it was to track down sources still willing to talk about the incident, and, despite his reliance on Trepashkin for much of the article, he does fact check every statement he published from him.  But essentially, for the hardcore Russia obsessives out there, most of the GQ article (available in full over at Gawker) contains previous information, endowed with greater credibility.  Anderson ...

Writing in the Guardian, Anna Blundy is not all that impressed with the latest contribution to the oligarch literature: Londongrad by Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley

The wives and girlfriends "flock" to Courchevel and "descend on the Côte d'Azur", though it is clear the authors had no access to them either. There is also a strong note of derision directed at the Brits, described as "bag carriers" for the rich Russians, with emphasis on Stephen Curtis, Khodorkovsky's UK lawyer, who died in a suspiciously timed helicopter crash in 2004.

The book does include the classic story of Berezovsky serving Abramovich with a writ in Hermès on London's Sloane Street and accounts of the murders of Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko and Robert Workman, the pensioner shot dead in

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TODAY: Kremlin downplays hopes of START breakthrough; Belarus won't offer political support for money; Gorbachev argues need for perestroika on global level; Putin playing to the crowd, Medvedev left in the wings?; Litvinenko suspect to sit in duma; Sochi construction chief ousted The Kremlin is being 'pragmatic' and does not have 'high expectations of the outcome' of Obama's upcoming Moscow trip, saying as long as the issue of missile defense remains 'unclear', it will be unwilling to reduce its own weaponry.  Mikhail Gorbachev has penned an article in the Washington Post suggesting that the US is in need of its own perestroika.  Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has rejected Russia's offers of a $500 million loan as it is reportedly contingent upon ...

Some of the most entertaining news coming out of Russia these days has to do with the mayoral election in Sochi - a job which could land one lucky competitor the task of doling out billions of dollars in preparation for the Winter Olympics.  Without a hint of irony, President Dmitry Medvedev has called the campaign a "genuine political battle" that will enrich Russian democracy ... you can't make this stuff up.Needless to say, the country's most impressive corruption entrepreneurs have turned out to try to seize the post, but those placing their bets on the wanted murderer of Alexander Litvinenko, may be disappointed to see he's been chucked out.  And now it seems that opposition leader Boris Nemtsov's already slim chances are getting slimmer, as the United ...

TODAY: EU decides to delay talks with Russia; Gorbachev supports Yukos prisoner; More military spending; UK continues fight for extradition. With strenuous resistance from Poland, Sweden, and the Baltic States, the European Union leaders have delayed a decision on whether to restart talks over establishing a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia. "The PCA will resume once the analysis, the evaluation that is being done by the Council (of EU ministers) and commission is finished," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Amid funeral proceedings for Alexei Cherepanov, the New York Rangers first-round pick who died during a game outside of Moscow Monday, the Duma called for a probe of why medical officials weren't present at the game. Responding to outlandish claims of Russia expertise by Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, her Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, recently quipped, ...