TODAY: Markelov murder suspect reportedly confesses; vengeance a possible motive?  Activist abducted in Moscow.  Spy chief issues warning on Georgia; Lavrov surprised at Poland soliciting US help.  Medvedev reserves army use for emergencies. Luzhkov lays into Abramovich; new vodka pricing; toy story. The Moscow Times reports that revenge may be the motive behind the shooting of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov.  Apparently the alleged gunman Nikita Tikhonov may have been a suspect in the stabbing of anti-fascist activist Alexander Ryukhin in 2006, whose mother Markelov was a lawyer for.  The other suspect, Eugenia Khasis, 24, appears to have no prior convictions.  Apparently the killer has confessed - the Other Russia reporting it to be ...

In a case brought to light by Hermitage Capital Management's campaign to expose state corruption in Russia, Viktor Markelov has pleaded guilty to 'fraud by prior collusion by a group of persons and in an especially large amount' in a Moscow court.  Hermitage, meanwhile, has sent out a new letter to six government agencies alleging that senior Kremlin officials have 'conspired with a private gang' to steal $230 million from the Russian treasury.  Bloomberg and The Times of London report the figure as $381 million, the Moscow Times as less than a quarter of that sum.  AvtoVAZ workers are rallying for the company's nationalization.  Swiss engineering firm ABB says it is reassessing its business model in Russia, owing to increased operating costs.  Is Russian oligarch Mikhail D. Prokhorov planning to buy a ...

TODAY: Iran uranium plan waiting to be concluded; Russia backs Serbia on Kosovo; Lavrov exit denied; Ingushetian cabinet out.  Ex-US Yukos unit to launch mammoth lawsuit; picketed journalist gets unlikely defender; UN says Russia should improve immigration policies; grave problem for MoscowThe Washington Post reports that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has announced that an agreement between Tehran and six world powers to allow Russia to help enrich uranium for an Iranian reactor awaits finalizing.  ITAR-TASS says that the Foreign Ministry has denied rumors that Lavrov may resign.  The Foreign Minister has rebuffed questions about who truly runs Russia, Putin or Medvedev, at a press conference, where he answered, 'you should not pit the Kremlin against ...

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 ...

TODAY: Chief of staff denies decisions on Kaliningrad plan; Churkin criticizes US 'cold war attitude'; arms reduction talks not progressing as smoothly as they may appear.  Israel maintains choice in Iran; Russia suggests onus on NATO to improve ties; ship plans for Abkhaz waters.  Moscow court rejects appeal for Vasily Aleksanyan; 'anti-Soviet' restaurant feels Mitvol's wrath.Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates's insistence that the decision on missile defense was not about Russia reveals 'a rather difficult negotiating partner, a partner who is loaded in many ways by a Cold War mentality'.  The Chief of Russia's general Staff has stated that no decision has yet been made on plans to deploy ...

TODAY: 1998 Starovoitova murder case to be reopened; Moscow city Duma election opposition candidates outraged; Nashi vs Nemtsov thrown out of court.  Lavrov positive on reset; new police chief; Moscow mayor to fight weather.According to Bloomberg, Russia has reopened the investigation into the 1998 murder of lawmaker and human rights activist Galina Starovoitova as new evidence has appeared.  The assassinated activist's assistant, Ruslan Linkov, who was also injured in the attack which killed her, has suggested that the reopening may be to do with an appeal sent by himself and Starovoitova's sister to President Medvedev in July.  An independent election-monitoring group has criticized election officials for preventing all but one opposition candidate to stand in next ...

TODAY: EU to extend Georgia monitoring mission; Kyrgyz opposition turns to Moscow.  China-Russia relations strain over river proposal.  Activist shot in face following threats.  Moscow Patriarch Kirill appeals for unity in Ukraine.  Putin song.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has apparently played down the suggestion that US Vice President Joe Biden made a U-turn on the reset.  Reuters analyzes the change in posture of an arguably more modest Mikheil Saakashvili?  South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity has argued that the US, Ukraine and Israel bare grave responsibility for rearming Georgia 'to the teeth'.   The EU has extended a cease fire monitoring mission in Georgia for one more year, but the idea of other countries joining ...

We have written a number of blog posts about the arrest of Semyon Mogilevich, his alleged ties to the natural gas trade, and the subsequent trial.  Today, we are shocked to read of his release from jail.From the Financial Times, which also notes that such observation of pre-trial detention limits had never been observed for Mikhail Khodorkovsky:

A Moscow court has freed on bail Semyon Mogilevich, a suspected organised crime boss who is wanted by the FBI for alleged racketeering and fraud, 18 months after his arrest by armed commandos in Moscow on charges of tax fraud, the FT has learnt.

Mr Mogilevich's lawyer in Israel, Zeev

...

TODAY: Biden in Georgia expresses support for freedom and territorial integrity; Russia-NATO Council meeting pragmatic.  Body of missing Russian activist  Andrei Kulagin found, second murder in a week.  Nobel laureates plead for justice for Estemirova; Russia says no to UN probe into her death. Mikheil Saakashvili wasted no words in condemning Russia in his meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden.  Biden pledged his support by sending out an 'unequivocal, clear message to all who will listen and some who don't want to', in an apparent tacit reference to the Kremlin.  'We refuse to recognise that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not part of Georgia', Biden told the BBC.  Resurrected discussions of the expulsion ...

Barack Obama has urged for increased trade between the US and Russia, as current annual trade stands at $36 billion, but has stipulated that the promotion of 'transparency, accountability [and] rule of law' are necessary.  The US may drop the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which has restricted immigration and prevented Washington from granting most-favored nation status to countries that do not have market economies.  'We should be ashamed of the size of mutual investments', says Viktor Vekselberg.  Putin has offered support of Boeing's wish to 'develop cooperation with Russian partners'.  The US aircraft maker is ready to spend $27 billion in Russia over the next 30 years.  To see a video interview with John Connor, manager of the Third Millenium Russia Fund, about the investment climate in Russia, look here.  For comments on the business meetings, see Reuters.  Vladimir Putin ...