TODAY: Merkel breaks with Putin over gay rights; Kremlin grant to Orthodox Church will fund creation of spiritual centers; Novatek lobbying in U.S. to end sanctions, Foreign Minister urges E.U. to call off sanctions; ruble hits all-time low; Russian hand suspected in Bulgarian anti-shale protests; Danone and PepsiCo targeted; book review special.

A worsening anti-gay climate in Russia has led to a 34% rise in Russian asylum seekers in 2014.  The ‘pas de deux’ between President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is reportedly at an end, after Putin ranted at her about the West’s promotion of gay rights, calling it an example of a ‘decay of values’; Merkel’s response apparently is to shift her efforts away from finding a common language with the Kremlin and urge the West to adopt ‘a policy of Cold War-style containment’.  The Orthodox Church will receive a $40 million grant from the federal budget next year to create spiritual enlightenment centers.  Energy company Novatek, partly owned by a friend of Putin, has spent at least $280,000 lobbying in the U.S. against a Senate bill that would extend current sanctions against Russia.  The Deputy Foreign Minister is urging the European Union to lift its ‘meaningless sanctions spiral‘ against Moscow, promising that Russia would waive its food import ban counter-measures.  The BBC explains how current sanctions are sending shockwaves through U.K. businesses.  The ruble reached an all time low at the end of last week, and saw its worst month in five years as the economy ‘teeter[s] on the brink of recession’, making it an interesting moment for the opening of Europe’s largest shopping mall in Moscow.  An estimated 1,500-3,000, 4,000, 5,000, or maybe just ‘hundreds’ of Russians marched in Moscow yesterday in protest against plans to shut down 28 hospitals and fire 10,000 doctors early next year.