TODAY: Over 700 detained in Volgograd; Norwegian fish imports banned; Strategy 31 protester to be charged; 2013 oil output is post-Soviet record; Economist on Eurasian bloc, Spectator on Soviet prison camps, Washington Post on U.S.-Russia relations; astrological doom?

Over 700 people have been detained by police in Volgograd since the two suicide bombings earlier this week that have thus far killed 34 people; cars and trains arriving in the region are being subjected to ‘total inspections’.  The Economist says that the current scene in Volgograd ‘was always a question of when rather than if’.  As of January 1st, Russia has banned imports of Norwegian fish, citing lax quality control; the ban hits 90% of Norway’s registered Russia suppliers.  A CIA expert says it is ‘inconceivable’ that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s files have not fallen into Russian hands.  Strategy 31 protester Sergei Mokhnatkin is facing charges over claims he struck a police officer during the New Year’s Eve rally that saw 28 activists arrested.  Russia’s oil output for 2013 rose for the fifth year in a row to a post-Soviet high, as the country sought to balance its ‘increasingly overstretched finances’.