TODAY: Ruble hits another all-time low after Central Bank announcement, inflation above 8%; Poland’s new defense strategy mentions Russia; U.S. investigating Putin ally; Rossiya Segodnya planning multilingual broadcasts; Sberbank transparency ranks low; oil giants investigated for possibly influencing prices; PGNiG seeks gas price cut; Putin critic found dead.

The ruble fell to yet another all-time low yesterday after the Central Bank announced new steps towards a free-floating exchange rate – a reversal of its previous policy of managing the currency with market interventions.  In the long term, the free float is intended to stabilise the currency.  Inflation rose above 8% last month, in part due to the ruble having lost so much of its value.  Russia has amassed the world’s sixth largest gold reserves over the past two years because it may need help funding imports if international reserves keep dropping.  Poland’s new defense strategy addresses an ‘intensifying policy of confrontation’ by Russia.  President Vladimir Putin was ranked the world’s most powerful leader in Forbes magazine’s power list this year.  U.S. prosecutors have launched a money-laundering investigation against Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, to discover whether he used the U.S. financial system to transfer funds related to allegedly corrupt deals.  More than 60% of Russians think it is not possible to get rich by legitimate means in their country.  Brian Whitmore says that Putin clearly isn’t going to leave the Kremlin willingly, but that when he finally does, his legacy will be political upheaval.  State-run news agency Rossiya Segodnya is about to launch a new multilingual project targeting audiences overseas.