TODAY: New law requires bloggers to register; national payment system will penalise international colleagues; 13 detained at Bolotnaya anniversary protest; Lavrov defends military exercises at Ukrainian border; some investors still holding onto their Russia shares; Pussy Riot speak to U.S. Senate; Eurovision entry booed.

In the Kremlin’s latest crackdown on dissident voices, President Vladimir Putin ‘quietly’ signed a new law that requires popular online bloggers to register with the government – just weeks after dismissing the Internet as ‘a special C.I.A. project’.  Another new measure increases punishments for those found guilty of taking part in riots.  The law that will allow the creation of a new Russian national payment system will impose ‘unprecedented’ regulations on Visa and MasterCard, forcing them to deposit the equivalent of two days’ worth of transactions as a ‘security’ measure.  Police in Moscow detained 13 people yesterday at an unsanctioned protest held to mark the second anniversary of the Bolotnaya Square protest.  Yesterday was also the second anniversary of Putin’s third term as President of the Russian Federation, bringing his total years in power to ten.  Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov has defended Russian military exercises conducted near the Ukrainian border, saying they are no secret, and are not in violation of any laws.  He also accused Ukraine’s army of fighting on the side of ‘neo-Nazis’ against their own people, and accusing the Council of Europe of ‘ultra-nationalist activities’.  The Times calls Putin ‘the poster boy of nationalists everywhere’.  German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warns that Ukraine is ‘just a few steps away from a military confrontation’.