TODAY: Prosecutors seek ten years for Navalny; China pledges to help Russia in finance turmoil; Lesin to step down from media role.  Russia will never be intimidated, says Putin; invites North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Moscow; crisis tactics, gold and assets.

Russian prosecutors have asked a court to sentence opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 10 years in prison on charges that he stole $520,000 from two companies.  The Kremlin critic commented, ‘Life makes no sense if you have to tolerate endless lies. I will never accept this system, which is built on lies.’  The authorities have successfully ordered the blocking of a Facebook page calling for a demonstration in his defense.  Analysts have speculated about how much the economic crisis will affect Putin’s popularity, but in his vertical of power, ‘it is not possible to remove the top link without the whole system coming down‘.  China has offered Russia verbal support regarding the current economic crisis, expressing its belief the country will emerge unscathed.  Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng added that expanding a currency swap between the two nations and making increased use of yuan for bilateral trade would be the best assistance for Russia.  The director of the BBC World Service has opened up about the ‘information war’ with the Kremlin.  Journalists from beleaguered independent TV channel Dozhd are trying to see the bright side of their new HQ, two months after what many saw as a state-sponsored eviction.  Mikhail Lesin, the head of state-controlled Russian broadcasting giant Gazprom-Media, who is facing a U.S. investigation for money laundering, has resigned from the post.