TODAY: Medvedev to assume personal responsibility in battle against corruption; Global Peace Index ranks Russia low on its list; Cyprus court refuses to extradite former Yukos executive; libel bill will not be passed; Georgia could support Russia’s WTO bid. Dmitry Medvedev is to head a council to battle corruption, winning praise in the Russian press for assuming “personal responsibility”. The Moscow Times have picked up on Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s interview with a British newspaper in which it was implied he is “cautiously optimistic about the new president’s desire to overhaul the country’s notoriously corrupt legal system.” A Cyprus court has refused to extradite Alecos Panayioutou, a former senior Yukos executive, to Russia, saying that the case is politically-motivated, and that “there is a real risk that his right to a fair trial will be flagrantly violated”. A Moscow scientific institute has dismissed reports that its deputy director, Svetlana Zheludeva, died of poisoning. The State Duma will not pass a bill, authored by youngest Duma member Robert Shlegel, that had raised concerns about media freedom by toughening the penalties for libel.