TODAY: Venezuela says media distorted Chávez comments; Russian bomber crews land in Cuba, defying US; Medvedev admits that government posts are up for sale; Putin delegates to federal structures; international elections monitors are spies, says Russia’s CEC; Storchak makes public appeal; Nashi “hates” Estonia. Venezuela says the media, in reports like this one, distorted President Hugo Chávez’s words on his trip to Russia this week, and that his potential “welcoming” of Russian warships related to “a possible friendly visit” as opposed to a permanent deployment. Analysts say that a Russian military base in Venezuela is, in any case, “highly improbable”. Russian bomber crews have landed in Cuba to prepare for stationing nuclear bombers there, defying a US Air Force general’s warning that doing so would cross a “red line”. The Cuban President Raul Castro has kept silent on the matter. President Dmitry Medvedev has publicly acknowledged the “outrageous” practice of selling government posts, and intends to tackle the problem by handpicking bureaucrats and senior officials. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has implemented a new decision-making structure for the government under which more than 400 responsibilities have been transferred from the government to lower-level federal structures – to “save time”.