TODAY: Third anniversary of the killing of Anna Politkovskaya; Kadyrov wins his lawsuit against Memorial, launches another.  Gay marriage bid rejected; critical posters displayed around Moscow.  Medvedev gets his new speech writer; no independence recognition trade-off with Turkey; Russia denies its scientists are helping Iran with bomb.

Three years on from the slaying of Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta editor Sergei Sokolov says that new suspects have emerged in the murder case.  Russia has denied visas to two members of Reporters without Borders, who planned a trip to Russia for the anniversary of the journalist’s death.  The move has been criticized by her son Ilya Politkovskaya.  K. Anthony Appiah in the Washington Post laments the fact that in Russia the ‘pursuit of investigative journalism carries an informal death penalty’.  Ramzan Kadyrov has won his case against Memorial head Oleg Orlov, who has been told to pay symbolic damages and retract his accusation that the Chechen President was involved in the murder of Natalia Estemirova.  Kadyrov has also filed a new libel suit against Novaya Gazeta, for an article which linked him to the murder of former bodyguard Umar Israilov.  The Moscow Arbitration Court has ignored a defamation lawsuit filed by Elena Baturina against opposition figure Boris Nemtsov because it was filed improperly.