Vedomosti is suing State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov for defamation after he accused the newspaper of ‘stewing in the same juices‘ as the terrorists responsible for the March 30 metro bombings.  The Moscow Times anticipates that the case ‘could prove to be a high-stakes battleground for media freedom‘.  The Other Russia says it has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over the government’s repeated denials of its right to free assembly.  A new report from Minority Rights Group International suggests that Russia’s civilians are at increased risk this year from the possibility of a military strike against Islamist militants, thanks to escalated violence in the North Caucasus.  Russia’s Federation Council has ratified its deal with Ukraine to extend the lease on the Sevastopol naval base and leaders of the two countries exchanged congratulations on the deal’s ‘triumph of reason and strategic interests over short-term emotions‘ as brawls broke out in Ukraine’s Rada.  The Times says that Viktor Yanukovych has been positively ‘love-bombed‘ by the Russian leaders ‘as the Kremlin has taken advantage of American indifference and European Union ineptitude to restore its dominance in Kiev‘.  In line with Moscow’s position and in total opposition to that of his predecessor, Yanukovych has apparently announced that the 1930s Stalinist famine that killed millions of Ukrainians should not be considered genocide.