TODAY: Russia confirms allegations of soldiers plundering Polish crash site; Medvedev breach with Putin on ecology? Gazprom tower appeal rejected; Yabloko active on Gen Plan and Lake Baikal; anniversary of journalist murder.  Georgia threatens Sochi boycott, local residents continue to complain; Brazil-Russia tourism to increase; new rule on Duma truancy; Orthodox holiday recognition causes upset

Apparently Russia has confirmed that at least three Russian soldiers (not OMON police officers, as first reported) have been detained on suspicion of stealing from the Smolensk crash site where the Polish President died.  A court in St Petersburg has approved plans for the Gazprom tower, despite well-advertised disapproval from Dmitry Medvedev.  The President has told lawmakers to draw up a draft framework for the country’s ecological policy for the next 20 years – in tacit disapproval of Putin’s environmental record as Ria-Novosti suggests?  The Yabloko party has lodged a law suit in Moscow demanding the annulment of the architectural ‘General Plan’ for the town’s development.  Four Yabloko activists who held a small protest in Red Square against what they view as negligent treatment of Lake Baikal have been detained by police.  Moscow prosecutors have suspended the demolition of a number of historic buildings in the Kadashi district after activists protested.  RFE/RL has a video on the feelings of abandonment prevalent in a Siberian village which has become isolated due to flooding.