Russia has its first black politician – Jean Gregoire Sabo has been elected one of Novozavidovo’s ten municipal councilors.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made a trip to Ukraine this weekend, addressing a gathering of 5,000 bikers in Crimea (‘The bike is a symbol of freedom‘ / ‘the most democratic transport vehicle‘), and revealing that he had met with the ten Russian spies recently deported from the US, and sung patriotic songs with them.  ‘I met them.  We talked about life. We sang, not karaoke, but to live music. We sang From What the Motherland Begins.  I’m not joking, I am serious. And other songs with a similar content.‘  Putin’s comments contradict the ‘impression that the country’s leaders wanted to brush the scandal under the carpet and move on‘, says The Independent.  It is being claimed that two of the men killed in a Sunday shootout were the attackers who bombed the Baksanskaya power plant last week.  Moscow’s weather last Friday broke the 1936 July temperature record, and it is thought that it will break the all-time record of 36.8˚C this week.