According to the Interior Ministry, bribe-taking has increased, and police have uncovered 35,000 cases of corruption thus far this year, some of which involve governors and other regional ministers.  The new Organization of Public Control says it will create a system of public control, relying on the help of ordinary citizens, to counter the corruption problem.  The draft agreement that Russia has passed to NATO demands that the alliance put limitations on the number of troops posted in certain new member states, including Poland and the Czech Republic; but the alliance doesn’t seem keen to grant them.  Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has given no reason for the firing of Viktor Damurchiyev, as journalists place bets on whose head will be the next to roll.  Two separate articles in The Guardian today applaud Mikhail Gorbachev; one for focusing so publicly on Russia’s lack of political competition, the other for his position on Afghanistan.