TODAY: World powers urge Russia not to block Syria measures; Syria denies Russian claim that it has agreed to talks; opposition leaders on state television; Golos says Putin is main violator of electoral process; teachers ordered to march for Putin; Lavrov denies Kuril referendum claim; Saakashvili meets with Obama.

Britan, France and the U.S. are trying to convince Russia not to block the Arab League’s initiative to force Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down by promising to refrain from military intervention.  The Russian Foreign Ministry says that the Syrian government has agreed to take part in Moscow-mediated talks on the current crisis; Syria denies this.  ‘Russia’s support for Syria dates back to the days of the Soviet Union.’  St. Petersburg officials have approved a February 4 opposition demonstration for 30,000 people.  The BBC profiles the official presidential candidates, as opposition leaders Vladimir Ryzhkov and Boris Nemtsov appeared on state-run television in programs critical of Vladimir Putin. ‘It’s true I haven’t been in the NTV studio for five years.  Obviously, something is happening in the country,’ said Nemtsov.  Mikhail Prokhorov envisions the worst-case scenario between Kremlin and opposition as ‘civil war’.  According to independent elections watchdog Golos, the main violator in the run-up to the presidential elections is Vladimir Putin, partly because he started campaigning before the official opening of the campaign season.  Moscow schoolteachers have reported been ordered to attend a pro-Putin rally on February 4, to coincide with the planned anti-government rally.  Protesters on both sides will face temperatures of -17C.  A group of exiled Russian businessmen, self-dubbed the International Anti-Corruption Commitee, says it will prove that Vladimir Putin has stolen ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’.