TODAY: Potential ban on internet extremism dismays Rights Council; Navalny faces graft accusations; Faith No More get behind Pussy Riot; Madonna concert to put spotlight on gay rights issues in St Petersburg. Lavrov sees no volte- face in Geneva agreements on Syria; the future of Russian arms exports; Medvedev’s Kuril visit irks Japan; Ukraine passes Russian language bill

Russia’s presidential Human Rights Council has lambasted a new bill which would curtail all Internet content of an ‘extremist’ nature.  Both Yandex and Google Russia are opposed to the bill in its current form changes to the bill.  Nashi commissar Konstantin Goloskokov has become the latest Kremlin loyalist to accuse opposition leader Alexei Navalny of corruption and tax evasion.  Rock band Faith No More have offered a tribute to incarcerated punk feminists Pussy Riot at their Moscow concert.   The Moscow Times reports that the presidential administration plans to fund student clubs as a way of distracting restive youths from the opposition movement.  Anti-Putin figureheads plan to keep the opposition energized with a summer motor rally through Russian regions.  The Kremlin’s new bill that would designate NGOs ‘foreign agents’ is ‘fraught with the risk of catalyzing public discontent’ says Itar-Tass World Service writer Lyudmila Alexandrova.  Brian Whitmore agrees that the ongoing crackdown may well isolate the President.   The New York Times examines the unusual trajectory of Ksenia Sobchack here.  The United Russia city deputy responsible for St. Petersburg’s anti-‘homosexual propaganda’ law is gearing up for a possible showdown with Madonna this weekend, after the singer pledged she would defend gay rights at her upcoming concert.