TODAY: Syrian government praises Russia-U.S. deal, opposition is wary; SCO meets in Kyrgyzstan; Sechin accused of misconduct; Ketchum in Russia; Gazprom FIFA contract; Valdai discussion begins today; Pussy Riot poll; Twitter diplomacy.

Syrian minister Ali Haidar praised ‘a victory […] won thanks to our friends,’ after Russia secured a landmark deal to prevent U.S. military action.  After almost three days of talks in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reached an agreement under which Syria has one week to reveal its undeclared reserves of chemical weapons; but the White House insisted that military strikes were not completely ruled out.  Syria’s opposition says they ‘don’t trust Putin and Lavrov’.  And neither does Madeline Albright.  The Shanghai Cooperation Organization meanwhile, meeting in Kyrgyzstan, unilaterally condemned the notion of foreign intervention in Syria, and discussed the need for improved transportation links across Central Asia.  Rosneft president Igor Sechin has been accused of corporate misconduct by shareholders of TNK-BP; they question grandiose public statements he made about the size of the company after the recent takeover, and allege that he has ‘destroyed the shareholder value of the company’.