TODAY: Putin’s new laws increase service age for government officials, change parliamentary election rules, increase business visa limits, fine ticket touts; Russia outperformed Saudi Arabia in oil last year thanks to Rosneft; no ban on grain exports; new Cold War with U.S.? Rasputin.

Reversing an attempt by former President Dmitry Medvedev to impose mandatory retirement at 60, President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law allowing senior government officials to serve until the age of 70, leading critics to accuse him of attempting to create a gerontocracy.  ‘Mr Putin has faced jibes about his own age.’  Putin has also ordered a change in the rules for parliamentary elections, to be unveiled in the coming weeks, which will replace strict party-list voting and ‘insulate him from dwindling public support for United Russia’.  He also increased the limit for business visas from one to five years, and has signed a law imposing heavy fines for ticket touts at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.  Russia’s oil output was the highest in the world last year, ahead of Saudi Arabia, largely due to a push by state-owned Rosneft (which will also become the world’s largest oil producer this year after it completes its acquisition of TNK-BP).