TODAY: Birthday President attends APEC conference, urges investment, promises to open up LNG; new investment model to make oil and gas lucrative for foreigners; Lithuania row escalates with import ban; further details of Sochi surveillance plans; plaque commemorates Politkovskaya; Greenpeace concerned about its activists’ health.

During his birthday visit to  the APEC conference in Indonesia yesterday, President Vladimir Putin vowed to open up Russian exports of liquefied natural gas in order to meet growing demand from Asia-Pacific markets; he also urged Pacific Rim investors to join large Russian infrastructure projects such as the Trans-Siberian Railway.  He spoke up in support of U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to forego the summit.  Sakhalin Energy is pushing for higher prices in its contract with Korea Gas Corp, which comes up for renewal next year.  A new investment model, coming into force this January, will open up Russia’s oil and gas markets to foreigners for the first time.  Russia’s row with Lithuania escalated yesterday with the former halting dairy imports from its rival – without the Lithuanian government’s knowledge –  just a week before Lithuania’s planned hosting of an E.U. summit.