TODAY: Siluanov says Russia can’t afford military upgrade; Central Bank intervenes as ruble falls; low oil price will create deficit next year; Putin cancels budget address; eighth anniversary of Politkovskaya murder; Kostroma court rules in favour of gay rights activist; gay exchange student seeks U.S. asylum.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov says Russia cannot afford the costly military upgrade that is currently underway: ‘When we were adopting the defense program, the forecasts for the economy and budget revenues were completely different. Right now, we just cannot afford it.’  The Central Bank spent $1.75 billion trying to keep the ruble afloat over the last two days of trading.  If oil prices were to continue at their current 27-month low of $90 a barrel, Russia would see a budget deficit next year, but the lower prices has short-term implications also, according to former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.  Russia’s economy has been a broken record for the past ten years, says Forbes.  If Russia wants to survive current Western sanctions, it needs to establish a domestic credit system, says Presidential Aide Sergei Glazyev.  Vladimir Putin’s cancellation of his yearly budget address gives the impression of ‘a presidential admission that Russia’s economic woes are real’.  Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya; flowers made from newspaper were left outside the headquarters of Novaya Gazeta, her former employer, as a memorial.  The person who ordered her killing has still not been brought to justice.