TODAY: Putin warns against spending ‘security cushion’ after slumping economic forecasts revealed; nationalism increasingly oppositionist; Tolokonnikova appeals to Supreme Court; Khodorkovsky, Politkovskaya, Greenpeace; mandatory Glonass.

Following the release of dire economic forecasts for the next two decades,  President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia should not spend all of its fiscal reserves, calling the $89 billion fund ‘a security cushion for the economy’.  The outlook for the economy ‘set[s] the stage for an era of stagnation that could threaten President Putin’s grip on power,’ says Reuters.  Russia’s forecast for oil prices in the coming decades are ‘more bullish’ than the more widespread, independent expectations of a decline, leading some to suggest that the economic forecast, based on the more optimistic prices, may be overshooting the likely real outcome.  Business community members have asked Putin to re-evaluate his amendments to the Criminal Code, in a bid to reverse the decision that would allow investigators to open tax cases at their own discretion.  Putin is calling for a new law that would increase the use of the national anthem and flag to boost patriotism, whilst criticising professionals for using ‘foreign words’.  Nationalism is a monster that the Kremlin helped create, and the increasingly oppositionist character of nationalist marches means there is a good chance that it will turn on its creator, says Brian Whitmore.  Moscow City Hall appears to have been spying on its opposition deputies.