TODAY: Europe on verge of releasing results of Gazprom report; Obama baits Russia over Syria; Moscow-based U.S. research institute to close; RWB slams ‘bleak’ press freedom; VKontakte is platform for anti-LGBT group; poor economy is all in how you spin it? Bribes increasingly punished with sentencing; Sochi criticism turns to praise.

The European Commission is on the verge of releasing the results of its two-year investigation into Gazprom, which is expected to create ‘a spectacular lump of bad publicity’, and possibly some fines.  RFE/RL suggests that Moscow will seek a pre-emptive settlement.  U.S. President Barack Obama criticised Russia’s opposition to a U.N. action threatening sanctions on Syria, and said that Moscow is indirectly to blame for the suffering of Syrian civilians.  A former U.S. navy sailor has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempting to spy for Russia.  The Kennan Institute, which successfully navigated the Kremlin’s calls for it to register as a ‘foreign agent’, is closing down its Moscow office, citing the loss of a major sponsor.  Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders says the situation of freedom of information in former Soviet republics is bleak, blaming Russia’s ‘repressive laws […] which have narrowed the scope of free information more and more’.