TODAY: Ukraine halts Russian gas imports; Rosneft signs China agreement with Kazakhstan; Putin visits Vietnam; Greenpeace detainees moved; Pavlensky will not be charged; Sergei Polonsky; Norilsk Nickel to double domestic spending; Google appeases Federation Council.

Ukraine’s Naftogaz halted gas imports and new gas purchases from Russia last week, the latest move in a long-standing pricing dispute, coming just weeks ahead of its planned free trade agreement with Europe.  The news caused an immediate slump in Gazprom and MICEX shares, and analysts suggest that an already strapped Gazprom ‘can ill afford a long rupture in sales to Ukraine.’  Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said his country will ‘never allow’ confrontation with Russia over its imminent EU partnership.  Rosneft signed a preliminary agreement to transport oil to China via Kazakhstan.  President Vladimir Putin is in Vietnam’s capital for an official visit to discuss trade and economic cooperation, in what some see as a challenge to U.S. ambitions in the Asia-Pacific.