TODAY: BRICS bank is coup, or too late? Putin praises alliance, plans to discuss US sanctions at BRICS summit; Putin’s crackdown will hurt economy, says entrepreneur; Navalny allies lose Moscow City Duma places; Yukos allies expect payouts; Russia re-amassing troops on Ukraine border, says Kiev, NATO.

The $100 billion BRICS development bank and reserve currency fund ‘is a political coup’ for Russia, says the  Moscow Times, noting the oddly perfect timing of the long-awaited bank’s coming to completion ‘just as the West freezes Russia out of its own economic system’.  Critics disagree, arguing that the group is losing momentum as an influential global force.  President Vladimir Putin praised the BRICS as a means for the member countries to reinforce their competitiveness on the global market and the political element of their cooperation, though stressed that they have no plans to form military or political alliances with each other.  Putin is planning to raise the question of US sanctions during today’s BRICS summit.  David Yakobashvili, one of Russia’s top entrepreneurs, is criticising Putin’s crackdown on offshore corporations, warning that they will be more damaging to the economy than Western sanctions.  Several allies of opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been removed from the Moscow City Duma for failing to collect a required number of signatures to secure their candidacy for the ‘For Moscow’ coalition.