TODAY: Gubernatorial elections close, United Russia candidates win in all regions; Chirikova comes second in Khimki mayoral race; Human Rights Watch accuses Syria of using Russian cluster bombs, urges authorities to investigate homophobic attack.

Gubernatorial election polls closed yesterday in five regions, with United Russia candidates expected to win all of them.  Opponents accused the Kremlin of removing competitors from races (in Ryazan, for example) and pressuring state employees to vote for its candidates.  Monitoring group Golos says it has reports of hundreds of violations, including for the mayoral race in Khimki, although the local head of Yabloko, Vyacheslav Medvedev, said he saw no evidence of falsification there.  Yevgenia Chirikova came second overall in Khimki, losing to United Russia’s Oleg Shakhov, and alleging ‘a massive falsification of the vote’.  Boris Berezovsky has agreed to pay $56 million towards Roman Abramovich’s legal fees after losing a court battle against him in August.