TODAY: Politkovskaya suspects probe ends; Medvedev’s Skolkovo raided; U.S. Senator meets Magnitsky family, pushes human rights factor; Vkontakte bought by Kremlin allies; Putin to choose next Dagestan governor; Sechin makes Time list; nurses sought in orphan beating.

Investigators have ended their probe of the five suspects implicated in the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya, sending the case to the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which will then go to a jury trial.  The remanding of whistleblower Lyudmila Popkova to a psychiatric hospital is ‘an increasingly common’ practice used against the Kremlin’s political opponents.  A raid has been conducted on Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s Skolkovo business center, as part of an investigation into the possible misspending of $111 million in government funds.  This follows hot on the heels of the newly released video of Vladimir Putin slamming Medvedev’s cabinet for inefficiency, prompting a Putin adviser to suggest that ‘Medvedev’s problems are increasing because of his obstinacy and the inefficiency of his government.’  U.S. senator Ben Cardin who authored the Magnitsky List’s human rights sanctions against Russia said that ‘there would be no need for a list‘ if the Kremlin were to drop its posthumous case against Sergei Magnitsky and hold accountable those responsible for his death.  Cardin met with Magnitsky’s family in Washington yesterday.  RFE/RL interviewed another sponsor of the list, James McGovern, who says that the sanctions demonstrate that ‘human rights actually matter to the U.S. government’.