TODAY: United Russia lashes out at U.S. State Department, new bill could further limit NGOs; BP proposes to buy more Rosneft stock, appoint Russian director, after exiting TNK-BP; Kudrin says Russia is stagnating; Promsvyazbank plans IPO; Chechen campaign leader dies; time to rebrand the President?; no reduced sentence for Lebedev.

United Russia has denied ‘groundless and emotional’ accusations by the U.S. State Department that it had been a recipient of U.S. aid funds via participation in programmes sponsored by the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute.  The FT compares the Kremlin’s stance on aid to the recent IPO of Sberbank: ‘So Russia is open to billions of dollars from foreign investors to help develop a mammoth state-controlled bank. But not to a few tens of millions of dollars a year in aid.’  Georgy Boyt says the expelling of USAID will only anger the opposition.  The State Duma has tentatively approved a new bill that would broaden the legal definition of high treason, a move which rights activists say will further enable the state to undermine the activity of NGOs.  Rosneft chief Igor Sechin says BP has proposed to buy more Rosneft stock if it exits TNK-BP.  BP supported Sechin’s statement, saying that it is ‘considering further investment in Russia regardless of who we sell our stake to,’ and revealed that it is considering appointing a Russian director to its board.  This article suggests that Gazprom is losing its clout, and considers the economic future in Russia without it, given that the company ‘accounts for 12 percent of all Russian exports’.  Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says Russia is ‘on the brink of stagnation’, with economic growth of less than 3%, and says that a lack of solid reform is putting off investors.