TODAY: Russia opens investigation into orphan’s death in U.S.; Schneerson documents will not be returned; Sobyanin to succeed Putin? Navalny exposé leads to Pekhtin resignation; Medvedev visits Brazil; $50 billion left Russia illegally last year; Razvozzhayev in solitary confinement; Potanin’s philanthropy.

Russian officials are using the case of Russian Max Shatto, who died under the care of his American adoptive parents, to justify the recent controversial ban on U.S. adoptions. ‘That decision was undoubtedly, absolutely correct.’  The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the boy’s death and is seeking the arrest of the child’s adoptive mother.  The U.S. is urging restraint on the matter until the circumstances of Shatto’s death have been revealed.  President Vladimir Putin says that Russia cannot acquiesce to a U.S. court decision ordering the return of historic books and documents to the New York-based Schneerson library, arguing that it would make the country vulnerable to endless other claims on state property. He also claimed that the court’s decision was ‘illegal’, but offered to place the disputed documents on display in a Jewish centre in Moscow.  An ‘influential’ consulting group says that Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is one of the few politicians capable of succeeding Vladimir Putin. ‘In the eyes of the elites, Sobyanin has an established, positive track record. They see him as a mediator who can safeguard their interests.’  Alexei Navalny’s work in exposing nearly $2 million in undeclared foreign real estate owned by State Duma deputy Vladimir Pekhtin puts ‘Pekhtin, the ruling party, and the Kremlin in an extremely uncomfortable position’.  As a result, and in a bid to protect his party, Pekhtin has decided to step down from his post.