TODAY: Russia scraps extra Ukraine customs inspections; potash producer Belaruskali may sue Russian counterpart; Surkov denies reports that Putin wants him to return to the Kremlin; Navalny says officials are obstructing his campaign; Golos to be reborn; women’s rights draft law.

Kiev says Russia has scrapped extra customs inspections on Ukrainian imports – just days after they came into force.  The European Union apparently warned Russia yesterday not to pressure Ukraine over efforts to build closer economic ties with it, after the trade checks were widely interpreted as a signal that Ukraine should distance itself from the E.U. and instead join a customs union with Russia.  But ‘Putin’s inner circle has always had huge and completely unrealistic plans for Kiev,’ argues Yulia Latynina.  Anders Aslund says the trade war was a ‘mistake’, and that ‘Putin’s policy on Ukraine is tragicomic’.  Belarussian potash fertiliser Belaruskali may sue Uralkali, its Russian counterpart, for unfair business practices in their joint venture which collapsed last month when the latter pulled out without warning.  Is Russia already in a recession?  The Kremlin is developing plans to build a $7 billion port on the Black Sea.