TODAY: Lavrov says Kiev situation ‘scary’; Internet violates independence, says official; foreign agents media bill to wait; Human Rights Watch blasts Russia rights in new report; Sakhalin construction delayed for whales; Obama and Putin discuss Sochi security; Navalny party registration denied; Snowden denies spying, U.S. accuses Russia of spying.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov finds the current protests in Kiev ‘scary’ and ‘indecent’, and says they are ‘getting out of control’.  He also suggested that the current movement, which rejects Ukraine’s forming closer ties with Russia, is ‘largely driven from abroad’, although did not make any direct accusations.  A security official in the Duma says the Internet is a violation of Russia’s borders and sovereignty, and leaves its ‘independent national interests’ vulnerable to interference.  The Presidential Human Rights Council has asked for Ella Pamfilova to be appointed as ombudsman.  A bill that would have branded foreign-funded media outlets as ‘foreign agents’ has been withdrawn from consideration for now, but will be reintroduced in more stringent form at a later date.  Human Rights Watch cited Russia’s enforcement of the original ‘foreign agent’ law in a newly-released report that criticises the Kremlin for a particularly heavy crackdown on its opponents in the past year 2012.  The report specifically targets Russia’s treatment of migrant workers, environmental activists, and the LGBT population.  Construction on the Sakhalin oil project has been delayed over concerns that it could harm local endangered whale populations.