TODAY: Gay rights protest turns violent; May 6 protesters are sentenced, await trial, go on hunger strikes; man charged with slander over church criticism; Lavrov promises retaliation against and a commitment to better ties with U.S.; post Jan 1 adoptions to be granted; Syria evacuation; Medvedev at Davos.

Yesterday’s gay rights demonstration against a new nationwide bill targeting the LBGT community ended in violence after a counter group of Orthodox activists showed up to throw eggs and ketchup at protesters; police reportedly stepped in to break up fighting.  A Moscow court upheld the four-and-a-half year jail sentence of Maxim Luzyanin, who was found guilty of mass disorder during last year’s May 6 protests.  Opposition activists are planning to gather at Vladimir Putin’s reception office this Saturday to call for the release of all those arrested in connection with the same protest – a further 20 people are still either awaiting trial or under investigation.  One of them, activist Sergei Kirov, has been on hunger strike for 40 days in protest against his arrest.  The suicide of activist Alexander Dolmatov in a Dutch extradition center, supposedly over the news that he would have to return to Russia, ‘has highlighted the challenges for Russian opposition members to get political asylum in Europe’.  The chairman of the Consumer Rights Defense Society is being charged with slander for comments he made about Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral having turned into a business center for ‘accommodating 15 commercial firms, a car wash, a car maintenance center’ and other enterprises.