TODAY: Navalny jailed after taking part in protest; U.S. calls for reversal of Bolotnaya decision; weakening ruble could boost treasury; Putin said to have influenced Yanukovych’s fleeing; top officials meet to discuss Ukraine, but reveal no official position; rumours of Kremlin-backed separatism; hundreds of violations at Amur space centre; hefty Indonesian investments planned for 2014.

Three opposition leaders including Alexei Navalny were sentenced to ten days in jail for disobeying police orders and resisting arrest, despite video evidence indicating the contrary, raising concerns ‘that Mr. Navalny could face a much longer term in jail in one of the other cases filed against him’. The trio had been arrested after taking part in a rally near the Kremlin earlier this week, which began in the wake of the sentencing of the Bolotnaya Square protesters.  ‘This is very much 2012 all over again,’ commented one of Navalny’s supporters.  The U.S. State Department is calling on the Kremlin to reverse the ‘politically-motivated’ Bolotnaya decision and release the eight demonstrators.  The Washington Post notes that Russia’s ‘fraying’ constitution contradicts the Kremlin’s crackdown by continuing to uphold ‘freedom of ideas and speech’ for everyone.  The weakening ruble could spell good news for federal income this year, and push the treasury into a surplus by lessening domestic expenditures and boosting revenues on global commodities.