TODAY: Putin to sign anti-U.S. adoptions measure into law; United Russia official shot to death in North Caucasus; final remaining Magnitsky suspect charges dropped; defense suppliers fail to provide weapons; Gazprom clings to the old ways; AAR following Putin’s call; Pussy Riot, vodka.

Seven people were detained near the Federation Council yesterday for holding an unsanctioned protest against the Dima Yakovlev Bill, which will ban U.S. citizens from adopting Russian orphans.  Now that the bill has been passed unanimously, all that remains for the bill to become law is a signature from President Vladimir Putin.  Putin, for his part, says he ‘doesn’t see any reasons’ against doing so, and that he ‘intends to sign it’ into law.  Reuters reports on Russia’s overcrowded orphanages (over 650,000 Russian children are considered to be orphans), saying that vulnerable children are being used ‘as a bargaining chip in a bilateral feud’.  The ban is reportedly supported by 56% of Russians, according to a Public Opinion Fund poll.  United Russia official Boris Zherukov was shot dead in his office in the North Caucasus on Tuesday.  Prosecutors are asking the court to find the only remaining suspect in the Sergei Magnitsky case, Dmitry Kratov, who was initially charged with negligence, not guilty.  A lawyer for Magnitsky’s widow commented: ‘We have not determined what happened, and the biggest tragedy here is that… this may have been our last chance to ask questions’.  A top public health official is anticipating ‘ten days of hell’ when Russians take their annual New Year’s holiday this Saturday.