TODAY: Preliminary hearing in Magnitsky trial delayed; contrary to Medvedev’s statements, business elites unhappy about Magnitsky fallout; Prime Minister defends adoption law; Naftogaz gets $7 billion bill; U.S. withdraws from joint commission; U.S. families appeal to European Court over adoption law; organised crime crackdown.

The preliminary hearing in the posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky, which was due to begin today, has been postponed.  Relatives and rights groups say the trial is politically motivated, and his family and lawyer have refused to participate.  Human Rights Watch is calling on the Duma to abandon its draft law on homosexual propaganda, on which 52 deputies out of 450 apparently refused to vote last Friday.  Russian business elites are reportedly concerned that fallout from the case will lead to red-tape that could interfere with international money transfers. ‘The situation is more than bad,’ commented one unnamed billionaire, and, according to economist Sergei Guriev, ‘Russian business is very upset.’ Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev apparently disagrees. In an interview on state television over the weekend, he denied that repercussions from Magnitsky’s death are damaging Russia’s business interests, saying that the case ‘does not interest anyone’ except those who want to accumulate ‘political capital’.  He also insisted that the Dima Yakovlev Law, which bans U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children, is not a political response to the American Magnitsky Act, but a move to draw attention to the plight of Russian orphans.  He then defended President Vladimir Putin against accusations that he was dictating decisions to the government.