TODAY: Putin proposes free election for Federation Council senators – with provisos; Russia supports Annan on Syria; Kremlin rights council members walk out; Udaltsov sentenced; Foreign Ministry furious at Magnitsky act; European Parliament plans to pressure French contractor over Khimki Forest project; Nashi spokesperson steps down.

Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov has been convicted of assaulting a pro-Kremlin youth activist from the Young Guard, and sentenced to 240 hours of community service in what his supporters call a politically motivated move.  ‘Judges refused to review the video footage in which [the victim] boasts of being hit,’ notes the Moscow Times.  The Magnitsky act approved in the U.S. would impose sanctions not only on Russian officials implicated in the Magnitsky case (some of whom allegedly have bank accounts in the U.S.), but on any official of any country convicted of violating human rights.  The Foreign Ministry is ‘outraged’ at the Senate’s approval of the bill, called it ‘counterproductive’ and promised a ‘harsh’ response.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is confident that relations with Moscow will not suffer.  Republican Senator John McCain is already calling for further sanctions.  Garry Kasparov says the act will ‘shake the foundation of Mr. Putin’s power base.’