TODAY: Taisiya Osipova jailed for eight years; Navalny’s family’s factory is raided; Chirikova, dogged by opposition, continues her bid to run for Khimki Mayor; Pussy Riot lawyer appeals conviction; Gudkov trades accusations with United Russia; unpaid Soviet bonds worth $785 billion.

Taisiya Osipova, the wife of Other Russia activist Sergei Fomchenkov, has been jailed for eight years for possession of heroin which she says was planted in her home by police.  Opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny says investigators are raiding a willow-weaving factory owned by his parents, supposedly to search for evidence linking him to a corruption case. ‘Most probably they will seize shocking criminal baskets and a woven armchair on which I sat, thinking up the plan to embezzle,’ Navalny commented.  Yevgeniya Chirikova’s running for Khimki Mayor will serve as ‘a test of the electability of the opposition’, says this article, as residents fear that the election commission will find a way of edging her out of the running.  ‘Opponents’ to her bid are attempting to portray her ‘as a tool of the United States’, showering her with fake American money and holding a U.S. flag behind her as she spoke to reporters yesterday.  The Other Russia party have nominated a different candidate for the role, which ‘could further complicate efforts by some anti-Kremlin activists to select a consensus opposition candidate.’