TODAY: Gas war feared with Ukraine; new theft charges filed against Navalny; gay rights activist loses job; Russia breaks ‘Zero Waste’ Olympics pledge with 100 days to go; Rosneft sells TNK-BP stake.

Gazprom is demanding that Ukraine pay its overdue $882 million gas bill, prompting fears of a new gas war.  Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller acknowledged that the situation is ‘escalating’.  According to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, ‘[Ukraine] said there were problems with payment for gas, but they were not critical. But I think that … they are critical.’  New measures may include a requirement that Ukraine begin pre-paying for its natural gas imports.  Some sources see ties between this escalation and the fact that there is only one month left before Ukraine signs a deal with Europe to forge closer ties.  Ukraine is also still suffering under a recent Russian ban on confectionary imports – also thought to be a politically-motivated embargo.  New theft and money-laundering charges have been filed against opposition leader Alexei Navalny, just weeks after he won a suspended sentence for separate embezzlement charges.  Navalny said the charges were ‘absolute nonsense’, a bid to ‘terrorise’ him for opposing the Kremlin.  Meanwhile, the Moscow City Duma recommended against registering Navalny’s bid to submit a grassroots initiative bill on utilities prices; he responded on Twitter, accusing the Duma of wanting to ‘protect monopolies in the housing and utilities sector’.  A gay rights activist in Khabarovsk says he lost his job as a result of new homophobic laws.