TODAY: Heightened security follows Volgograd blasts; Putin lowers conservation status of nature reserves; Khodorkovsky granted Swiss visa, calls for decimation; Ukraine’s gas price is no deal; Gazprom announces new all-time EU delivery peak.

In the wake of the weekend’s double terrorist attack in Volgograd that has thus far caused 33 deaths and wounded 100 people, President Vladimir Putin has ordered a tightening of security all over Russia.  Bloomberg says Putin’s failure to address the nation regarding the attacks has triggered outbursts on social networks; the President’s hands are tied, says the Times, at least until after the upcoming Sochi Olympics.  The U.S. government has offered its ‘full support’ to the Kremlin on security, expressing concerns that Islamist militants may be planning further attacks.  Russia wins the contest for implementing more protectionist policies than any other country in 2013, accounting for 20% of protectionist policies identified worldwide.  Russia also set a record for the number of new bans it introduced in 2013, notes the Moscow Times, as it ponders Putin’s big events of the year.  Under a new bill signed into law by the President, the conservation status of Russia’s 103 nature reserves will be lowered, allowing some to be turned into areas where limited construction and logging are permitted.

TODAY: Heightened security follows Volgograd blasts; Putin lowers conservation status of nature reserves; Khodorkovsky granted Swiss visa, calls for decimation; Ukraine’s gas price is no deal; Gazprom announces new all-time EU delivery peak.

In the wake of the weekend’s double terrorist attack in Volgograd that has thus far caused 33 deaths and wounded 100 people, President Vladimir Putin has ordered a tightening of security all over Russia.  Bloomberg says Putin’s failure to address the nation regarding the attacks has triggered outbursts on social networks; the President’s hands are tied, says the Times, at least until after the upcoming Sochi Olympics.  The U.S. government has offered its ‘full support’ to the Kremlin on security, expressing concerns that Islamist militants may be planning further attacks.  Russia wins the contest for implementing more protectionist policies than any other country in 2013, accounting for 20% of protectionist policies identified worldwide.  Russia also set a record for the number of new bans it introduced in 2013, notes the Moscow Times, as it ponders Putin’s big events of the year.  Under a new bill signed into law by the President, the conservation status of Russia’s 103 nature reserves will be lowered, allowing some to be turned into areas where limited construction and logging are permitted.