TODAY: Zhirinovsky debates with Putin proxy; hacked Nashi emails supposedly show payments for online support; Putin appeals to blue collar voters; Lavrov given ‘royal welcome’ in Syria; Magnitsky could be tried posthumously; pro-Putin anthem seized upon by opposition.

In a televised election debate, Vladimir Zhirinovsky took issue with his sparring partner, a stand-in for Vladimir Putin, over ‘her patron’s refusal to debate and alleged desire to rule for life’; Natalia Narochnitskaya defended Putin as ‘a master debater’.  Nikolaus von Twickel provides a compendium of pre-election dirty tricks and political mudslinging.  Speaking of which, an anonymous group has apparently hacked hundreds of emails between Nashi members and its head, Vasily Yakemenko, detailing ‘payments to journalists and bloggers’.  More info on these alleged payments here.  Yulia Latynina discusses the ideology of Nashi as a ‘fascist call to modernization and war’.  Central Elections Committee head Vladimir Churov has been mentoring media photographers on how to take pictures of polling stations.  Vladimir Putin is making a series of appearances around Russia to consolidate his working-class voter base, most recently at a factory north of Moscow.  His latest pre-election moves include a pledge to cut traffic privileges for officials, a promise to restore winter time,  fear-mongering about a North Caucasus insurgency, and, in an article published in The Guardian, a call for political honesty.