TODAY: Putin-Clinton election fraud row continues; FSB tries to disable social network ahead of mass rally; tomorrow’s 30,000 gathering sanctioned by Moscow authorities; Amnesty urges Russia to respect right to assemble.  Prokhorov sees no option other than Putin; on Navalny’s ascent.  Interior Ministry rejects Magnitsky report; Investigative Committee claims corruption crackdown a success.  The imprint of Communism; Russia-NATO deadlock on missile defense continues

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defended her concerns about the Russian elections as ‘well-founded’, following yesterday’s ‘extraordinary attack’ on the United States by Vladimir Putin, who blamed Mrs Clinton for stoking the opposition movement.  The FSB has apparently requested that Russia’s most popular social network, Vkontakte, disable accounts of groups calling for street protests, but the company rejected the request.  Ria-Novosti reports that opposition activists have been granted permission to hold a 30,000-strong rally in downtown Moscow on Saturday to protest the results of the December 4 parliamentary elections.  Amnesty International has called on the Russian authorities ‘to respect the right to peaceful protests’ in advance of the weekend’s planned demonstrations.  Yesterday police detained ten opposition activists who rallied in St. Petersburg.  Protests against election violations have reached as far as Paris.   The Guardian examines how Nashi ‘are now an important weapon in the Kremlin’s armoury to stifle dissent’.