TODAY: Second anniversary of Sergei Magnitsky’s death; Nashi hopes to gather 30,000 for election forum; Phobos-Grunt analysis; Tajik row escalates; Syrian opposition offers continuity to Russia; Left Front protest; Council of Europe rejects PACE criticism; Luzhkov walks free from court; Putin’s power; Kremlin resort on nature reserve granted go-ahead.

Today marks the second anniversary of the death of Sergei Magnitsky, and Russia is making a glaring failure to mark the date.  William Browder speaks to The Independent on Britain’s ‘bureaucratic resistance’ to taking a stand on the case.  Kremlin-backed youth group Nashi are hoping to gather 30,000 supporters in Moscow for a youth forum colliding with next month’s elections.  The unsuccessful launch of the Phobos-Grunt Mars probe is evidence of the struggles faced by Russia’s ‘once-pioneering space industry’. Russia’s deportation of Tajik migrants, thought to be a retaliatory move for Tajikistan’s jailing (and, some say, overly harsh sentencing) of two Russian pilots and part of a ‘xenophobia-tinged uproar’, will threaten an economy that relies heavily on Russia to employ its labourers.  The Syrian opposition is promising to guarantee Russia’s interests if it supports the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.