TODAY: Prokhorov accuses Kremlin of shady dealings, critics call it a publicity stunt; spat over EU election monitors; Kadyrov wins 100% of vote; Esquire editor steps down; polls suggest Putin presidency, apathy towards Medvedev; comedy sketch parodying President’s dance moves is censored by state TV; Yaroslavl crash update, Pacific gray whales, new nominee for U.S. ambassador to Moscow; space debris colonel charged with fraud.

Right Cause Party leader Mikhail Prokhorov is accusing the Kremlin of trying to stage a coup and oust him from the party, saying that there’s ‘no way’ he will leave.  Prokhorov also claims that the government replaced delegates at his party conference with ‘doubles’ – critics suggested that his claims were publicity stunts designed to make the party look more independent than it really is.  Europe wants to send 260 delegates to monitor the December Duma elections – ‘this is not a figure put on the table to have some bargaining’ – but Russia is bargaining.  Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov won his region’s United Russia primaries with 100% of the vote.  The editor of Russia’s Esquire magazine is leaving his post; he says there’s nothing political behind the move, he merely wants to start a children’s camp.