TODAY: Presidential candidates’ bids under question; Human Rights Watch and PACE delegation attack Russian politics; Russia supplying Syria with arms; Putin mistrusts opposition, says Kudrin; Feb 4 protest registration denied; voting webcams installed; Voinovich interview; Communist Party profile; anti-Putin rock group members arrested. 

Grigory Yavlinsky, the Yabloko Party’s proposed presidential candidate, may be barred from running in the March elections due to ‘technical violations’ related to his 2 million required supporters’ signatures.  Governor of the Irkutsk Region and presidential hopeful Dmitry Mezentsev will not be allowed to run.  Human Rights Watch has accused Russia of making a grave mistake in supporting ‘a longstanding authoritarian ally’ in Syria, as news breaks that Rosboronexport has signed a deal to supply the regime with 36 Yak-130 aircraft.  HRW also expressed concern over opposition registration and Vladimir Putin’s presidential bid; a PACE delegation has called the bid a ‘survival mechanism’ for the current regime.  According to Alexei Kudrin, Putin has not met with opposition leaders yet because of ‘mistrust toward the group that’s trying to position itself as representing the interests of the protesters.’  Moscow’s City Hall has rejected the opposition’s request to hold a 50,000-strong march to the Kremlin on February 4, suggesting alternative routes and dates.