TODAY: Rights activists call Aleksanyan death ‘murder’; dozens detained at rally; United Russia’s ‘charm’ offensive to gain middle class vote; Communist will play nationalist card.  The Eurasian Union and Putin’s imperial designs; Russia irks Washington with veto on Syria.  New bill to toughen sentences on paedophiles; mothers protest suspicious death of conscript; Lebedev to face investigation over TV brawl

Human rights activists, among them Valery Borshchyov and Lev Ponomaryov, have stated in no uncertain terms that the death of former Yukos vice president Vasily Aleksanyan is akin to murder, since the AIDS sufferer’s condition was, they argue,  worsened by the three years he spent in prison on what ‘politically-motivated’ charges.  24 people, members of the Other Russia opposition party and civil activists, have reportedly been detained following a protest in Moscow which forms part of their “An Election Without the Opposition is a Crime” campaign.  Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov is apparently attempting to woo Russia’s middle-class, intellectual voters, the kind of ‘people who sit in expensive restaurants where there are no free tables left, eat expensive Italian meals costing 1,200 roubles ($36) per plate and fret about the fate of their country’.  He obviously believes mockery will get you anywhere.  Following on the heels of the announcement that the party would seek to restore ethnic indicators on passports,  Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov has apparently openly declared that his party will seek the nationalist vote in the State Duma elections.  ITAR-TASS considers whether a Fair Russia could fare better than the Communists, thank to protest votes?