TODAY: Pussy Riot start hunger strike as judge rules defense must speed up; HRW decries new law to brand NGOs foreign agents; travel ban being mulled for authors of said bill; the future of the Kremlin Rights Council; Orlov acquitted.  St Petersburg agrees to gay march; Communist TV; toxic spill injures 3; Russian language law in Ukraine causes uproar; McFaul’s slangy tweet provokes annoyance

The three imprisoned members of anti-Putin feminist band Pussy Riot have gone on hunger strike, following a court decision that would dramatically reduce the amount of time their defense has to study case materials.  The lawyer for defendant Nadezhda Tolokonnikova told the Moscow Times that the court’s decision was clearly politically motivated.  The police have detained a number of the group’s supporters who staged a protest performance at the Tagansky District Court.  Human Rights Watch has issued a statement urging Russia’s State Duma to reject the proposed amendments to NGO classification which would see foreign-funded groups referred to as foreign ‘agents’.  It has been reported that a travel ban could be imposed on the authors of the bill if opposition activists have their way.  This article suggests that Kremlin Human Rights Council president Mikhail Fedotov may have succeeded in persuading Lyudmila Alexeyeva to remain on the beleaguered committee.  Memorial head Oleg Orlov has been acquitted of defaming the lawyer of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.  Jailed businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has apparently given the money he gained in compensation from the ECHR to charity.