TODAY: Putin to lead United Russia. Advertising near the Kremlin banned. Storchak arrest could hamper arms deals with Libya. Ukraine won’t give up NATO membership drive. Sochi’s space monkeys. The biggest news today is that Vladimir Putin, “surprising no one”, has accepted United Russia’s “unanimous” leadership offer, “consolidat[ing] his longterm grip on power” and giving him “sweeping powers over the Duma”. One report says the decision will “drain authority from the President-elect, Dmitri Medvedev”, and earlier this month, Boris Gryzlov “made what many saw as a political faux pas by suggesting that Medvedev would not be eligible to join United Russia.” Medvedev has declined a more recent offer to join the party. Could Putin’s new role lead to an “overhaul of the country’s political system”?