TODAY: Pro-Putin ministers slam Finance Ministry; anti-corruption bill to get second reading; Peskov goes after negative stereotypes; Kremlin backing Lukashenko?  Russian mayor stabbed to death.

President Dmitry Medvedev’s anti-corruption bill will have its second reading in the Duma today, although changes made thus far, according to the Communist opposition, ‘make life easier for corrupt officials‘.  Meanwhile, Duma deputies from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party have criticized the Finance Ministry for the way it has spent the government’s reserve funds during the crisis, saying that too much money was given to large corporations, who promptly converted it into foreign currency.  The deputies have reportedly proposed to raise direct subsidies to the citizens through higher pensions and public sector wages.