TODAY: Putin responsible for the strengthening the Kremlin’s “power vertical”. Medvedev to run “ascetic” campaign. Aleksanyan given “unprecedented attention and care”. Court bailiffs tighten border controls for those in debt. Human Rights Watch calls Putin a “despot masquerading as a democrat”. The Kremlin’s “power vertical” has been strengthened and consolidated by Vladimir Putin since his coming to power, says one newspaper, which notes that his first state-of-the-nation speech asserted that “Power should be based on the law and the vertical created in accordance with it.” The Kremlin is demanding the extradition of another Russian oligarch who has fled to England, claiming that Yuri Nikitin has swindled £250m from his country’s shipping fleet. Dmitry Medvedev is reportedly planning to run an “ascetic” presidential campaign. Former Yukos executive Vasily Aleksanyan, who claims he was denied crucial medical treatment while in detention, is now receiving “unprecedented attention and care” in detention. One newspaper has likened Russia’s court bailiffs to “a new branch of the special services” after the “Enforcement Law” was updated to prevent citizens from leaving the country if they owe alimony, back debts on bank credits, utilities bills or old traffic fines.