TODAY: US and Russian delegates to meet in Munich today amid new challenge in Afghanistan; Nashi activists spying for Kremlin?; former Mayor gunned down in contract killing, media editors threatened and beaten; Politkovskaya witness says he was asked to lie.

US President Barack Obama is searching for an alternative to the crucial US air base in Central Asia, used to supply the growing military operation in Afghanistan, after Kyrgyzstan said that its decision to close the base was final.  Administration officials reportedly perceive the closure as the result of pressure from Russia, and thus ‘a shot across the bow‘, but the Associated Press suggests that both sides have legitimate goals, ‘and they are not necessarily at odds’.  The matter is expected to be discussed at a security conference today in Munich between Europe, Russia and the US.  The Telegraph reports that Henry Kissinger made secret visits to Russia last year to win support for Obama’s nuclear reduction initiative.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she hopes to have a ‘more constructive‘ relationship with Russia.