TODAY: Russia to halt US retaliation plans; Church elects news leader; Russian military is a ‘paper tiger’; Russia-Georgia soldier spat; Putin ‘too trusting’.

Russia has halted its plan to retaliate against a proposed US missile defense shield by stationing its own missiles near Europe’s borders, and the US will welcome confirmation of the news.  London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies says that, despite many very visible demonstrations recently, and a 34% boost to its defense spending budget, the Russian military remains a ‘paper tiger‘.  The Moscow Times reports on a Russian soldier who said he deserted his unit in South Ossetia and sought asylum in Georgia because of ‘unbearable living conditions’.  A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman suggested that the soldier’s comments were probably the result of ‘coercion’.  ‘Russian and Georgian television reported Sergeant Glukhov’s story very differently‘ – a Georgian channel described him as starving, while a Russian source stressed the theory that he had been abducted.  Georgia has promised to protect the soldier’s rights and says it will not hand him over to the Russian army.