TODAY: Putin disbands departments in charge of Medvedev’s national projects, moves to support shipbuilding; military and Women’s Day protests; Saakashvili blames Russia for increased protests, Tymoshenko on Russia and Europe.

The Kremlin insists that, despite Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s disbanding of the Cabinet department responsible for Dmitry Medvedev’s ‘campaign tool’, the four national projects (designed to develop farming, health care, education and affordable housing), will continue to move ahead.  Putin said that the state would support the shipbuilding industry, announcing plans to triple orders of state ships in the next six years to 680 billion rubles ($19 billion) and build a new shipyard near the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk.  If Russia manages to reach a swift conclusion with the US on its new nuclear treaty, ‘Russia’s foreign policy authors will inevitably be left with the question: What more can we discuss with the United States the day after the new treaty is signed?’