TODAY: Putin assassination attempt foiled; Russia’s “destructive culture of lies; US and Russia to discuss missile defense. “Ladies” vodka fuels alcoholism fears. Security forces are said to have foiled an attempt by a sniper to kill President Vladimir Putin near the Kremlin on the day of the presidential elections, and the FSB announced that it had prevented a number of acts of terrorism due to coincide with the elections. It was claimed that both Putin and Dmitry Medvedev could have been killed by the sniper. Human rights activist Sergei Kovalyov, in an open letter to Putin, emphasized the “corrupting force” of the lies that Russia’s leaders “are incapable of rejecting,” and says that no “remotely literate citizen” believes these lies, including even the staunchest supporters of Putin and the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party. The Russian mafia have a reportedly major presence on the Costa del Sol, “exploiting lax property laws and lack of police resources to launder millions from arms dealing, drug dealing and prostitution.”