TODAY: Russia’s utopian social experiments…“without poor people”. Talks with US reviewed positively in the press after Putin receives letter from Bush. Lavrov blames Tibet violence on Kosovo. Authorities attempting to discredit Kasyanov? Billionaire Araz Aglarov is thought to be behind the intimidation of villagers in Voronino, where Aglarov is planning to build a “new kind of civilization … a kind of utopian social experiment — but without poor people,” housing hundreds of properties worth $20-30 million each. A similar development, a “super deluxe” gated housing development, is also being planned on the outskirts of Moscow. It is thought that authorities are currently involved in a campaign to discredit former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov following an investigation into signatures gathered by Kasyanov’s movement in support of his application to run for president. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that the recent violence in Tibet is inextricably linked to the recognition of Kosovo’s independence. Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, has died in New York, aged 80. An increasing number of Russian students are joining study programs at European universities.