TODAY: Sochi opposition candidate splashed with ammonia, blames government; Medvedev says Sochi funding will not be cut; Obama met with Gorbachev; Russia should unite with US against Iran?; Georgia opposition funding row.

The Other Russia says that Boris Nemtsov, the Solidarity candidate running for Mayor in Sochi, has been ‘beset with pranks, provocations, and what seems to be a local unsaid order to stonewall his effort’, whilst Nemtsov himself has blamed Kremlin-backed supporters for an incident in which he was doused with ammonia.  The attack coincided with the publication of an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev, saying that preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics would strain Sochi to breaking point.  Medvedev insists that the economic crisis will not draw state funding away from planning for the Olympics, although the pledged figure has halved to $6 billion and there is talk of employing student labor.