TODAY: Judge admits pressure from the Kremlin; US military attachés made “uninvited visit” to aviation factory; Abkhazia leader wants Russian military base for “protection”; Moscow Mayor barred from entering Ukraine; Joseph Stalin, a national hero? Yelena Valyavina, first deputy chair of the Supreme Arbitration Court, has testified in court that a Kremlin official threatened to cut off her career if she did not follow his instructions. Her lawyer called the testimony “an exceptionally courageous and heroic act”. The story has been picked up by The Other Russia. The State Duma is expected to consider two bills that would extend the powers of judges over people with suspended jail terms. Anna Politkovskaya’s killer may have been charged, but his whereabouts are unknown and one journalist comments, “The prosecutors may be getting ahead of themselves if they think they have solved the murder.”