TODAY: Medvedev on presidential podcast, will push for new EU security treaty; troops to leave South Ossetia as planned; crowds mark Politkovskaya’s death; Olmert given no promises on arms sales; Syria and Russia strengthening military ties; Putin to fund film industry. President Dmitry Medvedev has used a Kremlin website to publish a ‘presidential podcast’. He used the video blog as a platform to discuss his thoughts on European energy security, and his intention to push for a new treaty. Medvedev’s anti-corruption bill is proposing to put a two-year ‘quarantine’ on officials who want to move into business. The head of the Russian troops stationed in the buffer zone around South Ossetia has announced that all troops will be withdrawn in the next 24 hours. One UK journalist says that Western policy has ‘brought out the worst in’ Russia. An adviser to Barack Obama said the US should continue negotiating with the Russian government on the planned European missile-defense system.