TODAY: Medvedev interview for Novaya Gazeta; North Korea should return to talks says Foreign Ministry; cluster munitions reportedly used in Georgia; Medvedev concerned about unemployment; transport spending to increase

Unlike his predecessor, President Dmitry Medvedev has granted an interview to Novaya Gazeta, in an apparent gesture of ‘moral support’ to the newspaper, which ‘has suffered many losses’ – two of its reporters murdered in three years.  Comments in the interview about ‘democracy’ and ‘prosperity’ seem to distinguish the Prime Minister from his ally Putin, reports the New York Times.  The Just Russia candidate in the Sochi election, Viktor Kurpitko, has been removed from the race, leaving the United Russia candidate and Boris Nemtsov as the forerunners. The New York Times reports upon an investigation by Russian economists into the impact of independent television on voting patterns.