April 26, 2011 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – April 26, 2011

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TODAY: Medvedev’s rights council says Magnitsky charges were fabricated; Solidarity calls for more protests; Lavrov in South Ossetia; Moscow economy rental prices jump; alcohol-related deaths; Bolshoi to reopen; Kaspersky’s son freed.
The President’s human rights council’s independent investigation into the case of Sergei Magnitsky has found that tax evasion charges against the lawyer were fabricated, and that ‘wrongful acts‘ contributed to his death in pretrial detention.  The Solidarity movement is calling for more street protests to show public desire for regime change, with leader Boris Nemtsov calling for protests to become the movement’s primary aim.  Elections will never succeed in changing the political structure, says Garry Kasparov, as his website published poll results that show dwindling support for both Putin and Medvedev.  Vladimir Ryzhkov compares Vladimir Putin to Leonid Brezhnev – his speeches are ‘just as amorphous and lacking substance‘ – and the two leaders front a similar ‘official silence regarding the country’s deep economic and political problems‘.  Putin’s ambitious goals will not be solved through the application of his belief that ‘any political goal can be achieved by throwing money at it,‘ says this Moscow Times editorial.  On a trip to South Ossetia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pledged support to protect the region from Georgia’s ‘military provocations‘.