TODAY: New START treaty by the end of the year; Russia on the global stage; Putin – the new emperor?;  journalist dies in mysterious circumstances; no opposition broadcasts before Sochi election; copper-workers feeling the crunch; Lenin too.

President Medvedev and Barack Obama have announced that a treaty to reduce their nuclear arsenal will be agreed by the end of the year, in a major step towards a ‘nuclear-free world‘.  A joint statement on the meeting is reprinted in the New York Times, as is a transcript of comments.  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov states that there has been a ‘qualitative, not mathematical, reset‘ in US-Russian relations.  Russia hopes to assert itself at the G20 summit as crisis-hit developed countries look to emerging markets for cooperation, reports Reuters.  Well-respected Kremlin academic Igor Panarin predicts that Vladimir Putin will be the figure behind a new ‘Russian empire‘ and oversee the birth of a ‘Eurasian Alliance‘, the Telegraph reports.  Where does Russia fit in the ‘new European security architecture’?