December 1, 2009 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Dec 1, 2009

FRONT-01-Train.jpgTODAY: Browder on Magnitsky; Luzkhov wins his Nemtsov libel suit; blogging fury prompts cancellation of dacha tender; HIV rates on the up; discrimination follows apace.  OSCE to discuss Medvedev security proposals; analysts wonder whether draft pact is more substance or gesture? Russia-US on track to complete new START draft before Dec 5; Nabokov’s last novel; art works seek rich owners

An interview with Hermitage founder Bill Browder in the Telegraph sheds light on some of the disturbing details about the incarceration of recently deceased company lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.  Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has apparently never lost a libel suit in the capital, and the one he launched against opposition politician Boris Nemtsov is no exception; the man who called the mayor a ‘thiefwill have to pay up $17,100.  A tender to service a luxury Valdai Dacha housing a minicasino outside of the government’s designated gambling zones has been canceled after bloggers raised a storm of protest about what they view as a misuse of government funds.  The number of HIV/AIDS patients in Russia has increased at an average rate of about 10% in recent years, according to statistics provided by RFE/RL’s Russian Service.  The Telegraph interviews HIV-positive activist Svetlana Izambayeva, who is being denied guardianship of her orphanage-housed brother because she carries the disease.  ‘I have no doubts that Russia’s law enforcement system is inadequate, but the problems didn’t begin only 18 months ago’: Alexei Pankin looks back at police abuse of power in the Moscow Times.