Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, met with Dmitry Medvedev yesterday, urging him to address the issues of abduction in the North Caucasus and the unsolved murder of activist Natalya Estemirova.  He also spoke about the political influence of judges, and proposed that the Kremlin appoint regional rights ombudsmen in all of its territories. Yukos was not discussed at the meeting, although Hammarberg spoke later of his hopes for the Strasbourg hearing of the case.  RFE/RL is running an interview with Gleb Pavlovsky, a high-profile political consultant to the presidential administration.  Pavlovsky suggests one scenario for the 2012 elections – another win for Medvedev, but only if he can successfully implement his modernization policies.  ‘[…] in the end, Putin will have to leave, but he can only leave if there are no catastrophes in the Kremlin.‘  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the Kremlin is ‘undaunted‘ by Poland’s plan to base US missiles near the Russian border, but that he will seek ‘full information‘ about the deployment, as he was unable to comprehend the need ‘to create the impression as if Poland is bracing itself against Russia.‘