TODAY: New bill signals major blow to freedom of assembly; ‘light’ version of FSB bill passed; opposition activists arrested; corrupt officer law pushed through; law to keep deputies attending Duma.  Chechen president turnaround on Memorial.  Who won in the spy exchange?  The US, say several commentators.  Former spy Sergei Tretyakov has died; Russians see seeds of a Putin cult of personality

312 out of 450 deputies have approved in a first reading a bill which would severely limit the freedom to assemble, by disallowing anyone with a conviction, even as minor as a parking ticket, from organizing rallies.  The State Duma has passed the modified version of the FSB bill which caused a storm of controversy with measures that would have dramatically increased the power of the organization.  Six members of Yabloko have been arrested while protesting the bill outside the State Duma.   Members of the aforementioned opposition party along with Solidarity and United Civic Front activists have held a protest in St. Petersburg over the jailing of a demonstrator who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in a labor camp for hitting a police officer, after seeing him allegedly abuse an elderly lady.  The Duma has also passed a presidential bill which extends prison sentences for police officers who are themselves on the wrong side of the law.  Ten people were arrested when police dispersed a rally on the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod highway to demand the completion of apartments they had purchased.  The State Duma has also passed a bill that obliges deputies to be present at parliamentary sessions, unless they have a legitimate reason to be absent.