TODAY: Conflicting voices on air base deal; US hits back at Shuvalov’s comments on WTO accession; fears of new Russian incursion prevalent in Georgia; Putin goes to supermarket; priests find new role in crisis; Communists present Stalin as economic inspiration

The Kremlin claims that the US deal with Kyrgyzstan to continue using the Manas air base was approved by Russia in ‘support all steps aimed at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan’.  A Russian diplomat would appear to differ; saying that the news was ‘a very unpleasant surprise for us — we did not expect such a trick‘.  The US has hit back against Igor Shuvalov’s claims that Washington and the EU were to blame for Russia’s decision to back out of its WTO bid, asserting that ‘this is a Russia-created crisis’.