TODAY: Military spending increased; Central Asia open to US influence?; Oleg Deripaska to pay out more for wage arrears; Ukraine denies entry to Russian lawmaker; rehabilitation of Romanovs

A report on global military spending has shown that Russia ‘continues to increase spending’ and whilst it announces a defense budget of $43 billion, it is actually around $58 billion.  The Washington Post features a comment piece by four Russian thinkers on US-Russian relations: ‘We believe Russia dearly needs to expand all sorts of ties with the United States and the West, but such cooperation must not come at the price of U.S. refusal to understand what is happening in Russia’.  The President of Kyrgyzstan may meet with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai as the latter wishes to negotiate the continued use of a Moscow-opposed US airbase.  Should Russia be worried about Uzbekistan praising Obama’s promise of a ‘new beginning’ between Washington and the Muslim world?  Russia has welcomed the results of Lebanon’s elections which were won by the West-supported ‘March 14′ coalition.