Sergei Topol, the reporter responsible for the stories alleging that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was having an affair with gymnast Alina Kabayeva, has suffered a concussion after being beaten outside his apartment in Moscow – just six months after journalist Oleg Kashin was beaten into a coma.  U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he was ‘a little curious, frankly, about the tone that has been taken‘ by Putin in his criticism of military intervention in Libya.  Meanwhile the lower house of the State Duma has passed a resolution by 350:32 calling for a ceasefire.  If Putin returns to the Presidency in 2012, he will turn Russia into an autocracy, comparable to authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, says Freedom House.