President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree abolishing the federal agencies for science and education, passing their functions on to the Ministry of Education and Science, a move criticized on grounds that ‘the agencies received real money while the ministries were involved only in law-making activities‘.  This holiday weekend for Russia saw a 150-1,000-strong (depending on which source you believe) Moscow rally calling for police reform, in which hand-signed copies of the Russian constitution were handed out to police officers; there was also a ‘flash‘ 30-strong anti-abortion protest in Vladivostok.  Yevgeny Ikhlov, an expert at the For Human Rights pressure group, claims there was ‘a secret agreement, sealed during Vladimir Putin’s 2000-2008 presidency, that allowed the police and the FSB security service to do as they please in return for their unswerving loyalty to the regime.‘  Russia’s YouTube police protester, Major Alexei Dymovsky, has been released from custody after his arrest (on charges of fraud and abuse of office) was replaced with a written pledge not to leave town.  A new survey suggests that most Russians would vote for United Russia in the next election, with no hint of a successor party in sight.