TODAY: Russia willing to revive European Arms Control treaty; IOC praises Sochi but says task must not be underestimated; Russia pledges help to Abkhazia and South Ossetia; policemen on trial 

Russia has proposed a new version of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and believes that ‘chances to revive the treaty’, which it suspended over a year ago, ‘still exist’.  The original 1990 treaty imposed limitations on troop and weaponry movement to the West of the Ural mountains, a restriction Putin likened to the U.S. having ‘to seek Russian approval before it sent troops from California to Texas’.  The OSCE has ceased talks on keeping peace monitors in Georgia after Russia vetoed its proposals, but is apparently hoping that the Kremlin will reconsider.  ‘NATO’s patronage to Georgia has been interpreted as a license for permissiveness‘, says a Foreign Ministry spokesman.  Russia will apparently continue to offer South Ossetia ‘all necessary economic, political, and, if necessary, military assistance‘ it may require, says the head of the Russian presidential administration.