TODAY: Medvedev’s press conference deemed damp squib; election intrigue remains; Putin upstages tandem partner with hunting recommendations.  Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov dismissed.  Rospil logo raises ire of authorities; LiveJournal blocked in Ulyanovsk; Al-Qaida website in Russian; Russian spymaster meets Kim Jong II; Israeli attache expelled on spying charge

Reports back from Medvedev’s highly publicized press conference yesterday seem to imply it was an opportunity squandered.  ‘Yesterday’s performance […] reinforced the assumption that Mr Putin would return to the Kremlin in 2012′.  Some analysts went even further; Lilia Shevtsova is quoted by AFP as saying,‘In front of the entire country Medvedev was commiting political harakiri’.   One major source of disappointment for pundits was the President’s failure to make any concrete assertions about the electoral race.  The only difference Medvedev apparently flagged up between himself and the Prime Minister was regarding ideas on the pace of modernization.  One topic of note was the release of Khodorkovsky; in response to a journalist’s question, the President stated that the jailed oligarch would not pose a danger to society if released.  The Independent reports that the publication of an interview with Vladimir Putin the same day, in which he polished his masculine image with praise of Russian hunting and fishing, diverted attention away from the President’s moment in the spotlight.  For more details on the conference, RFE/RL has a useful overview with a set of video extracts.  The BBC has a neat radio piece on Putin’s enduring popularity.