A small group of activists staged a brief, unauthorized gay rights march in Moscow on Sunday – with no detentions.  Mikhail Prokhorov has vowed that, with his pro-business backing, Right Cause, the only party to back Dmitry Medvedev for a second term, will win the second-largest majority after United Russia in the December elections and thereby gain representation in parliament.  The chief executive of VTB has dampened rumors that Prokhorov will run for President.  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is opposed to further European sanctions against Belarus, saying that they would be counterproductive to the goal of achieving democratic reform.  Vladimir Frolov is one of the few writers to defend Dmitry Medvedev‘s news conference last week, saying that the President sent the ‘right‘ signals in an ‘impressive and likable‘ public performance.  He’s a lone voice, however. ‘It’s clear that now there are two new political camps in Russia — Putin’s party and Medvedev’s party. Unfortunately, it’s not yet clear which party Medvedev belongs to.‘