TODAY: Amnesty disappointed in Medvedev’s human rights stance; EU questions Russia over Magnitksy; detention rules to be changed for ill suspects?  Crack down on bribe booty.  Russia-Iran spat escalates over Kremlin’s sanction backing; 7 die in Stavropol bomb attack; Georgia Independence Day parade; Russia will not deploy Iskanders; chess; bunking off at the top.

In its annual report on human rights abuses, Amnesty International claims that President Medvedev has failed to improve the human rights situation in Russia, with the report claiming that ‘the legal system seems utterly ineffective‘.  Russia’s interior and justice ministers have faced questioning from a senior EU official concerning the death in custody of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.  Meanwhile prison officials have suggested that if suspects in pretrial detention have one of a list of 40 illnesses, they should not be held in custody.  The Interior Ministry is urging changes to the law that would mean assets illegally acquired by corrupt officials could be seized by the state.  A high-ranking Moscow investigator has been caught receiving the final installment of a $1.5 million bribe.  The Federation Council has agreed with a law which significantly increases the fines for officials who try to restrict public access to information about state activities.  This report looks at Russia’s alleged reluctance to help victims of sex trafficking.  The Financial Times reports on the interaction of Vedomosti’s editor-in-chief, Tatyana Lysova, at the Khodorkovsky trial.  Boris Kagarlitsky explains why he believes that politicians’ attempts to co-opt social movements have such little success.   Why is United Russia suffering in Siberia?