TODAY: Alexeyeva attacker given suspended sentence; calls for Trifonova judge to be dismissed; gay activists seek loophole for pride parade; celebrity lawyer speaks out on adoptions.  Lukashenko interview; Kokoity visit; alien encounter; GenPlan approved.  Stalin’s role in Victory day celebrations gaining momentum, posters and bus

According to the Moscow Times, Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer and member of the Public Chamber, has argued that the judge behind the arrest of Vera Trifonova, whose death in detention for an untreated illness is gaining media coverage, should be fired.  The man who struck rights veteran Lyudmila Alexeyeva on the head during commemorations for the victims of the metro bombings has been given a one-year suspended sentence.  Gay activists who are planning to stage a pride parade in Moscow have been asking foreign embassies to act as a venue if the parade is outlawed by City Hall.  TV lawyer and childrens’ ombudsman Pavel Astakhov has weighed in on the child adoption scandal in this article in the New York Times.  Apparently adoptions of Russian children by Americans have not been halted, despite suggestions to the contrary.  Russia and France may sign an adoption agreement this year.  Attackers have thrown a grenade into a halal food shop in St Petersburg, injuring three people.