TODAY: Medvedev to give state of the nation address, modernization presumed to be key theme; opposition members laud ousting of Governor Rossel; Moscow Mayor to sue opposition politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky over corruption claims. Lavrov interview on Vesti news, discusses EU, NATO, US; charges against Litvinenko witness dropped. Russia unlikely to hasten return of capital punishment. Saving tigers; Russia limits use of superlatives.

Modernization is expected to be the principal theme of the President’s state-of-the-nation address today, and specifically criticism of state corporations. Scientists have their ears pricked, hoping to hear President Medvedev talk of rejuvenating Russia’s lackluster scientific sector, says the Moscow Times. The President’s decision to dismiss Sverdlovsk strongman Eduard Rossel has been praised by opposition politicians, who say other governors should follow, some of whom have ‘outlasted Brezhnev’. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov (arguably one such figure) has filed a defamation suit against Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party after he voiced corruption concerns about the Mayor. Zhirinovsky plans to sue back. Two Moscow police officers have gone on hunger strike after being accused of abuse of authority, a claim they say is fabricated. President Medvedev is ‘the only person in the country who has the power to remove anybody at any time’ – so why does the problem of corruption remain? asks Nikolai Zlobin in the Moscow Times.