TODAY: Politkovskaya tributes – persistence and pessimism; sectioned rights activist to take case to Strasbourg court; United Russia demands Kremlin human rights council apology on Nashi.  Lavrov positive on new missile defense plan; Vitaly Churkin concerned about nuclear reduction. NATO suggests Russia engage further in Afghanistan.  Moscow city elections.

Nine Russian rights groups released a statement yesterday to commemorate journalist Anna Politkovskaya, vowing to continue their work despite the threat of ‘execution’.  ‘I think that the best way to honor her memory would be for censorship to finally be abolished in our country, for Russia to become a free country’, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov said.  Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov is pessimistic about the prospect of bringing her killers to justice: ‘even the most honest investigator cannot solve the crime because the government won’t let him’.  A lawyer acting for Politkovskaya’s family has denied reports that new suspects have emerged.  A rights activist who was placed in a psychiatric hospital under duress will take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.  The United Russia party is clamoring for an apology from Ella Pamfilova, the chairwoman of the presidential Council for Promoting Civil Society and Human Rights, after the council claimed Nashi activists were leading a ‘hate campaign’ against journalist Aleksandr Podrabinek.  According to the Moscow Times, Pamfilova says she will not apologize.