Two senior US officials say they are willing to speak openly about Russia’s human rights abuses in meetings with the country’s leaders in the hope that ‘public criticism‘ could influence current conditions.  The officials drew particular attention to Lev Pomonarev, absent from the meetings after being jailed earlier this week for his participation in the most recent Strategy 31 rally. ‘The freedom of assembly is very important to the United States and very important for any democratic society.‘  Amnesty International and Memorial also criticized Pomonarev’s imprisonment.  Businessman Yury Fink, who made online appeals to Russia’s leaders to protect him from company raiders, has been jailed for six years on embezzlement charges.  A regional deputy has complained to a court that United Russia deputies head all of the regional parliament committees in central Russia.  The notion of Putin as President again in 2012 ‘should not be welcomed‘, says the FT, discussing Putin’s reference this week to Roosevelt’s four terms. ‘Mr Roosevelt won fully competitive elections, not the ersatz variety held in Russia.‘