Russia is to return a $166.8 million advance payment to Iran on an $800-million contract for air defense missiles, whose delivery was canceled due to US sanctions.  ‘We’re not obligated to return a penny more.‘  The high rate of inflation is damaging confidence, says the Moscow Times, reporting that wages have risen by over 6% for the previous two months running in order to combat it, and that many Russians believe their incomes can’t keep up.  Viktor Baturin, who helped his sister Yelena Baturina to found Inteko in 1991, says the company owes him $117 million.  The BRICs are fighting US efforts to control currency fluctuations, reports Bloomberg. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has appealed to President Dmitry Medvedev to reconsider trade barriers and ‘questionable‘ measures against French meat products.  Fewer and fewer Russians are willing to pay for their television service and the industry is suffering, with one industry executive accusing consumers of a ‘mental barrier‘.  Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin suggests that revived interest in company bonds could cause a bubble.