POLITICS:
An interview with Russian children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on the possible consequences of the recently introduced law banning US residents from adopting Russian children… (Kommersant)
A draft law on inefficient budget spending was submitted on Monday to the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma… (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
A presidential election in Russia is not scheduled for another five years, but the people who will run the polling stations and count the ballots are already being selected… (The Moscow Times)
Russia’s lower house of the parliament, the State Duma, is set to debate a bill allowing policemen to break into private premises where they believe a crime is taking place or a criminal is hiding out… (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
ECONOMY and BUSINESS:
Moscow Region authorities say they need 131 billion rubles for road construction… (Vedomosti)
US-Russian joint venture Ford Sollers begins manufacturing a new minivan, the Tourneo Custom, that can carry eight or nine passengers… (Vedomosti)
The Moscow Exchange will hold its initial public offering (IPO) on its own trading floor, Russia’s leading stock exchange said in a statement on Monday, without disclosing the size or time of the flotation… (The Moscow Times)
SPACE the Final Frontier:
The government will this year finish building the infrastructure needed for the Vostochny space launch facility, an alternative to Kazakhstan’s Baikonur space center… (The Moscow Times)
DEFENSE:
Russia sold a record $15.16 billion worth of arms in 2012, and expanded its foreign client list, the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service (FSMTC) said… (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Russia has started the largest naval exercises for the past few decades in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as momentum builds in Syria’s civil war… (Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
WORLD:
On Monday Georgians gathered in central Tbilisi to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili’s resignation… (Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
SOCIETY:
Moscow City Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a family seeking a harsher sentence for Rasul Mirzayev, a martial arts world champion who was convicted of causing a student’s death… (Kommersant)
Russia urgently needs to attract immigrants over the coming years to avoid labor shortages, the country’s top migration official said… (The Moscow Times)
CYBER:
President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to create a system to detect and prevent cyber-attacks against information resources in the country… (Kommersant)
Windows to Russia…