Anna Arutunyan and Anna Sulimina
Tomsk's regional police chief was sacked on orders from President Dmitry Medvedev and a police officer was arrested after a local journalist was beaten to death in a detox center. Amid a nationwide crackdown on police brutality, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has suggested that alcohol detox centers may now be run by health officials rather than the police.
Konstatin Popov, 47, died Wednesday after spending two weeks in a coma. He was allegedly beaten and sexually abused in a Tomsk drunk tank, where he was taken on January 4 after neighbors complained he was making too much noise.
Tatar leader steps down
Tartarstan's veteran president, Mintimer Shaimiyev is stepping down after 18 years in office, asking President Dmitry Medvedev not to appoint him after his current term expires on March 25.
Shaimiyev, 73, who has headed the predominantly Muslim republic for four terms since 1991, said he plans to pursue non-political interests, such as restoring ancient relics and museums. His decision to leave, he said, was made as early as 2005, but then-President Vladimir Putin convinced him to stay on for another term.
Medvedev and Putin on politics and porn
Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wrestled with the thorny issue of political reform at Friday's State Council session, attended by top officials and parliamentary leaders, with the president urging lawmakers and top officials to work towards political modernisation and the prime minister warning against "Ukrainianisation".
"Our political system works.
It's far from being ideal but it works," said Medvedev. However, "real political competition is virtually non-existent" and there is lack of "real... political discussion."
Putin backed the president, but counselled caution, saying a political system "shouldn't quiver like thin jelly every time it's touched," referring to Ukraine as a bad example of political infighting.
Putin also threw cold water on calls for a bigger Internet role in politics, saying that 50 per cent of the Internet was "pornographic material."
START talks start
Russia and the US are still some way away from signing a renewed treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons, after high-level bilateral talks were held late last week.
US National Security Adviser James Jones and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen held "closed-door" talks with their Russian counterparts, who were not identified in Russian media reports. The 1991 START-1 expired Dec. 5, though Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev have vowed to sign a replacement soon.
The week ahead
Jan 26 - Russia-NATO Council in Brussels
Jan 26 - President Dmitry Medvedev meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow
Jan 30 - First casino opens in Krasnodar's Azov City gambling zone
End of January - First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov visits Moldova
Feb. 1 - Dubai court hearing on March 2009 murder of Vostok battalion commander Sulim Yamadayev
Good week for...
Androids
Anna Karenina will get a sci-fi makeover just ahead of the 100th anniversary of Leo Tolstoy's death, as US publisher Quirk Press plans to publish "Android Karenina" in June. The reworked classic will feature robots and space travel, but will still focus on Anna's love affair with Count Vronsky and Tolstoy's other main characters, the publisher says.
Last year Quirk published "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," which both became bestsellers.
Bad week for...
Kremlin suitors
A 35-year-old man was detained after he tried to force his way into the Kremlin, saying he wanted to marry President Dmitry Medvedev's daughter. Medvedev has a teenage son but no daughters. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Medvedev's predecessor, has two daughters.
The man, whom police identified only as Bakhtiyar from Dagestan, was sent for psychiatric tests.
