RUSSIA / GERMANY : Nein! Germany Withdraws Quadriga Prize For Putin.

                                                      NYTIMES
   After much criticism for selecting Russia's PM Vladimir Putin, Germany's prestigious Quadriga prize...instead will not be awarded this year.
   The annual prize is given to "role models who are committed to enlightenment, commitment and welfare".
   Former Czech President Vaclav Havel threatened to return his award to protest the Putin announcement.

RUSSIA: Medvedev Again Backs Down From Putin Challenge.

BLOOMBERG

PM Vladimir Putin hasn’t refused returning as president next year...even as current President Medvedev continues his "charm Offensive" to woo foreign investors put off by Russia's corruption and oligarchy control.

Today Medvedev told the FINANCIAL TIMES that he won't compete against Putin in next year's presidential election... though he said that he wants a second term.

But lingering questions over who will run for president in 2012 has sent capital fleeing anyway.

Even if Putin decides to run...capital may not remain.

“If Putin came back as president, it could be difficult to convince sceptical investors that long overdue reforms would now start, and some investors could pull out,” said a hedge fund manager.

RUSSIA/ TEXAS: Blogger With "Man Crush" On Putin Gets Exclusive But Wordy Interview.

NYTIMES/ E.BARRY

    Gayne C. Young, a blogger for OUTDOOR LIFE and high school English teacher, lives not far from Austin...about 65 miles away in the Hill Country in quaint Fredericksburg.
     But his blog for the hunters and fishermen who read the magazine recently carried an exclusive 3,000 word written interview...with Russian PM Vladimir Putin.
    Most in the media would not qualify this Putin interview as a "get"...since it featured mostly "softball questions".
    But it was "exclusive."
    Young reports that he obtained it after blogging repeatedly about his “man crush” on Putin.
    Observers say by agreeing to such an interview, Putin may be trying to soften his image in the West where he is viewed as Russia's "bad cop" -- a problem if he decides to return as president.
     “There is some truth in this argument, and I think Putin has realized he needs to care about his image in the West,” said a Russia specialist. “The only argument which really speaks for Medvedev is this Western thing. That is his trump card. Putin has to counter it.”

RUSSIA/ BELARUS: Medvedev Holds 1st Press Conference...And Says Almost Nothing; Minsk Gets $3 Bn Bail-out...With Conditions.

NYTimes/ E. Barry

  An estimated 800 media showed-up for President Dmitry Medvedev's first press conference...after 3 years in office.
   But they left mostly disappointed.
   Most had expected Medvedev to reveal whether or not he will stand for re-election in 2012.
   All he would say...was that a decision would be announced..."soon."
   Many have also speculated that there is a power struggle going-on between Medvedev and PM Putin.
   Medvedev only said that he Putin were "truly like-minded" after 20 years.
  "This does not mean however that we see eye to eye on everything," he added.
   "But we are close in our strategies, otherwise we would simply be unable to work together."

AND:    There are reports that Russia will give Belarus a 2.1bn euro/ $3 bn usd bail-out loan.
     PM Putin was just in Minsk. Observers predict loan conditions will be stringent with Russia reportedly seeking privatization of certain key assets.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13462560

RUSSIA: Putin And Medvedev's Mixed Signals About Future Control...Mixing-up Followers.

NYTIMES/ E.Barry shared a Pulitzer Prize with C.Levy last month for Russian coverage.

 NYT:  "... lately the tandem has begun to hiccup and backfire. It is impossible to say whether trust has broken down between the two men, one of whom will increase his power in next spring’s presidential election. But a universe of officials, businessmen and political hangers-on — uncertain whether to show loyalty to one man, the other or both — has “spent the whole last month on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” wrote economist Vladislav L. Inozemtsev.
   Winston Churchill likened Kremlin power struggles to bulldogs fighting under a carpet: “An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath, it is obvious who won.”

RUSSIA: Putin/Medvedev Rift Growing? Prez. Dmitry Allegedly Defying PM Putin In Push For Another Term.

GUARDIAN/ T.Parfitt

    A Russian MP claims that President Medvedev is ready to defy PM Putin and seek a second term.
    Ruling United Russia MP Konstantin Zatulin said Medvedev's allies are trying to undermine Putin.
    "Medvedev wants to stay, he has broken the agreement and now Putin will have to persuade him to back off," said Zatulin.
   But Medvedev controls no party.
   Putin leads United Russia and thru it exerts control over parliament, regional leaders and the bureaucracy.

RUSSIA: Medvedev Orders Putin To Purge Boardrooms Of His Cronies.

GUARDIAN/

    President Dmitry Medvedev has given PM Putin an ultimatum with a 1 July deadline to remove some 17 of his ministers from boardrooms of Russia's largest public companies.
     Medvedev blames Russia's poor investment climate on state involvement and rampant corruption.

RUSSIA: Medvedev And Putin Spat Over Libyan "Crusade."

REUTERS/

    In the most public clash yet between the two powerful Russians, President Dmitry Medvedev says PM Putin's use of the term "crusades" for the current Libyan situation is.. not "acceptable."
    "Under no circumstances is it acceptable to use expressions which essentially lead to a clash of civilizations. Such as a 'crusade' and so on," said Medvedev.
     Putin just labelled the UN Security Council's resolution allowing military intervention in Libya as "medieval calls for crusades".
    Putin also compared the Libyan attacks to Bush's Iraq invasion and proof that Russia must continue to boost its military.
 FOR PUTIN'S COMMENTS:
 http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-libya-russia-idUSTRE72K3JR20110321 

RUSSIA: Putin Charity Appearance Yields Publicity...But No Charity.

NYTIMES/ A. KRAMER

     In December, PM Vladimir Putin sang a version of “Blueberry Hill” in English and played a piano at a charity event for hospitals treating children with cancer.
     But now, three months later, the mother of a 13-year-old girl with cancer claims that the hospitals never got any money...causing a controversy in Russia...because she insinuated that the primary purpose was to show-off Putin rather than aid children.

EU/ RUSSIA: Putin Blasts Energy, Foreign Policies.

NYTIMES/ S. CASTLE /

    During a testy news conference with EU president José Manuel Barroso, Russian PM Vladimir Putin criticized past EU foreign policy choices and current energy policies.
   Putin seemed especially perturbed by new limits on pipeline ownership by gas suppliers which may force Russia to sell its Gazprom pipeline network in some European countries.
    The new rules “will harm the activities of our energy companies,” he said, contending that prices for consumers would rise. “We are talking in practice about the confiscation of property.”

RUSSIA: Gorbachev Slams Putin's Democracy As "Sham".

GUARDIAN / M.ELDER /

  On his 80th birthday, former president Mikhail Gorbachev, who oversaw the dissolution of the Soviet Union, harshly criticized the current Vladimir Putin regime.
    "We have everything – a parliament, courts, a president, a prime minister and so on. But it's more of an imitation," he said.
    "United Russia reminds me of the worst copy of the Communist party," he said. "We have institutions but they don't work. We have laws but they must be enforced."
     Many in Russia despise Gorbachev as a traitor who delivered years of uncertainty.

RUSSIA: Putin Poster Girl Quits In A Snit Claiming Lies Tricked Her.

GUARDIAN/ MIRIAM ELDER /

   Former ballerina Anastasia Volochkova (pictured) once recruited as the face of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has quit, accusing the party of lying to advance its political agenda.
    Her expletive-filled rant claims the party tricked her into signing a letter five years ago denouncing oil tycoon Khodorkovsky.  
   She said the party told her the letter supported the jailed oligarch – even if the party has consistently attacked him.
   "When the whole country told me that I'm against Khodorkovsky, you know, I cried, because they really tricked me," she said. 

   United Russia party's popularity is declining. Two recent polls show that the party would not win a 50% majority if elections were held today.

RUSSIA: Naomi Campbell Interviews Putin.

GUARDIAN/ OPINION, Adam Gabbatt /

    Former supermodel Naomi Campbell, 40, interviewed PM Vladimir Putin, 58, for the new GQ magazine, focusing on his physical prowess, the "great impression" he makes on women and his swimming ability.
  But Putin seemingly downplayed image as a macho man.
  Campbell reluctantly testified last year in the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor.
  Her first words to the judge were "I want to get this over and done with ... this is a big inconvenience for me."
   For more than two years, she has been dating the billionaire oligarch Vladislav Doronin and living part-time in Russia.

RUSSIA: PM Vladimir Putin Croons For Charity.

DAILY MAIL/ 5 FOTOS /
   Russia's powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, 58, reportedly stunned a charity audience Friday evening with a rendition of Blueberry Hill.
   ‘Like an overwhelming majority of people, I can neither sing nor play but I very much like doing it,’ Putin said after being urged by the event’s host to get up on stage and perform. He played a few opening notes of Fats Domino's hit on the piano, then went to the microphone and sang.

TO SEE PUTIN'S 4:30 PIANO/KARAOKE On YOUTUBE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV4IjHz2yIo&feature=player_embedded#!

RUSSIA: Putin's Cheeky Bruise.

GUARDIAN/     The online world in Russia and Ukrainia is going crazy speculating about the cause and the attempt to cover-up an apparent huge bruise on PM Vladimir Putin's left cheekbone(pictured).
     Putin was visiting the Ukraine and a TV station there described the PM as having a "noticeable swelling" on his face that was "covered in make-up."

FOR BBC's TAKE ON The Bruise: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11644850

RUSSIA: 1st UPDATE: Journalism Students Mock Putin's Birthday With Calendar.

GUARDIAN/ Miriam Elder/
   One day after 12 journalism students at Moscow State University released a racy calendar in honor of Vladmir Putin's 58th birthday, six colleagues are publishing their own version  but with references to the many murders and curbs on freedom under Putin.
  Some 50,000 copies of the laudatory first calendar have been printed, and are for sale for $8.50 in Moscow branches of French supermarket chain Auchan.
   The opposition calendar is only available online.

NEW!!! A blog from Russia( but in English) discusses the controversy with MORE pro-Putin calendar PIX:

https://themoscowdiaries.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/happy-birthday-mr-president/

FOR AP version of this story, SEE:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5haRtf83zpsCeBx7gCpEq5QSjtGrgD9IN0BH81?docId=D9IN0BH81

RUSSIA: Recent Events Show That Putin Is In Charge.

LATIMES/ Sergei L. Loiko /

   Forget President Dmitry Medvedev. From the ashes of the devastating fires surrounding Moscow and an embarrassing spy scandal, a macho leader has re-emerged, PM Vladimir Putin. Putin is positioning himself to reclaim the presidency a little more than a year and a half from now.
LOIKO: "While Medvedev appears mostly confined to his Kremlin office, Putin is rushing around the country with the news media in tow. He comforts fire victims, upbraids local officials — and publicly dictates to the president what should be done about the fires that have killed 40 people and ravaged more than 1.2 million acres." "It is quite obvious that Putin uses these difficult times to show the people who is the strong man in the country, who is the national leader, who is the can-do man — and who is just a Kremlin clerk,"  said Kremlinologist Lilia Shevtsova.

ALSO SEE  new posting by  columnist ANDREW OSBORN:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewosborn/100049573/in-russia-the-age-of-putin-mark-ii-is-already-looming/

POLAND: Putin Joins Poles At Katyn Massacre Site But Says Don't Blame Current Russians.

INDEPENDENT.UK/   Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became the first Russian leader to join Polish officials in remembering the slaughter of 22,000 Polish officers by the Soviet Union in March 1940. “In this ground lay Soviet citizens, burnt in the fire of the Stalinist repression of the 1930s; Polish officers, shot on secret orders; soldiers of the Red Army, executed by the Nazis,” said Putin. Also attending was Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who remarked that he hoped the ceremony on would begin healing the conflict over the massacre. “I want to believe that the word of truth can bring together two great nations, which have been painfully separated by history,” Tusk said. But Putin went on to say that "With decades of cynical lies, they tried to blot out the truth about the Katyn shootings. It would be a similar kind of falsehood to ... place the blame for these crimes on the Russian people."

VENEZUELA: UPDATE: Putin Visits Chavez, Promises Nuclear Help.

AP/MIAMI HERALD/  03 Abril DETAILED UPDATE/    Despite recent terrorist bombings at home, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his first visit to Venezuela. In Caracas, Putin offered to help Chavez set up a space industry, including a satellite launch site and plan to construct a nuclear plant. He also discussed a joint venture to pump oil from the rich Orinoco Belt. Chavez has visited Russia 8 times and agreed to spend more than $4 billion in arms deals. “Chavez has already signed up for more weapons than he can buy, and Russian energy companies aren’t really interested in exploration and production in Venezuela,” said Oslo professor Pavel Baev. “It’s much more a political project.”

UKRAINE: New President Yanukovich Soothes Russian Relations.

REUTERS/     President Victor Yanukovich claimed his five-year presidency will "open a new page" of ties with Russia during a Moscow meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Importantly for Russia, Yanukovich indicated he would allow Russia's Black Sea Fleet stay in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol after the current lease expires in 2017.