Polina Barskova, a talented Russian poet ( living in the States) writes about a new Russian turn to the literature and archives of Leningrad blockade.

In the Russian city of Tver', a presentation of a roman-a-clef A Conspiracy of Apes (Khodorkovsky is supposed to be the real referent of the book) was canceled, after a phone call to the regional library from the regional ministry of culture, reports openspace.ru. The publisher is a Czech VT-World Communication Agency. Print run is just 3,000. The author, Tina Shamrai, is listed as a resident of Tver', but that name is supposed to be a pseudonym.

On Feb. 4, there was a break in into the office of Cyril Tuschi, director of a film about Khodorkovsky. The film is about to premier at the Berlin festival. The film itself was not taken, but all additional materials were deleted from Tuschi's computer. (Reported by openspace.ru,
based on information from the livejournal blog of Irina Yasina, a member of the Presidential commission on human rights).

Meanwhile, the artist Andrey Loskutov is to be prosecuted for offending a cop in Novosibirsk.

Sergej Samburov, a grandson of the Russian founding father of space rocketry, is suing the state for his grandfather's archive, reports Russian business site, marker.ru