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If Snowden wants to stay in Russia he "must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners".

Snowden "is not a Russian agent", Putin said, repeating that Russian intelligence services were not working with the fugitive American, who is believed to remain in the transit area at a Moscow airport eight days after arriving from Hong Kong.

He said Snowden should choose his final destination and go there.

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The "gay propaganda" ban would impose fines of up to 100,000 roubles (more than $3,000) on individuals found guilty of "promoting non-traditional relations to minors," a provision that is so broadly defined that it effectively turns being gay and out in Russia into a serious legal liability. (To say nothing of jeopardizing the safety of gays and lesbians in the country.)

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Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and has not passed through Russian immigration, Putin said, meaning he is not technically in Russia.

After arriving Sunday on a flight from Hong Kong, Snowden booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight from Moscow on Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn't board the plane.

Snowden's whereabouts since then have been a mystery, and Putin's comments were the first time Russia has made clear it knows where he is.

Speculation has been rife that Russian security agencies might want to keep Snowden in Russia for a more thorough debriefing, but Putin denied that.

"Our special services never worked with Mr. Snowden and aren't working with him today," Putin said at a news conference during a visit to Finland.

Putin said that because there is no extradition agreement with the U.S., it couldn't meet the U.S. request.

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Schumer appeared on "State of the Union" just as news broke that Snowden's flight had arrived in Moscow, and the senator told Candy Crowley that there may be "serious consequences" in store for Russia:

SCHUMER: What’s infuriating here is Prime Minister Putin of Russia aiding and abetting Snowden’s escape. The bottom line is very simple. Allies are supposed to treat each other in decent ways, and Putin always seems almost eager to put a finger in the eye of the United States, whether it is Syria, Iran, and now, of course, with Snowden. That’s not how allies should treat one another, and I think it will have serious consequences for the United States-Russia relationship. [...]

CROWLEY: And just could you tell me a couple of what those — what serious consequences?

SCHUMER: Well, who knows? We have all kinds of relationships with Russia, and in some ways it works out pretty well. We’re trying to mutually reduce the number of nuclear arms that each country has. But there are many different kinds of relationships that are political, economic. And I don’t think we can shrug our shoulders and say this is how Putin is.

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Obama says even though leaders could not agree on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad must go, he has decided it is not possible for Assad to regain legitimacy.

Obama spoke at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN'-geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl).

Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial economies meeting in Northern Ireland this week tried to narrow sharp differences between Russia, a key Assad backer, and Western leaders.

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MOSCOW, Russia — When crowds of protesters first flooded the streets of Moscow in December 2011 chanting “Putin is a thief!” they probably had in mind rigged elections, budgetary funds and natural resources, to name a few concerns.

Certainly not a Super Bowl ring.

But billionaire and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is no ordinary, disenfranchised middle-class protester. So when he reportedly claimed last Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin swiped one of his Super Bowl rings during a meeting in St. Petersburg in 2005, the world — and the Kremlin — quickly took notice.

“I put my hand out and he put [the ring] in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out,” the New York Post reported Kraft as telling an audience at a New York City gala.

Although it was unclear from Kraft’s comments whether he intended to accuse Putin of outright theft, he did seem to expect the ring back.

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told an audience Thursday night that Russian President Vladimir Putin stole his Super Bowl ring.

It was the good one, too, from Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 when the Pats beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.

It happened while Kraft and other American executives toured Russia after the team’s NFL championship season.

Putin greeted the execs during a stop in St. Petersburg, the New York Post reported:

“I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’” Kraft said at the Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence gala at the Waldorf-Astoria. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

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Now, however, Kraft says that Putin stole the ring. According to the New York Post, Kraft told the full story when speaking at Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence gala at the Waldorf-Astoria on Thursday:

Kraft explained the incident happened while Sandy Weill and other business execs were in St. Petersburg. “I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’ ” Kraft told the crowd at Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence gala at the Waldorf-Astoria.“I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

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As does Yahoo tech columnist and potential matchmaker Virginia Heffernan, who made this supercute Pinterest celebrating the two of them.

And since Deng is apparently not sleeping with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, why not? It's like a match made in a Tarantino movie.

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While Snowden is not known to have made any asylum requests, a spokesperson for Vladmir Putin came forward to say the Kremlin would consider such a request. It's a transparent jab at the U.S., given that Russia itself is well-known to have a governmental surveillance apparatus on par with the American system against which Snowden has spoken out.

Via The Guardian:

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The performance-art collective had been devoted to bringing to light the injustices in Russia and had continued doing so relatively unimpeded until a fateful protest in February 2012 at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The group's protest at the cathedral -- at a time during which no services were in session -- led to the arrest of three members. The three underwent trial in an "aquarium" in court, a glass cage through which they could be seen but through which, as performance artist Yekaterina Samutsevich told Salon via Skype, Pussy Riot could not hear the arguments against them.

Samutsevich is under a suspended sentence and remains in Moscow, while the two women with whom she appeared in court are in a penal colony. Others among Pussy Riot, who managed to evade arrest, visited the U.S. anonymously to promote the new documentary "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer," airing tonight on HBO. We spoke to Samutsevich about why she's not leaving protesting behind, whether the Russian government had been seeking an excuse to arrest Pussy Riot, and what will happen during the Sochi Olympics.

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• How did America’s war on drugs limit access to basic medical care in other parts of the world?
• Is the next Jon Stewart from Yemen?
• If you were Russian, would you really want a man like Vladimir Putin?

Worried that you’re missing out on your daily dose of news and documentaries? Take a moment to subscribe to the I Files, a comprehensive and totally free one-stop news source. We scour the Web and gather the best investigative videos from major broadcasters, independent filmmakers and emerging voices.

Incidentally, at the I Files, we aren’t so sure we want a man like Putin, even if he is back on the market.

“The Pain Project,” International Reporting Program at the University of British Columbia

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The Putins made the statement on state television after attending a ballet performance at the Kremlin.

"It was our joint decision," Putin said.

Lyudmila Putin was rarely seen in public during her husband's long tenure at the top of Russian politics and implied that she didn't like to travel with him on his frequent trips.

"I don't like publicity and flying is difficult for me," she said.

The Putins married on July 28, 1983, and have two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina. In the televised announcement of their divorce, Putin appeared reserved and Lyudmila smiled tentatively.

"We practically never saw each other. To each his own life," Putin said.

Lyudmila Putin said, "We will eternally be very close people. I'm thankful ... that he supports me."

There were no immediate indications of how the move would be perceived by the public. Divorce is common in Russia, and nearly 700,000 pairs dissolved their marriages in 2009, according to UNICEF.

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Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the action movie star may head up an international marketing campaign to promote the Degtarev arms plant, Russian news agencies reported. He accompanied Seagal on a visit there Tuesday.

"You're ready to fight American (manufacturers) with your teeth and your intellect, and if Americans are prepared to promote and support you, that says we're learning new ways to work on corporate warfare markets," Rogozin said.

Russian officials are big fans of Seagal, who met President Vladimir Putin in March and claimed to have set up a meeting with Rogozin for a Congressional delegation last week.

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Aloykhina went on strike when she was put under heightened security supervision and was refused the right to attend her parole hearing in person almost two weeks ago. Despite international attention and a letter from Paul McCartney, Aloykhina was later denied parole, following the similar fate of fellow jailed band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

On Saturday, Tolokonnikova's husband Pyotr Verzilov told the AP that the vocal anti-Kremlin activist had ended the hunger strike, saying that prison officials have resumed their usual security protocols. Alyokhina's lawyer confirmed the news, but would not comment any further.

From the AP:

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The court ruled in favor of the prosecution, who argued that the anti-Kremlin activist has "systematically disobeyed prison authorities and failed to repent for her crime" according to reports of Russian media.

The ruling from the Russian court comes despite a plea from Paul McCartney to release Alyokhina and fellow member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who was denied parole last month.

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Alekhina watched the trial via a video link from prison in Berezniki, a small city in the Urals. At the end of the proceedings on Wednesday, she declared a hunger strike, ordering her defense lawyers "not to take part in this court trial" because the court was violating her rights. "Let the troika sitting here – the judge, the prosecutor and the colony employee – decide my fate," she said.

The parole hearing has been postponed until Thursday.

Alyokhina is expected to be released next March, along with fellow Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who was denied parole last month.

Sentencing for the third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was suspended in October.

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