President Vladimir Putin captured much of the news this week by announcing that he would seek a seat in the December legislative elections and hinting that he might serve as prime minister under the present who succeeds him next March. The British magazine The Economist had a fairly pithy analysis of Putin's strategy, or perhaps stratagem.

The natural gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine went from a boil to a sizzle this week when Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's energy minister reached a deal for Ukraine to pay its gas debts. Gazprom had threatened to cut supplies if the debt, which it pegged at $1.3 billion, was not paid by Oct. 31.

Jail-cell conversions have apparently spread to Russia, too. It was reported this week that Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once one of the wealthiest men in the world, has issued a call for Russians to live more moral lives. According to the International Herald Tribune, Khodorkovsky, who is serving an eight-year sentence in Siberia for tax evasion, wrote that living in "good conscience" is the cornerstone for creating a democratic, law-abiding country.

College students take note: Russia plans to boost funds earmarked for foreign student scholarships. The Moscow News said First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev made the pledge at an alumni reunion of foreign students, but did not say how large the increase would be. Most of the 7,000 scholarships now awarded go to students from countries that once were part of the Soviet Union.

Happy anniversary Sputnik! On Thursday, Russia celebrated the 50th anniversary of the launch that kicked off the space race between the then Soviet Union and the United States. According to the Associated Press, there was a military parade in Moscow and flowers were placed on the Kremlin tomb of the father of the Soviet space program, Sergei Korolyov. The celebration comes amidst something of a revival of Russian space exploration: Under an agreement signed Wednesday, Russia will leverage technology now used in its oil industry to provide NASA with instruments to scan for water on the Moon and Mars.

One other space-related bit of news, The Moscow Times reported that the daughters of the late Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, have filed a lawsuit against a Moscow company. They claim that the movie, "Gagarin's Grandson", defames the famed cosmonaut. The movie's central character is a black orphan who claims Gagarin was his grandfather.