Russia's December 2 parliamentary election leads the news this week. Election officials certified 11 parties to vie for the elections while sharply limiting the number of foreign observers to watch the polling. There may not be much to watch: Most political analysts expect the United Russia list to win the bulk of the seats in the State Duma, which is the lower house of Russia's legislature. President Vladimir Putin announced on October 1 that he would head United Russia's list of candidates.

Lufthansa Cargo is transferring its central Asian hub to Krasnoyarsk from Kazakhstan. But it is hard to call the move a business decision. According to the Agence France Presse, Russia banned the German carrier from flying through Russia airspace en route to Kazakhstan earlier this week after an earlier flyover permit expired. The wire service said that re-routing Asian-bound planes to avoid Russia was sharply increasing Lufthansa's fuel costs. The Germans may be able to save a little bit of face in the deal. Germany's transport minister said the deal was predicated on Russia creating an infrastructure at Krasnoyarsk airport to permit planes to land and take off in any weather. Apparently the Siberian field now lacks equipment for foggy landings.

Most Russian people follow the Russian Orthodox faith, but there are some Catholics and this week, they got a new archbishop. The Vatican named Paolo Pezzi to succeed Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who has been transferred to Belarus. According to Kommersant, Rev. Pezzi has been the rector of Mary The Queen of Apostles seminary in St. Petersburg.

As I noted in an earlier post today, Russian dance pioneer Igor Moiseyev died on Friday at 101. Russia also this week lost Alexander Feklisov, who was the KGB agent appointed to work with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The United States executed the Rosenbergs in 1953 for atomic espionage. Feklisov was 93.

Image credit: Morguefile.com