RUSSIA

From Wire Reports Stephen Castle, The New York Times KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia – The food was nouvelle cuisine, the wine was French and the coffee was served on a terrace with a spectacular view of the Siberian countryside. At his first summit meeting with the European Union, the new Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, dispensed with the aggressive rhetoric of his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, and tried a new tactic on the Europeans: being nice to them. Six hours by plane from Brussels, Belgium, and in the heart of Russia's oil-producing region, the EU and Russia recently opened long-awaited negotiations on a new partnership agreement, saying that a "new page" had been turned in their fractious dealings. From the moment the top European Union officials met with their Russian counterparts at a dinner before the formal... [read full story]