TODAY: Russia and NATO hold first military talks since Georgia incursion; differences remain; OSCE skeptical about security proposals; issues emerge for imminent Obama visit; the Romanovs returnNATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said that Russia and NATO have resumed cooperation on broad security threats, but 'on Georgia, there are still fundamental differences'.  Fears of an incursion in Georgia are building as Russia begins its Caucasus 2009 war games.  According to the Washington Post, the military exercises are 'a reminder of the volatility of the region'.  Russia's attitude to Georgia has been met with sharp criticism from Western leaders.  At a ministerial meeting of the OSCE, opinion was unconvinced about Moscow's ...

On this blog we have followed very carefully the ups and downs of the clan wars, which has pitted a group of hardline siloviki led by Igor Sechin against another a collection of other groups within the Kremlin power structure. Earlier this fall, the economic crisis appeared to prompt some interesting movements from within this confusing internecine struggle, as a Moscow court suddenly relented and decided to release of former deputy finance minister Sergei Storchak, who is generally seen as finance minister Alexei Kudrin's #2 man. Whether or not this meant that Kudrin's stock vis-à-vis Sechin was rising or falling, or whether the release of this clan war hostage meant that certain bailouts from the federal piggy bank would end up destined for friends of Sechin's choosing, is difficult to say for sure. But what we do know is that ...