RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Oct 29, 2008

TODAY: EU to resume Russia discussions; Britain ready to open relations with Russia once again; Russian passports in Ukraine?; Medvedev responds to US sanctions. The result of an EU delegation meeting with Russian foreign ministers is that the EU will discuss options for resuming partnership talks with Moscow when it meets for a summit in Nice next month. It is ‘inevitable’ that negotiations will resume, says French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner. Kouchner has also been quoted this week as saying, ‘We all know that they are handing out Russian passports’ in Ukraine’s Crimea region. The UK is ready to ‘re-engage’ with Russia, according to Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, who is in Russia resurrecting the Russian-British Steering Committee on Trade and Investment, which hasn’t met since 2002. President Dmitry Medvedev’s reaction to US sanctions for Rosboronexport is either sharply critical or blasé, depending on who you read. Medvedev has still not made his first state-of-the-nation address.

Two ultranationalist groups have been denied permission to march on November 4th – due to an already high number of rallies planned for the same day. Is Daria Zhukova going to give her new art space back to the Federation of Jewish Communities?PHOTO: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev greets Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and members of the Chinese delegation during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Sergei Chirikov, Pool)