TODAY: EU report warns of conflict with Russia over energy resources; Putin warns that Western relations with Russia will be no easier under Medvedev. The next president is already the subject of popular Russian jokes – Kasparov says power sharing will lead to disaster. Russia to abolish visas for Serbia. A report from the EU’s top two foreign policy officials to the heads of government gathering in Brussels this week says European governments should plan for an era of conflict over energy resources, with global warming likely to trigger a contest between Russia and the west for the mineral riches of the Arctic. “Although Medvedev has been elected president, still all the levers of power — including the people in the upper echelons of power — are the people whom Putin has chosen for the top positions.” Medvedev is “already the brunt of jokes” in Russia about power sharing. Opposition leader Garry Kasparov says that future crises in Russia will divide Medvedev from Putin. “Trying to keep power in two spots, one in Kremlin, one in the Russian white house where the prime minister is located, will eventually fail,” he said. “I don’t think that 2008 and 2009 will be good years.” The widow of Alexander Litvinenko has made a public appeal to Medvedev to extradite Andrei Lugovoi to face trial.