TODAY: Obama not yet committed to missile defense plan, giving Kremlin hope of more flexible relationship; Medvedev and Obama speak; Kremlin to all but ignore Bush administration; Russia to soften trade measures to smooth path to WTO; Russia and Venezuela form development bank; OSCE monitors blame Georgia; Communist marches, anti-corruption, presidential pardons. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has voiced his optimism on foreign policy relations under Barack Obama, amidst news that Dmitry Medvedev and the new president-elect held an amicable telephone conversation over the weekend. The Russian government reportedly believes that the new US administration could be persuaded to abandon plans to station a missile defense shield in Poland, and reports indicate that Obama has not given Poland a definitive answer on the shield. Despite a meeting between Lavrov and Condoleezza Rice over the weekend, the Moscow Times reports that the Kremlin will bring US relations ‘to a virtual standstill’ until the new president moves into his role. Russia is still keen to get its World Trade Organization membership, and will reconsider its ‘potentially contentious’ trade decisions with the EU as a means of speeding up the process, according to the Kremlin’s economic adviser. Poland and Lithuania have acknowledged that they cannot block the reopening of talks between Russia and the EU, although a senior Lithuanian diplomat said that talks would go ahead without his country’s approval.