TODAY: Kremlin continues to ignore Bush administration, Medvedev optimistic on relations under Obama; US to support Ukraine’s NATO bid at meeting; Russia wants EU inquiry into OSCE accounts of outbreak of war in Georgia; population to drop by 34 million by 2050. The Kremlin is continuing to reject proposals from the US Bush administration on its planned missile defense shield, insisting that it will try to resolve the dispute once Barack Obama takes office. In a televised interview, Dmitry Medvedev announced that he had high hopes for US-Russia relations under President-elect Obama, and reiterated his statement that Russia would abandon plans to deploy missiles near the Polish border if the US abandoned its own missile defense plans in the region. The Pentagon General in charge of missile defense is anxious that the US keep to its plan. Meanwhile US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is planning to show support for Ukrainian membership at today’s NATO meeting. Despite his insistence that NATO expansion is not a threat to Russia, US support for Ukraine is likely to further sour relations.