TODAY: Obama says trade comes with rule of law; criticizes Russia’s idea of being neighborly; Russians indifferent to the visit?; ‘less than what we wanted’ say opposition leaders; Klebnikov case to be reinvestigated

In Obama’s speech to students at the New Economic School, he referred to his ‘excellent discussions‘ with Russia’s leaders, but also told Russia, ‘the days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over’ and that ‘state sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order’.  A move unlikely to prove popular with the Kremlin, as the Guardian suggests: ‘Russians bristle at Obama’s suggestion that the idea of “spheres of influence” is a 19th-century oddity‘.  Why was Georgia not a priority discussion during Obama’s visit? wonders Yulia Latynina.  ‘Medvedev and Putin will always support regimes that are antagonistic to Washington for one simple reason: to increase international tensions, drive up oil prices and give the Kremlin another chance to bask in its inflated self-image as a global energy superpower’.