TODAY: Diplomats positive on Obama trip, analysts more sceptical on progress; Medvedev hits G8 summit.  Opposition discuss their meeting with Obama; Abkazhia accuses Georgia of spying

A high-level Russian diplomat has called the meeting between Presidents Obama and Medvedev ‘groundbreaking’.  According to the New York Times, White House aides have agreed that whilst challenges remain, ‘the progress eclipsed that of any Russian-American summit meeting in decades’.  Analysts and journalists appear to be less convinced.  An article in the Moscow Times is skeptical about the depth of the agreements – all of which are ‘non-binding’, and the fact that areas of disagreement, such as Ukraine and Georgia, remain as prominent as ever.  ‘The missile defense issue and Iran should not be mixed, no matter how the Americans insist on this‘, says the head of the international affairs committee of the lower house of the State Duma.  ‘During the Soviet period, Moscow’s negotiators would have been fired on the spot for even proposing these terms’ – an op-ed commentator considers why the START replacement negotiations were surprising, or perhaps just insincere.