President Dmitry Medvedev is in France, where Nicolas Sarkozy urged him to follow through with his reform program and root out corruption ‘out of respect for your own promises‘, saying that the two countries have similar objectives.  Medvedev’s delegation is signing agreements in energy and transport.  Talks in France also touched on Iran sanctions, with Medvedev still hoping to avoid punitive measures.  Reports are now emerging that Kaliningrad held a 5,000-strong rally in Chernyakhovsk on Monday demanding improvements in social services – a smaller gathering than anticipated, apparently due to misinformation and threats from businesses for employees not to attend.  Dmitry Rogozin clears up the matter of the Kremlin referring to its ‘privileged interests‘ in the post-Soviet space.  Russia is famously wary of NATO’s expansion, but improved relations between the two are still a concern for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.