According to the Moscow Times, Hillary Clinton received a ‘cool welcome’ from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the crucial issue of sanctions on Iran, with Russia still resisting.  Clinton apparently ‘brave-faced‘ it, saying, ‘we did not ask for anything today. We reviewed the situation’, and added ‘Russia has been extremely co-operative in the work we have done together’.  Reports have circulated that the US agreed to not publicly criticize Russia’s democratic shortcomings in return for cooperation on Iran.  Julian Borger in the Guardian analyzes the likelihood of this.  According to the Times, Clinton assured human rights advocates that they would continue to receive support from the US.  Reuters reports that she mentioned the slaying of journalists in her meetings with both Lavrov and Medvedev.  An ambiguous approach is how Russia manages to throw its less-than-hefty weight around, suggests an analysis in the Washington Post.