Seems that “stability” message coming out of Davos has sold fairly well to the American delegates, who have announced that Congress may vote on Russia’s trade relations this year (see story after jump). In other news, Garry Kasparov takes a moment to pose a question to the U.S. presidential candidates:

“The last opposition candidate for the March 2 Russian elections has just been forced out of the running by the Kremlin. President Putin’s handpicked successor Dmitry Medvedev has no competition. So-called engagement during the Bush years has only made the situation worse as Putin has turned my country into a police state. Hillary Clinton said recently that Putin “has no soul” and Mitt Romney referred to Putin as a dictator. John McCain has been outspoken in support of Russia’s democratic opposition. So the question is, will you pledge that as president you will work to remove un-democratic Russia from the G-8 league of great industrial democracies? Or will you continue to provide a dictator with democratic credentials?”

Actually the first thing the United States looks like they will decide is whether or not to approve Russia’s entrance into the WTO – a measure that I conditionally support.