Financial crisis shakes the Kremlin

BERLIN: President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia was supposed to have given his first State of the Union address a week ago.

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It was long overdue and eagerly awaited, especially since Medvedev had been making the rounds of several European cities since taking office last May to tout Russia's new foreign policy. In Berlin and in the French city of Évian, Medvedev had set out his proposals for a new European security system. Part of the context was NATO's plans to expand further eastward, eventually admitting Georgia and Ukraine, and the Pentagon's decision to deploy part of its anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe. Medvedev made it clear that the Kremlin opposed both developments.

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