Russia won't swallow Obama's bitterest pill

Applause was polite for Barack Obama's sugar-laden speech, but Moscow hates to be lectured to about its 'near abroad'

Barack Obama ladled on the sugar before delivering the pill. He was lyrical on Russian contributions to the arts and sciences and its war-time suffering. Russia, he said, was a mighty river leaving its eternal mark on the global landscape.

Then the medication was drip-fed into the message. Firstly, Russia and the US should co-operate to contain Iran and North Korea's nuclear programme because arms races in the Middle East and east Asia were in nobody's interests.

That is more or less digestible in Moscow. The Russian government agrees wholeheartedly on that principle. They are alarmed. It is just the methods – and in particular the usefulness of sanctions – that are in dispute. More