VLADIMIR PUTIN

For once, the adoring crowds were absent as Barack Obama visited Russia this week.

President Barack Obama appealed to the Russian people on Tuesday to join the United States in overcoming past differences and building a prosperous democratic future free of corruption and the threat of nuclear war.

Visiting President Barack Obama and Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev agreed a target for cuts in nuclear arms and a deal to let U.S. troops fly across Russia at the start of a trip intended to mend strained ties.

President Barack Obama, opening a visit to Russia intended to mend strained relations, said on Monday he was confident of extraordinary progress if both sides worked hard together during his trip.

U.S. businessmen are expected to use a Russia-U.S. business summit on Tuesday to press Moscow to rein in corruption and improve conditions for western companies operating in the country.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday Washington and Moscow must set aside the power politics of the past and use a forthcoming summit to unite in tackling global economic and political problems.

Adoring fans have flocked to see him on visits around the world, but Barack Obama should expect a far cooler reception in Russia next week.

France's Total is ready to invite Russia's Gazprom to join its projects in Africa and elsewhere, the head of Total's Russia unit said on Thursday, a day after striking a major Russian gas deal. We are very open to discussing with a company like Gazprom to have developments abroad including, of course, in Africa, Pierre Nergararyan, general director of Total E&P Russie, told reporters on Thursday.

Total emerged as Russia's favoured energy partner on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inviting the French major to take part in some of its largest gas projects after meeting its chief executive.

The heads of French oil major Total and Russia's second biggest gas producer, Novatek, will meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, which may be a precursor to a deal between the two.

The presidents of Russia and China on Wednesday called for a diplomatic push to resolve tensions over the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea after wide-ranging talks in Moscow.

Russia threw its 16-year bid to join the World Trade Organization into jeopardy on Tuesday when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Moscow would only join the trade body in partnership with two former Soviet republics.

The German government will likely settle on a preferred bidder for Opel, the German unit of General Motors, by the middle of the week, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said on Monday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev challenged EU leaders at a summit on Friday to help Ukraine pay its gas bills in order to prevent disruption of Russian supplies to Europe.

Norilsk Nickel Chairman Alexander Voloshin said on Tuesday it would make sense for the world's largest nickel miner to merge with other Russian metals companies after the financial crisis is over.

Europe has squandered the opportunity created by the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago for a new era of cooperation between East and West, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said on Wednesday.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili met opposition leaders on Monday after a month of street protests aimed at forcing him from power.

The German government is examining competing plans to invest in carmaker Opel and aims to decide by the end of the month whether to provide the firm with financing guarantees, a leading Social Democrat said.

Canadian-Austrian auto-parts maker Magna has asked Russia's GAZ to make a bid for a stake in General Motors' German carmaker unit, Opel, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said.

President Dmitry Medvedev sacked Russia's most powerful spymaster on Friday in a move that underscores strained ties with some of the military top brass over a Kremlin-backed reform of the armed forces.

Russia and Iraq have agreed to work on restoring contracts that they signed before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Russia's energy minister said after the two countries' prime ministers met on Friday.