MOSCOW, Russia – U.S. President Barack Obama is heading for Moscow for this week's summit with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. Discussions on arms talks, Iran, the Mideast and North Korea will all be on the agenda. Summit watchers also believe there could be the emergence of new issues including climate change and energy efficiency.

A wooden doll depicts the leaders of Russia and the United States ahead of this week’s summit.

What's more, the Obama administration says it has bigger plans for the relationship with Russia: it wants to go beyond government-to-government ties.

Touching on one of the president's bedrock themes, Obama administration officials say they want to establish a multi-faceted relationship with different parts of Russian society, Running concurrently with the summit will be what they are calling a "parallel business summit" and a "parallel civil society summit."

Some Russia experts think the Kremlin is not happy about this - but it hasn't tried to limit those meetings. Some U.S. officials aren't completely ruling out the possibility that Medvedev might show up at the sessions along with Obama.

Obama will also give an interview to the opposition newspaper "Novaya Gazeta," the publication for which murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya worked. And he will meet with opposition politicians, including Gary Kasparov and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.

But don't look for Obama to take a page from Bush and rake Russia over the coals for its human rights record. Obama, aides say, is intent on explaining what American's interests are, not in preaching to Russia about what it should do. Experts say he's more likely to talk about human rights issues both countries face, like illegal migration and civil rights in the context of terrorism.

U.S.-Russian relations slid toward the abyss during President George W. Bush's second term over issues such as Iran, independence for Kosovo, the Russian assault on the former Soviet republic of Georgia and the missile defense system.

Critics complained there was no longer a structure to manage the relationship, similar to the Clinton-era Gore-Chernomyrdin commission. Now, Russia and the U.S. are expected to announce what’s being called a "joint intergovernmental commission," headed by Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia expert Robert Legvold says, to be effective, this commission must be led by people "with a direct ear to the presidents” and with the "authority to crack heads."

 Former Russian President Vladimir Putin is now Prime Minister and protocol does not require a meeting with him - but Tuesday morning Obama and his wife Michelle will drive out to Putin's residence for breakfast. Most Russian and U.S. experts believe it is Putin still who calls the shots in Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. Russians call it "tandem" leadership.

Just before the summit Obama took a swipe at Putin, telling the Associated Press the Prime Minister has "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new." Putin, well-known for his expert moves in political judo, replied: "We don't know how to stand so awkwardly with our legs apart... We stand solidly on our own two feet and always look into the future."

In the media, we often like to evaluate summit success on "who out-manoeuvred whom" or who was tougher, who didn't "cave." But the biggest threat to success at this summit is not likely to be the political arm-wrestling between the two leaders. That’s all part of the game.

The real threat could be the forces behind the scenes, some in the United States, many more in Moscow, who feel threatened by improving relations, who are more comfortable with confrontation, who see any "win" by the other side as a defeat for their own – what politicians call the "zero-sum" mentality.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Arriving in Bratislava on a cold winter’s morning, it’s hard to tell that the country is in a state of emergency about its gas supplies.

The soviet-era apartment blocks still get heating from large, communal boilers. People walk the streets unconcerned. No-one seems to be stockpiling electric heaters or wood-fired stoves.

“It doesn’t really affect me,” said one school teacher. “My school still gets heat. The kids are fine. If they start cutting the heat to my classes, then I’ll start to worry.”

The only sign of crisis is the shuttered factories. Slovakia is suspending hundreds of factories to make sure homes are heated instead. Car production centers like Peugeot and Kia stand idle.

With its gas reserves quickly depleting, Slovakia is negotiating a delicate balancing act. Rationing what’s left of their gas reserves on the one hand, desperately trying to secure alternative supplies on the other.

As a last resort, Slovakia has its own nuclear power. The reactors at the soviet-era Jaslovske Bohunice plant were shut down as one of the conditions for Slovakia’s entry into the European Union. But government officials have threatened to turn them back on, if an immediate solution isn’t found.

Amazingly, almost everyone we talk to about the problem seems quite nonchalant. And, in a way, they’ve been dealing with this problem for years. Russia vs. Ukraine is becoming an annual grudge match every winter.

Former soviet-states like Slovakia, still remember the days when Russia was a domineering presence in every aspect of life. So, Russian demands aren’t exactly news to Slovaks.

Some here complain that Ukraine bears just as much responsibility this time around. “They’re thinking only of themselves” sniffed one woman waiting for a bus on a frozen village street.

And there is also some frustration with the EU. Slovakia is one of the newest nations to join. In fact, the country just switched in January to exclusive use of the euro currency. Many we spoke to are happy to be in the EU, but they also wonder aloud what kind of leverage the EU really has when it comes to Russia.

On the snowy streets of Bratislava, it seems many are simply resigned to the fact that when Russia bickers with its neighbors, smaller countries like Slovakia will suffer the consequences.

Ukraine and Russia's natural gas dispute is sending Cold War chills throughout Europe. Eighteen countries are at its mercy in the middle of bone chilling winter weather. That's because most of Europe gets about 40 percent of its gas supplies from Russia. More than 80 percent of that is shipped through Ukraine's pipelines.

Among the worst hurt: Bulgaria. Quick disclosure here, my family and friends in Bulgaria are shivering, bundled up in cool apartments, taking lukewarm showers in the bitter chill of winter, wondering if the next day they'll be completely left out in the cold. Bulgaria, like many other states in the region, is resource poor and heavily dependent on Russia for its energy needs.

Moscow stopped shipments to Ukraine on January 1st over a price dispute. A few days later, it turned off the tap to Europe. It said it had no choice - Kiev was stealing some of Europe's gas. Kiev denied that, saying Russia isn't paying enough for using the pipeline. Russia says it wants to bring Ukraine's discounted rates in line with the market prices it charges others. How did Ukraine get a special rate? Well, it goes back to the Cold War when Russia and Ukraine were in a marriage of sorts as part of the Soviet Union.

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990's, Ukraine divorced Russia and became an independent state. And now it's found a new suitor - the West. It's courting NATO and the E.U. And Russia is not happy about it. Having its former partner with NATO and the European Union is the last thing it wants on its border. Then there's the couple's shared Soviet-era property.

One of the biggest issues is a Russian gift Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev gave to Ukraine in 1954 - the strategic Crimean peninsula. The mostly Russian-speaking Crimea houses the Russian naval fleet, giving Moscow a strategic foothold on the Black Sea. But Ukraine's president is threatening to cut Russia off when its lease expires in 2017. And who gets custody of Crimeans is a problem. Most of the people there want to stay with Russia, not Ukraine.

And now its new suitor, the E.U. is losing its patience with Kiev for not working things out with its ‘ex’. So the divorce festers on. But it's the dependents that suffer the most, as in most divorces.

MOSCOW, Russia - At 7 a.m. Wednesday in Moscow, a crowd of faces weary from staying up all night erupted in yells of joy. U.S. Senator Barack Obama would be called President-elect Obama from that point on, and at the American-themed Starlite diner that shares a square with a giant Lenin statue, Russians and expats celebrated together.

Many Russians have high hopes for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

"It's a great opportunity for the world. It's a great opportunity for Russia to have such a president," said a woman named Katya. "It's an emotional event. I think the whole world will come together and I think it's unbelievably great for Russian people."

Katya shares many Russian's views. Independent polls show far more Russians hoped Obama would win. Russians at Starlite and Russians on the street say they believe Obama won't be as "aggressive" as George W. Bush has been as U.S. president, and McCain might have been.

Still, as another excited Muscovite told me early morning, "Maybe McCain would be easier for Russians to understand as he is also a kind of hardliner."

Though many want the change Obama promises, years of authoritarian rule have become familiar to those who live here. And just hours after many got the news they wished for, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave them the harsh rhetoric they could have expected.

Seemingly timed to coincide with the U.S. election results, in his first "State of the Nation Address," instead of congratulating Obama, President Medvedev blamed America for starting the global financial crisis, the war in Georgia, and for pressuring Moscow over a missile defense system outside its borders.

Though Medvedev later sent a "congratulatory" telegram to the president-elect, mixed messages from the Kremlin continue providing a sense that though many here yearn for a fresh start, perhaps those in charge just don't know how, or simply don't agree.