Russian President Dmitry Medvedev just got back from an EU-Russia summit where he changed the rhetorical tact used by Prime Minister and former President Putin in the past.  Essentially, as this article mentions, Medvedev appears to be far less bellicose and, as it relates to EU-American relations, may be shrewder than Putin.

While Putin's harsh rhetoric helped Russia puff out its chest and begin to feel a pride that it had previously lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union, such talk is not as needed now that Russia is swimming in oil and has all the diplomatic leverage that bestows upon them.  Now, it seems Medvedev is seeking to drive subtle, yet detectable wedged between the Europeans and America by not only continuing the criticism of missle defense in Poland and the Czech Republic, but by slyly criticizing America's role in global economic woes.  He directly attacked the entire notion of a special "Atlanticism."  That notion of tran-Atlantic comity was the basis for the Cold War alliances between America and Europe including the creation of NATO. 

It would seem Medvedev will use gas and subtlety to coerce and seduce his interlocutors as opposed to simply attempting domination.  Perhaps, the marriage between him and Putin will be more fruitful than imagined.