Matthew Chance
CNN Senior International Correspondent, Moscow

A simple congratulations would have been sufficient. It was enough for the Chinese president, the British prime minister, the German chancellor. But the Kremlin just couldn’t resist.

In his first state of the nation speech — timed to coincide with the US presidential election result — Russia’s own youthful president launched what can only be described as a scathing attack on American policy.

Dmitry Medvedev blamed Washington for the global financial crisis, the recent war in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and for provoking Moscow over missile defense in eastern Europe.

None of it was particularly new (though the announcement that short range missiles would be deployed in a Russian enclave in europe was a little disturbing), but the timing of this latest tirade was, at the very least, provocative.

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Matthew Chance
CNN Senior International Correspondent

It’s like a flashback to the old days of the cold war, isn’t it? Russian nuclear warships probing U.S. naval defenses, anti-submarine aircraft being deployed by the Kremlin in a country vehemently opposed to Washington, in this case the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez.

Of course, Moscow says it’s announcement of naval exercises with Caracas is in no way related to the escalating tensions with the U.S. over Russia’s invasion of the former soviet state of Georgia last month, a U.S. ally and enthusiastic NATO-wannabe. But does anyone really believe that?

What I do know is that Russians see this as a totally legitimate answer to the appearance of U.S. ships in the Black Sea to deliver aid to war ravaged Georgia (many Russians are convinced the aid deliveries are a cover to rearm the tiny country).

Oddly enough, I was chatting to Vladimir Putin about this very issue the other day.
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In an exclusive CNN interview with CNN's Matthew Chance, Russian PM Vladimir Putin claims a U.S. role in the Georgia conflict.

Matthew Chance
CNN Senior International Correspondent, Moscow

Something strange and unexpected is happening in Russia. In the aftermath of the war in across the border in Georgia, I am suddenly being granted access to the country’s leadership. Remember, this is nation where Western journalists are barely given the time of day by the Kremlin. That is until now.

The call to interview Russian president Dmitry Medvedev came on Tuesday afternoon, out of the blue (although we of course have long standing requests in for a meeting). By Wednesday morning, we were on a two hour flight from Moscow to the Black Sea city of Sochi, with an appointment to have a sit down, one-on-one, interview. We have never interviewed Medvedev since he was elected in March, so we jumped at the chance.

We were corralled into the Sochi press centre, told we had 4 hours to setup our gear, and would be granted 7 minutes of the president’s time. As I struggled to decide which questions I should ask in such a short window, Medvedev appeared on Russian state television, somberly announcing his unexpected decision to recognize as independent states the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – obscure territories which swept to prominence earlier this month when Russian and Georgia went to war over them.

Minutes later, Medvedev was sitting in front of me, explaining why he had recognized them in the face of international, in particular American, opposition.

Ok, good days work. But there was more: the phone rang and on the end of the line was Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s press flak. The main man, Prime Minister Putin, wanted to give us an exclusive. A full length, sit down interview.

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