CEOs use Obama visit to press Russia on rule of law

By Dmitry Zhdannikov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - 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.

But industry sources say they see little hope of major changes coming out of the summit, which will be held alongside a meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.

"It looks like the Kremlin doesn't really want this discussion and Russian business is not very keen either," said one industry source.

Russia's trade with the United States was worth just $36 billion in 2008 -- the same amount as with Poland -- and Americans rank only 10th on a list of direct investors.

U.S. businessmen say corruption, a weak rule of law and the bad experiences of some companies in Russia deter both trade and investment.

"Stability and sanctity of contracts -- this is what worries us, given what happened to some Western firms in Russia," said an industry source with a major U.S. firm.

Medvedev, like his predecessor and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has promised to crack down on corruption.