our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, says mr. putin will be keen to talk about issues other than syria. >> there are lots of issues that the e.u. and russia need to discuss at this summit, and it's only a very short meeting. there are international issues like syria and like iran, but bilateral issues, too, like visas and energy corporation. i think it is one issue that the russians will be keen to bring up today. it will be the question of visa-free travel in europe. this is something which concerns mr. putin a lot. it's in the papers today in russia. and moscow feels that brussels has been dragging its heels over introducing visa-free travel in europe, getting rid of visa restrictions for russians traveling to europe. and mr. putin already today has said that without the removal of visa barriers there cannot be genuine partnership between russia and the european union. >> and steve, immediately after his swearing-in for this third term in office as president of russia, he chose not to go to the g-8 summit in person. what does t

the bbc's steve rosenberg joined me earlier from moscow. >> it's been clear the party of power in russia has wanted to push this legislation through as quickly as possible. it passed the lower house of parliament yesterday. it passed the upper house of parliament today. as you say, it's now up to president putin to decide whether he signs it into law or vetoes it. we saw extraordinary scenes, though, yesterday in the duma, the lower house of parliament, because opposition m.p.'s did their best to drag out the debate and delay a vote on the legislation by submitting nearly 400 amendments to the law in protest. each one of these amendments had to be discussed and voted on. the discussions ended just before midnight moscow time, a kind of scene we haven't seen for many years in russia. we're used to thinking of the duma as a rubber stamp parliament, but that wasn't the case yesterday. >> steve, what sort of difference do you think this law is likely to make? i do understand that the fines attached to unauthorized protests will rise sharply, but it's not -- i mean, what is it? something like