US Election: Matt Romney travels to Russia The Republican presidential contender has been fiercely critical of President Barack Obama's handling of the US-Russian relationship, accusing him of caving into Russian pressure on an a missile defence system in eastern Europe and of allowing the Kremlin to prevent meaningful action in Syria. Earlier this year Mr Obama was caught on microphone telling Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's Prime Minister, that he could offer Mr Putin "more flexibility" after the election. "I'm certainly not going to say to him: "I'll give you more flexibility after the election,"" Mr Romney said during one of the presidential debates. After the election he'll get more backbone. Matt Romney, like his father, is a graduate of Harvard Business School and worked for Microsoft and Polaroid before joining Excel Trust, which focuses on developing shopping centres. The Romney campaign declined to comment on the trip.