EU, Russia enter Medvedev era with tricky summit

(BRUSSELS) - EU leaders will hold a summit Thursday for the first time with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to launch talks on a new strategic partnership, including sensitive subjects like energy and Georgia.

Ahead of the first summit with the successor to Vladimir Putin, during whose term EU-Russia ties sharply deteriorated, the European Commission hopes to build "the foundation for a more constructive and forward-looking relationship."

The European Union's executive arm said it was "encouraged" by the declarations of the new Russian president, who took over from Putin last month.

"The signs are very positive, on modernisation of the economy, reduced state control... the importance of media freedom and the role of civil society," the commission said.

Moscow's EU ambassador, Vladimir Chizhov, also spoke of "opening a new chapter in the relationship between Russia and the EU," to be represented by commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa as EU president and foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

In the past, Chizhov said, "there's been the feeling that EU-Russia relations have stumbled upon a set of obstacles. There have been misperceptions on both sides."

With a thaw in relations emerging, a Kremlin official was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Russia and the EU could complete the new partnership accord in a year if negotiations go smoothly.

"If everything is okay on their side, if the positions aren't hampered by unnecessarily politicised issues, if they think about how a strategic partnership with Russia increases their own potential, then a goal can be set of one calendar year," the unnamed source was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

Even when there is a deal it will have to be ratified in all 27 EU nations before it can replace the existing partnership accord, dating from 1997 and negotiated by an enfeebled Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Since then, Putin has restored Russian confidence, thanks in no small measure to its enormous oil and gas reserves.

Aware that the Europeans are concerned about their overdependence on Russian energy, Putin chose Khanty-Mansiysk in western Serbia, dubbed the "Russian Kuwait" because of its huge oil reserves, to host the meeting.

The Europeans also want access to the Russian oil sector, seeking to invest in production and urging Moscow to respect transparency and reciprocity on investments.

Russia wants to maintain its hold on oil fields and infrastructure but also wants monopoly Gazprom to diversify into the European distribution sector.

To add spice to the talks, some ex-communist EU nations, such as Lithuania and Poland, accuse Moscow of using its vast energy reserves as a tool to pressure Europe.

Others, like Germany and Italy, would prefer to deal bilaterally with Moscow than in a bloc.

Another difficult subject is the conflict with former Soviet republic Georgia and its breakaway republic Abkhazia.

Sabre-rattling between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia has grown stronger since April when Moscow said it would establish formal ties with the separatist government.

Russian soldiers are deployed in Abkhazia as part of a ceasefire deal signed after the separatist war and Moscow has recently sent in hundreds of extra peacekeeping troops, saying that Tbilisi was preparing an assault.

The EU will look to calm things down, with Solana encouraging a resumption of talks between the Georgians and the Abkhazians, while stressing that no decision will be taken without Russia.

There are no signs of rapprochement over the question of Kosovo.

Moscow, like Belgrade, strongly opposes its self-proclaimed independence from Serbia and deems a planned European police and justice mission there to be illegal.

And as if all that was not enough, a new food dispute has arisen.

Russia recently lifted a ban on Polish meat but is now barring chicken and pork imports from 70 European companies because they contain traces of antibiotics.

The EU-Russian Federation Summit