EU, Russia prepare for summit under cloud

Luxembourg, Apr 23: The European Union, eager to ease concern over future energy supplies, will hold talks with Russia today about a May summit, after failing to solve a trade dispute that is preventing closer ties.

Setting a grim tone before EU foreign ministers meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said trust between the bloc and its main energy supplier was its at its lowest point since the Cold War.

The EU side is keen to use the May 18 summit to reinvigorate the relationship by launching talks on a broad new pact covering energy, trade, economic cooperation and human rights.

But EU-member Poland has blocked the talks because of a 16-month-old Russian ban on the import of Polish meat.

After Brussels and Moscow failed to resolve the dispute at a meeting this weekend, EU officials said it was unlikely it would be settled quickly enough to launch the talks before the summit.

''We had hoped we had delivered everything necessary to get a solution,'' said an EU official. ''Obviously, there's still a problem.'' Russia says it is concerned that contaminated meat from countries on its banned list could reach its borders through Poland. Poland says the ban is politically motivated.

EU countries, reliant on Russian gas and oil, fear Russia is using its vast energy resources as a political weapon and have criticised Moscow for shutting off supplies of oil and gas during disputes with transit countries like Ukraine.

While the two sides have cooperated on world issues such as West Asia peace and containing Iran's nuclear programme, friction stems from what Moscow sees as the EU's encroachment into its former spheres of influence.

EU leaders have also angered Moscow with their concern over unexplained murders of dissidents and journalists critical of the Kremlin and police conduct during anti-government protests.

The two sides are at odds over the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, with the European Union backing a UN plan for its independence, while Russia a veto-holding member of the UN Security Council says any plan must have the support of Serbia, bitterly opposed to Kosovo's independence.

Brussels sees Russia's support of Serbia as frustrating to its strategy for stability in the Balkans.

Moscow, meanwhile, has been upset by US plans to put an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, former Soviet bloc states that are now EU and NATO members.

In a cautionary speech on Friday, Mandelson urged both sides to take a long-term view. He said while Europe needed guarantees Russia would not cut off energy supplies, it needed to understand Russia's perception of EU encroachment.

''Unless we recognise our different perceptions of what has happened since the end of the Soviet Union we risk getting the EU-Russia relationship badly wrong,'' he said.

Reuters