Rows cloud start of EU-Russia summit

VOLSZHSKY UTYOS, Russia, May 18 (Reuters) Russian and European Union leaders began a difficult summit today clouded by rows over Kosovo, Polish meat and Estonia's treatment of its Soviet past.

Further souring the atmosphere, Russian opposition leader and chess champion Garry Kasparov was prevented from boarding a flight today from Moscow to the city of Samara near the summit, where he hoped to lead a protest.

''We are at a moment when there are some critical issues,'' EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters as she arrived for the meeting at the resort of Volszhsky Utyos.

''Russia is also in a pre-election moment and so more nationalistic feelings are coming up. At the same time, we have questions that have to be solved in a constructive spirit.'' Kasparov had hoped to take part in an anti-government protest march in the regional capital of Samara but was told on arrival at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport that the computer system was unable to give him a ticket.

Blaming Kremlin orders for his inability to board the flight, Kasparov angrily told reporters that ''Putin's place is with (Zimbabwean president Robert) Mugabe and (Belarus leader Alexander) Lukashenko''.

Asked about Kasparov's problems boarding the flight, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied government involvement and said the issue would not cloud the summit. ''We have a rich agenda,'' he told reporters at Volszhsky Utyos.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin were likely to end the one-day meeting on the banks of the Volga river without starting talks on an EU-Russian partnership treaty -- a cornerstone for future relations. Poland is blocking it as part of a trade row with Moscow.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, told reporters there might be an agreement on an early warning system to alert European nations to problems with Russian oil and gas pipelines.

''You need to take a long-term perspective and not focus only on short-term problems, and we are going to stay in an intensive dialogue with Russia,'' he said.

Merkel met Putin and other officials for a pre-summit dinner at the Volszhsky Utyos holiday resort, about 70 km (40 miles) from Samara, on Thursday night.

Ferrero-Waldner said she was told the atmosphere at the dinner was ''very good'' and that discussion had included ways of resolving the Polish meat ban and other international issues.

Russian media were less diplomatic.

''As for what Russia is thinking ... do they (Europe) continue to buy oil and gas?,'' asked an article in the business daily Vedemosti. ''Yes, they do, which is the most important thing. As to the Polish meat, let them eat it themselves.'' Moskovskiye Novosti said Russia was ''unperturbed'' by the problems with the EU. ''Hysterical Poland is the EU's problem'', it said. ''As it puts up insurmountable barriers in the way of framework documents between Russia and the EU, Warsaw is doing a disservice to the EU itself first and foremost.'' The row with Estonia, which started when the Baltic state moved a Soviet-era war memorial from the centre of its capital, continued to simmer. The Kremlin has denied claims it was waging a ''cyber war'' to disable Estonia's Internet infrastructure.

That dispute, and the one with Poland, highlight the difficulty for Brussels of balancing good ties with the Kremlin and the need to appease newer EU members in eastern Europe which, for historical reasons, view Russia with suspicion.

Russian and EU officials stress that economic ties are thriving: trade is growing rapidly, Russia is the EU's biggest energy supplier and officials are working on deals to cooperate in science and high technology.

REUTERS RN PM1340