Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had a brainwave on how to avoid Russia’s interference into presidential elections in Georgia.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Europeans Divide Vladimir Putin
// Finnish Prime Minister will ask him about human rights, and European Commission head – about energy
European politicians criticized Putin over dinner
Finnish town of Lahti hosted an informal dinner between Russian President Vladimir Putin and EU state leaders. European politicians promised to try to spoil Putin’s appetite by their unpleasant questions.
Leaders of 25 EU countries, representatives of Bulgaria and Romania (the 2 states will soon join the EU), chiefs of the European Commission and the European Parliament gathered in Sibelius’ palace in Lahti to discuss their relations with Russia.
European leaders are not united in their attitude to Russia. Old Europe (Germany and France, first of all) have quite close ties to Moscow, and are not very strict to it. However, even they try to be stricter recently, insisting that Russia ratify the energy charter. On the contrary, East Europe countries (“new Europe”) demand to discuss the conflict with Georgia, the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the re-registration of NGOs, and energy.
Each of the 25 European leaders will not be able to talk to Putin, thus it is necessary to choose 1 representative. Yet, 2 reps were chosen: European Commission chairman José Manuel Durão Barroso, and Finland’s Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. Moreover, they divided questions between them. Vanhanen will ask most unpleasant questions – about human rights, situation of Georgians in Russia, and Politkovskaya probe. Barroso is responsible for energy talks.
Russian delegation is firm and resolute as well, saying that Putin is ready to discuss any issues, be it Georgia or Anna Politkovskaya’s murder. It is also claimed that Russia will not give in on its stand on energy issues, and will not ratify the energy charter and the transit protocol in their current condition.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 21, 2006
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