Something to pay attention to . . .

Russia set for stormy US, EU talks

Russia is set for stormy talks with the United States and the European Union this week as East-West relations sink toward Cold War levels over a series of disagreements ranging from US missile defence to human rights, analysts say.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. On Friday, EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin near the Volga River city of Samara.

In both cases, Western leaders are likely to encounter energy-rich Russia's increasingly combative stance — and return home with little to show.

"Neither the Rice talks nor the Samara meeting will bring any concrete steps to overcoming disagreements," said Yevgeny Volk, an analyst for the Heritage Foundation.

"It was only in the Cold War that relations were like this. It's like 20 years ago."

Topping Rice's agenda will be fierce Russian opposition to a US plan for deploying a limited anti-missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

She has little chance of making progress. Washington says the system is aimed at countries like Iran or North Korea, but Moscow sees a direct threat that could trigger a new arms race and has announced a freeze on a landmark Soviet-era arms limitation treaty.

Tension will also be high at the Russia-EU summit following an ugly row over a Soviet war memorial between Moscow and Estonia, a former Soviet republic that is now an EU and NATO military alliance member.

Hanging over both the US and EU meetings will be growing Western criticism of Putin's handling of political freedoms and human rights — a sensitive issue thrown into relief by plans for an opposition rally in Samara on the day of the EU summit.

Police have violently broken up several earlier protest marches by The Other Russia coalition, bringing condemnation from Western governments.

On Friday, a spokesman for Merkel, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, urged Russia to authorize the Samara protest, saying: "We start from the principle that critical voices should be able to be expressed."

Ahead of her visit, Rice attacked what she called the "turning back" of freedoms in Russia under Putin and said "everybody around the world" was concerned.

Other bones of contention include constant delays in Russia's bid for membership of the World Trade Organisation, Russian opposition to independence for Serbia's Kosovo province, and a meat trade dispute with EU member Poland.

The Russia-EU meeting "will be the worst summit in history because there's actually nothing that can be achieved in Samara," said Fyodr Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. Prospects for Rice were "not much better."

Analysts said that much of the bad feeling is based on political manoeuvring rather than concrete problems.

"I think that Russia and the European Union tripped up on a step that should have led to better relations," said Mark Entin, professor at Moscow's European Studies Institute.

"The step is Russia becoming richer, faster, more confident. At the same time, the European Union is becoming bigger. This is not seen as an opportunity, but as a challenge. It's a problem of mentality."

Lukyanov also pointed to a "psychological" divide exacerbated by the run-up to presidential elections in the United States and Russia next year.

"The Russian leadership is completely preoccupied with power and they use foreign policy to strengthen their position," he said.

Original article posted here.