The European Commission has put pressure on EU capitals to approve next week the resumption of talks on a new EU-Russia partnership treaty, put on ice due to Russia's military presence in Georgia.
"These negotiations should continue, first because this would allow the EU to pursue its own interests with Russia, and secondly because this is the best way to engage with Russia on the basis of a unified position," the commission stated on Wednesday (5 November).
Brussels says that the next negotiating sessions should be agreed as soon as Monday (10 November), when 27 EU foreign ministers gather for their regular monthly meeting.
The move cannot be seen as a gift to Russia, external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said, AFP reports. "This does not mean business as usual because we cannot accept the status quo in Georgia."
Talks on an EU-Russia strategic deal were postponed on 1 September until Russian troops withdraw from Georgia's territory to positions held before the short war over South Ossetia in August.
Some post-Communist countries such as Lithuania and Poland - strong allies of Georgia in the conflict - claim that Moscow has not lived up to its committment.
Russian troops have withdrawn from the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but they continue to operate in the Akhalgori district and the upper Kodori valley - zones inside the breakaway regions, but previously controlled by Georgian authorities. Russia is also building up troops inside the rebel-held zones and has refused to let OSCE monitors back into South Ossetia.
Earlier this week, Lithuanian and Polish presidents - Valdas Adamkus and Lech Kaczynski - issued a joint statement, expressing deep concern over the lack of will on the Russian side.
Russian threat
Meanwhile, Moscow has renewed its threat to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad - the Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland - in response to US plans to place components of a missile shield in central Europe.
"What we've had to deal with in the last few years - the construction of a global missile defence system, the encirclement of Russia by military blocs, unrestrained NATO enlargement ...The impression is we are being tested to the limit," Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Russian TV.
The Czech Republic has described the threat as "unfortunate," while Poland said it was "a new political step."
But the timing of Mr Medvedev's address suggests another message, coming just hours after US president-elect Barack Obama gave his victory speech and taking the European Commission by surprise after its recommendation.
The Russian move could be seen as an attempt to gain greater respect from the incoming US administration as well as to revive the EU's internal rift over the controversial project.
OBS: Artigo originalmente publicado com o título ‘Brussels seeks Russia talks amid missile threat‘
http://euobserver.com/9/27053
JPTF 2008/11/06
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