Slim hopes for EU-Russia summit

Russia and the EU have started their talks at a summit meeting in the Siberian city of Khabarovsk. Wacław Radziwinowicz doubts in the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza that the semi-annual meeting will bring any major changes to bilateral relations between the two: "The [Russian] hosts have chosen the city of Khabarovsk, a nine-hour flight from Moscow, as summit venue, to give the Europeans a feel for 'Russia's grandeur'. ... New problems have been added to the traditional ones to be addressed at the meeting ... such as the repercussions of the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine in January, or the most recent street protests in the Moldovan capital Chişinău. Moscow has accused the EU member state Romania of provoking these protests. And Abkhazia and South Ossetia also remain bones of contention, where the Russians are in the process of building up their military bases regardless of the fact that the Union considers these regions to be Georgian provinces."

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