Russia's demonstration of national power

"A few days before the biannual summit between the European Union and Russia on the 18th and 19th of May in Samara (on the banks of the Volga), tension is higher than it has ever been since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The list of contentious subjects is getting longer and the tone of declarations coming from Moscow is less and less agreeable", notes the daily. "This isn't a question of mere squabbling, but the consequence of the 2004 European accession of countries from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly the Baltic States. Whatever they may say, the Russians have never really accepted this. As for these countries, they have brought to the Union an experience of Russian relations marked by more than half a century of domination. This experience, that the western European countries lack, makes them more mistrustful, or less naive, regarding Russian intentions."

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