Foreign Correspondence

[StephanieVanbryce]

Putin Due in Netherlands for EU Summit as Ukrainian Election Strains Ties

By Steve Gutterman
Associated Press Writer

Nov 24, 2004

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - As Russia and the European Union headed for a summit Thursday, rancor over Ukraine's disputed presidential election strained ties, and persistent differences on a range of fundamental issues clouded hopes for a deep-reaching new partnership deal.
With the EU expanding eastward and Russia demanding a relationship that reflects its size and strategic significance, the two sides are struggling to forge an agreement that would bind them closer and boost security and trade from the Atlantic to the Urals.

EU concerns about Russia's direction under President Vladimir Putin have been a major obstacle, along with wariness on each side over the other's intentions in the unstable lands that lie between them.

Ukraine brought tensions over that region into stark relief. Putin congratulated the Kremlin-backed Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych after the election commission said he edged out the Western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, while EU foreign ministers urged a review of the results of what they called a badly flawed vote.

The Netherlands, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, announced it would send a special envoy to Ukraine to meet with Yushchenko and the country's outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder discussed the election with Putin on Wednesday.

EU officials said the 25-nation bloc would raise the Ukrainian election with Putin at the summit in The Hague, though the top Dutch diplomat in Russia said Tuesday that the issue would not influence good relations with Russia.

But Russia's Foreign Ministry lashed out at the EU, saying late Tuesday that criticism of the Ukrainian vote amounted to open incitement of Ukraine's opposition to "the illegal use of force."

Still, while Putin criticized Western countries on Tuesday for questioning the election results, he also said relations with the EU were improving.

Europe and Russia are increasingly interdependent economically, with Russia providing much of the energy for the rest of the continent and more than half of its exports going to the expanded EU.

Putin said it was important "to avoid creating new dividing lines between us and Europe," but there is increasing concern in the EU that Putin is throwing up divisions by strengthening Kremlin control over Russia at the expense of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Among the EU concerns have been the presidential and parliamentary elections of the past year, which observers said were skewed in favor of the authorities; strong Kremlin control over the media; the war in Chechnya; and the Yukos affair.

The differences are hampering efforts to agree on the new partnership, which is based on cooperation in four "common spaces" - economic; freedom, security and justice; external security; and research and education.

On Tuesday, an EU official said there was tentative agreement on the last one, but no deal yet on the other three. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the EU wanted to include references to human rights and respect for democracy and the rule of law, but Russia was resisting.

Russia resents what it sees as EU preaching - particularly on Chechnya - and accuses the EU of double standards on human rights, saying the treatment of the Russian-speaking minorities in the former Soviet republics of Latvia and Estonia falls far short of international standards.

AP-ES-11-24-04 1621EST

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBFU8A0Y1E.html