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YEKATERINBURG, Russia -- Russia and the European Union (EU) concluded here on Tuesday their 31st regular summit, leaving an array of issues in divergence, despite of agreement in business and economic cooperation.
The two sides differ over the Syria crisis and made little progress in their prolonged visa-free talks due to deep-rooted mistrust and lack of real consensus, local experts say.
TUSSLE AND WRESTLE
Moscow and Brussels remain divided over the Syria crisis which topped the agenda of the summit.
Both confirmed their support for a political solution to end the conflict, but their approaches towards conflicting sides differed a lot.
The EU seemed to heal the rift with Russia over the issue and called for focusing on negotiations of a proposed international conference on Syria jointly proposed by Moscow and Washington.
During a press conference following the summit, Putin defended Russia's arms deals with Syria, saying Moscow has yet fulfilled its S-300 anti-air missile systems contract with Damascus, since "we don't want to throw the region off balance."
He also rapped the EU over its lifting of arms embargo for the Syrian opposition, which in his words ran against international law.
The 27-nation EU divides over Syria. The bloc recognized a major Syrian opposition group long ago mainly with the strong insistence of France and other major powers, as several other smaller member states have less say,experts said.
Therefore, "it is difficult for Moscow to negotiate with the Union (on Syria) which lacks consensus from within," said Yuri Rubinski, chief scholar of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Science.
BUSINESS IS BUSINESS
Europe's business interest in Russia has been growing. The regional bloc takes Russia not as a mere source of raw materials, but as a huge market with growing potential and spending power.
Citing promising bilateral trade and investment figures in 2012, Putin said at the summit there was a good base for further deepening the mutually beneficial ties. He also called for closer contacts to build mutual trust, hinting the two sides should prioritize business over differences.
Energy remains a core pillar of Russia-EU economic ties. In recent years, Russia has made substantial efforts to improve energy security by diversifying routes of gas supply to the EU. Construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline with the capacity to deliver additional 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually has significantly reduced transit risks, experts said.
A recently-signed Russia-EU roadmap for energy cooperation until 2050 was taken as a significant achievement in bilateral energy ties. As what Russian envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said, the ongoing energy cooperation between Moscow and Brussels "has a bright future."
ACCOUPLEMENT DESPITE DISAGREEMENT
Despite of brawls, economic ties between Moscow and Brussels are growing. In the long haul, Europe needs stable energy supply from Russia while Russia's modernization drive needs technologies and partnership. Therefore, the two highly complementary economies could generate win-win solutions, analysts said.
By the end of the summit, leaders from the two side signed an agreement on anti-narcotics cooperation, discussed a new foundational Russia-EU agreement taking into consideration the Eurasian integration process.
Still, the two sides made no breakthroughs on the visa-free regime. The sluggish negotiations were seemingly hampered by conflicting views on the service passport but indeed caused by some EU states' fears of illegal immigrant influx from the CIS countries, local experts said.
As for a new Russia-EU basic agreement, the two sides split because Brussels was trying to make Moscow assume obligations beyond what was required by the WTO, said Nadezhda Arbatova, professor at the Russian Academy of Science.
Despite frequent quarrels over bilateral and international issues, the Russia-EU interwoven fabric is so tight that neither side could live without each other. |
