RUSSIA SNUBS SWEDEN SUMMIT PLANS
The Local
1 Jul 09 17:44 CET
Sweden’s fraught relationship with Moscow has come to the fore on the
first day of the Swedish EU presidency as Russia objects to plans to
hold a major summit in Stockholm.
~UEU’s institutional woes could outshine Sweden’s priorities (2 Jul 09)
~USweden urges EU states to tighten belts (1 Jul 09) ~USweden takes
over EU presidency (1 Jul 09) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev does
not want the EU-Russia summit to take place in the Swedish capital
"and insists that it takes place in Brussels," which Moscow considers
more neutral, a Swedish government official told AFP.
The twice-yearly summits normally alternate between Russia and whatever
country is holding the EU presidency. The last such summit was held
in May in Khabarovsk, in Russia’s far east. No date has been set for
the next one.
Relations between Stockholm and Moscow are strained as Sweden vocally
denounces human rights violations in Russia.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was also harshly critical of
Russia’s military intervention in Georgia last August in the name
of protecting the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia,
even making a parallel with Adolf Hitler.
Neither did Moscow appreciate a Swedish-Polish initiative last year
for an EU "Eastern Partnership" which would allow Europe to boost
its ties with six former Soviet-bloc states: Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
The Russians are also waiting for Sweden to approve the North Stream
gas-pipe project which would bring Russia natural gas as far as Germany
via the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is insisting on environmental guarantees.