Poland Obstructs Russia and European Union

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov met with EU three in Moscow yesterday (Feb. 05, 2007). The talks went without journalists. The key issues were Kosovo, and Russia-EU relations. It turned out that Poland’s stand hampers Moscow and Brussels in reaching complete understanding.
EU three and Minister Lavrov discussed mainly two issues: Kosovo, and the possibility of making a new Russia-EU agreement on cooperation and partnership. Brussels is particularly interested in Moscow’s stand on Kosovo, since China made it clear it will vote in the same way as Russia.

Moscow showed its decision concerning Kosovo will depend on the EU’s readiness to take into account Russia’s interests in other issues. One of them is the new Russia-EU partnership and cooperation treaty. For more than two months already, Poland has been blocking the beginning of Russia-EU talks, demanding that Russia lift the ban on importing Poland’s agricultural products.

By the way, the EU suddenly faced Poland’s obstruction on Kosovo issue as well. Polish President Lech Kaczynski said recently that Warsaw is for Kosovo’s broad autonomy within Serbia.
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