Putin, Schroeder, Chirac meet amid EU chaos

The leaders of France and Germany told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Svetlogorsk yesterday that EU enlargement was an issue for the bloc to decide, not Russia.

Russia has been alarmed at the growth of the European Union to incorporate former Kremlin satellites and its officials have hinted the crisis besetting the European Constitution may be a good moment to put further expansion on hold.

"The problems... of the Constitution and enlargement, this is a problem for EU members," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said at a joint news briefing with Mr Putin and France's President Jacques Chirac.

"This has nothing to do with what we describe as our strategic partnership with Russia," he added. Despite differences over enlargement, Mr Putin, Mr Schroeder and Mr Chirac appeared friendly and relaxed in each other's company.

All three will be at the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations summit next week in Gleneagles, Scotland and their talks touched on the issues of climate change, Africa and United Nations reform that will be on the agenda there.

Mr Chirac said the G8 leaders, after tough discussions, were "heading towards" an agreement on climate change at the July 6-8 summit, but he did not say what deal.

On Iraq, another issue likely to crop up at Gleneagles, Mr Putin said past criticism of the US-led invasion - by countries including France, Russia and Germany - should not get in the way of Iraq's future.

"All contradictions over Iraq should be left in the past. We must unite with the US, with those who are trying to change the situation in Iraq," Mr Putin said.

Kaliningrad region, the venue for yesterday's meeting, stands as a symbol of how Russia and the EU are intertwined.

Formerly the Prussian city of Koenigsberg, it is now a Russian exclave encircled by EU territory.

Moscow is worried that if the EU continues its eastward expansion, countries like Ukraine and Georgia - which are pulling out of Moscow's orbit after uprisings installed Western-looking leaders - could join the bloc next.

The Kremlin is also unhappy at what it sees as anti-Russian sentiment in some former Communist-bloc states now in the EU: Kaliningrad's neighbours Poland and Lithuania were pointedly not invited to yesterday's get-together.