Russia, EU seek to heal trade rift at summit

EU and Russian leaders arrived for a tense summit in Russia yesterday seeking to overcome a venomous row over Moscow’s ban on EU vegetable imports that has opened a new rift between the two sides.

A chronic lack of progress in talks over a visa-free regime and a new cooperation agreement had already been expected to cast a pall over the two-day summit in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

But after the European Union reacted with fury to Russia’s ban on its vegetables in the wake of the E. coli outbreak, this week’s biannual negotiations may be especially uncomfortable.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with the President of European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso near the historic Nizhny Novgorod fortress overlooking the Volga river.

The leaders briefly admired the view before going inside a building for dinner talks, expected to be followed by a Volga river cruise before official talks start today.

A source in the Russian delegation underlined the awkward atmosphere ahead of the talks, describing the EU reaction as “abnormal” and suggesting its diplomats should publicly eat European cucumbers.

“They in Brussels can start a public procedure of eating all cucumbers without exception without testing. We’ll applaud them,” the source said.

Russia, the largest market for EU vegetables, last week imposed a blanket ban on imports to prevent the spread of the E. coli bacteria that has left at least 30 people dead and more than 2,800 sick.

Critics have repeatedly accused Moscow of using import bans on produce as tools to pursue political goals. The ban comes after Russia’s repeated calls to scrap the visa regime with the European Union have met with silence.

Progress over a new cooperation treaty, to replace one in force since 1997, is also lacking.