EU hits back at Russian "nonsense" over Eastern initiative

Luxembourg - Top European Union diplomats on Monday dismissed as 'nonsense' a claim by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the EU is planning to build a sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union, just 24 hours before a meeting with him. On March 21, Lavrov said that the EU was trying to build a 'sphere of influence' in Eastern Europe by setting up a so-called 'Eastern Partnership' with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. But Lavrov 'knows himself that's nonsense. We strongly defend the point of view that there should be no spheres of influence, neither for the Russians, nor for us,' said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, ahead of a meeting with EU counterparts in Luxembourg. The EU's top diplomat, Javier Solana, said that Lavrov's accusation was simply 'not true.' 'We have a group of countries with which we have a special relationship because of neighbourhood, because of trade, because of so many things. We want to establish a mechanism of relationship which is more stable, more institutional, and that has nothing to do with our relationship with Russia,' he said. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country proposed the partnership and is set to take over the EU presidency in July, said that it was Russia, not the EU, which thought in imperialist terms. 'It speaks for itself that he (Lavrov) thinks in terms of spheres of influence immediately. This (the partnership) is our answer to the wishes expressed by these nations themselves to come closer to European integration,' he said. The partnership is intended to strengthen the EU's political and commercial ties with the six countries in question, and to ask for pro-democracy and free-market reforms in return. EU and partnership leaders are set to launch it at a summit in Prague on May 7. Sweden and Poland proposed the partnership in early 2008 to counterbalance the EU's planned Union for the Mediterranean. After Russia invaded Georgia in August, EU members agreed to make the partnership a top priority in a bid to forestall any future conflicts. On Tuesday, Lavrov is set to meet EU diplomats in Luxembourg for long-scheduled talks. The partnership is due to be one of the main points on the agenda.