EU/RUSSIA MEET

by RAY FLEMING
THE international political landscape is so dotted with summit meetings that only the very highest, such as the annual G8 gatherings attract much attention. Tomorrow one of lesser peaks can be observed when the Russia-European Union summit takes place at a Black Sea resort. The agenda is short, taking just one day, and nothing much more exciting than an agreement on visa exchanges is expected. However, the EU party will include four countries, Britain, France, Germany and Italy which will be present at this year's G8 summit, also due to take place in Russia, at St Petersburg in mid-July. It is likely therefore that tomorrow's discussions will touch on issues that are certain to loom large at St Petersburg, among them energy security and Iran, and some early soundings will be taken. On Iran, the EU approach is much closer to Russia's than America's and yesterday's news that the US has been pressuring four European banks, including HSBC, not to do business with Teheran shows that Washington is getting impatient with the diplomatic route. Energy security is a trickier issue with Europe finding itself increasingly dependent on Russia's huge gas and oil reserves and concerned that energy might be used as a political tool by Moscow. There are also several EU members with recent first-hand experience of living within Russia's hegemony which have yet to be persuaded that the imperial instincts of the old Soviet Union have really been abandoned by President Putin.