US-Russia missile dispute causes EU headache[fr][de] 

• Cold War revival? 

The tensions between Russia and the United States are reminiscent of the Cold War era, with Europe again caught in the middle. 

While US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice maintains that the planned anti-missile defence system is aimed to counter threats from Iran, Putin has made it clear that he views the US move as an attempt to gain the upper hand as his country re-emerges as a major economic and political power on the international scene. 

• Pipeline politics 

The truth of the matter could be that Russia, on top of its large arsenal of nuclear weapons, has resources that could give it even more leverage in the post-Cold War era – the world's biggest reserve of natural gas (the country holds one third of all known reserves) and one of the world's largest supplies of oil (8th in the world). 

The US has never hidden its desire to control the world's oil resources – all the more so in the current era of global energy insecurity – with an ever-growing demand, as countries such as China and India pursue their rapid development, and rapidly-decreasing supplies. 

Russia, on the other hand, has already shown how it can use its energy supplies to bully its neighbours into political obedience. 

The EU, which is dependent on Russia for 25% of its gas and oil, has already borne the brunt of Moscow's 'pipeline politics', when gas deliveries to Ukraine were cut off last year, leaving several European countries without supply (EurActiv 04/01/06). 

Since then, EU leaders have been tip-toeing around Putin in the hope of concluding a fully-fledged bilateral energy co-operation agreement that would provide certain guarantees to member states, but progress has been blocked due to a Polish veto on the start of negotiations in response to Russia's embargo on Polish meat (EurActiv 22/01/07). 

• Other troubles 

Putin's decision to pull out of the CFE treaty adds another layer to the already fraught EU-Russia relationship, which has recently been strained over a UN plan to grant independence status to Kosovo – a proposal backed by the EU and US but opposed by Serbia and Russia (EurActiv 28/03/07) – as well as over EU concerns about human rights and freedom-of-speech violations in Russia. 

The European Parliament, on 26 April, adopted a Resolution condemning "deteriorating climate for free speech" and calling for investigations into human-rights violations following brutal attacks by Russian security forces on Putin's political opponents during a peaceful rally on 14-15 April and the murder of journalist and human-rights activist Anna Politkovskaya last October. 

Sparks also flew between Estonia and Russia on 29 April, when Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet accused Russia of spreading lies and triggering three nights of riots in the Baltic capital Tallinn, killing one person and leaving 156 injured and more than 1,000 jailed. The violence was prompted by Estonia's decision to relocate a Soviet war memorial that was a shrine for ethnic Russians but which ethnic Estonians considered a symbol of 50 years oppression under Soviet rule. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the planned US anti-missile system should be seen "not just as a defence shield, but a part of the US nuclear arsenal – an indispensable part of a strategic nuclear weapons system". He also fears that the radars might be used to spy on Russia. 

"Not everyone likes the stable, gradual rise of our country," he said, adding: "We will not get hysterical about this. We will just take appropriate measures." 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained Russia's anger, saying: "We have the impression that everything has already been decided in Washington," and argued that such plans must assume "co-operation from the start, and, as a first step, must include a joint assessment of existing threats and co-ordination of measures to be taken". 

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was "ludicrous" to believe that the US missile shield could be aimed against Russia. "The Russians have thousands of warheads. The idea that you can somehow stop the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent with a few interceptors just doesn't make sense," she said. 

US Department of State Spokesman Tom Casey played things down, saying: "Certainly we understand that there's a difference between us on the question of missile defence. I think that that is ultimately an issue that is quite resolvable without any major problems or conflicts," adding that Russia and the US co-operate successfully on a large number of issues and that they would continue to discuss this issue together. 

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that the announcement that Russia was pulling out of the Conventional Forces Treaty "was, indeed, very disappointing", adding: "Any sovereign state of the European Union has the right to establish security arrangements with others." 

Yet European officials remain wary about the US missile-defence proposal and a number of European capitals agree that the US has inadequately consulted Russia on the issue. 

"The core issue is to prevent a spiral of mistrust between Russia and the US," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, adding: "This is what is in our immediate European interest."