Relations strain in advance of EU-Russia summit[fr][de] 

An article published in the European Voice on 3 May released excerpts of an internal strategy document discussed by EU ministers in late April. The document advises that Russian President Vladimir Putin be warned that the EU may veto Russia's WTO bid unless relations improve.

Russian diplomats are downplaying the dispute, and the EU has denied any intention to block Russia. A spokesperson for the Commission stated that the EU is still "strongly committed" to seeing Russia enter the WTO. 

The EU is highly dependent on Russia for trade in energy, and the WTO issue may be one of the only major bargaining tools the EU has at its disposal. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson already alluded to the WTO issue in April in reference to an ongoing dispute over a Russian ban of imports of Polish meat for an apparent lack in health standards. Poland charges that the ban, which has lasted over one year, is politically motivated and it has threatened to veto the upcoming summit. Poland vetoed the last EU-Russia summit in November 2006 over the same issue. Lithuania may also veto the summit after Russia closed an important oil pipeline last year.

Other issues have contribued to the souring of relations. Russian protestors surrounded and trapped diplomats in the Estonian embassy in Moscow for days, following the removal of a Russian war memorial from the centre of the Estonian capital Tallinn to the outskirts of the city. Estonians feel the statue is a symbol of Russian oppression; Russians feel it symbolizes Russian sacrifices in World War II. Ethnic Russians make up 1/4 of the population of Estonia. The German Presidency of the EU has expressed its "grave concern" over the developments between Russia and Estonia.

EU leaders also reacted with dismay at Russian authorities' violent suppression of a peaceful anti-Kremlin demonstration in April.

EU-Russia cooperation was institutionalised in 1997 in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (CPA), which covers a number of bilateral relations. Energy cooperation is enshrined in a related EU-Russia Energy Dialogue. The cooperation framework is being put to the test by recent developments, however. Mr Mandelson was quoted in April as saying that the "level of misunderstanding or even mistrust" between the EU and Russia is at its lowest since the end of the Cold War.