EU struggles to revise approach to Russia
| Athens
聽foreign ministers tried to map out a new strategy towards聽聽at talks in聽聽on Saturday, pledging to keep a tough stance over its tensions with聽, while steering clear of provoking聽聽into further conflict.
厂颈苍肠别听's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, the聽聽has imposed sanctions against the closest allies of President聽, 补苍诲听聽governments have suspended top-level contacts with聽.
Further sanctions are being prepared in case the conflict escalates. But in the near term, the聽EU's 28 governments will have to balance the need to preserve stability to east of the bloc, while strengthening ties with former Soviet republics, a process that has drawn ire from聽.
Polish Foreign Minister聽聽said it was not in the聽's interest to fuel confrontation with聽, already at its highest since the Cold War.
"鲍苍蹿辞谤迟耻苍补迟别濒测,听聽is forcing us to revise our approach, because of its actions," Sikorski told Reuters after the two-day meeting in the Greek capital, focused on聽EU's relations with聽聽and neighbours to the east and south.
"We used to negotiate through peaceful means ... But聽聽has moved beyond this framework, by its aggression towards聽."
Swedish Foreign Minister聽聽said further tensions with聽聽were inevitable, as the聽EU聽prepares to sign trade deals with聽听补苍诲听聽by June, and to finalise closer economic ties with聽.
's plans to sign such a deal last year led聽聽to persuade former Ukrainian president聽聽to abandon them, causing popular protests in Kiev and the ousting of the pro-Russian president in February.聽聽later seized Crimea.
Bildt said he was "quite certain" Putin would try to force聽听补苍诲听聽to drop plans for closer trade ties with聽, just as he prevented聽聽last year from moving forward with a trade pact.
"There is no question whatsoever, and he will do the same with聽. The plan is I think to sign these (pacts) in June. I don't that there is going to be applause in the Kremlin. There might be something else ... thunder," he told reporters.
罢丑别听EU's foreign policy chief聽聽said diplomatic efforts to soothe tensions between聽补苍诲听聽would continue.
"You will see over these coming days that we continue to engage with聽, with the Ukrainian colleagues and the United States in making sure that we have a strong way forward," she told a news conference.
EUROPEAN FRUSTRATION
罢丑别听EU聽has held bi-annual summits with聽聽for years, in hopes of forging closer trade relations, easing tensions over energy supplies and working out better cooperation on diplomatic issues such the聽,聽or Iran.
But the summits rarely yielded much progress and the聽EU聽has grown frustrated over the state of democracy in聽more than two decades after the collapse of the聽. Relations were further strained by's war with聽聽in 2008 and its willingness to disrupt energy supply to聽听惫颈补听.
In the wake of the latest聽聽crisis, the聽EU聽has already decided to accelerate its quest for more secure energy supplies, reducing dependence on Russian oil and gas.
聽provides around one third of the聽EU's oil and gas and some 40 percent of the gas is shipped through. It is also the聽EU's third biggest trading partner, importing some 123 billion euros' worth of goods.
But it is unclear how the conflict will affect other pressure points, such as a regulatory dispute with Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom over its activities in central 补苍诲听聽or tensions over聽EU聽energy policy reforms which affect Gazprom's use of gas pipelines.
Bildt said that with聽聽becoming more confrontational, the聽EU聽was forced to rethink how it deals with its powerful neighbour but it was unsure how to proceed for now.
"There is a new political mentality from the Kremlin. They are intending to build up what I sometimes call a bastion against the west, the muscular east against the decadent west," he said. "We are having a profound debate about what is the nature of聽聽that we are faced with ... We will take it step by step."
Bildt's German counterpart聽听蝉补颈诲听聽would need to wait to understand how聽was developing and what its strategy towards former Soviet republics seeking closer ties with聽would be.
"You need strategies, but history is not doing you the favour of allowing you to follow those strategies," he told reporters. "Of course we have to think about how our relationship with聽聽should look like in the future. We should do that without any illusion. But we must also not talk ourselves into a deadlock from which you not get out."
Additional reporting by Tom Koerkemeier
