Russia Seeks Better EU Ties Under New Presidency

Russia said on Tuesday it hoped its relations with the European Union would gain new momentum at the end of a six-month German presidency.

Russia said on Tuesday it hoped its relations with the European Union would gain new momentum at the end of a six-month German presidency of the bloc that has seen ties strained by disputes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had two and a half hours of talks in the Kremlin with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country takes over the EU's rotating presidency from Germany on July 1.

"I hope that when Portugal takes over the EU presidency, Russia's relations with its European partners will be given a new impetus," Putin said during the talks, which had been scheduled to last only one hour.

An EU-Russia summit in the Volga river city of Samara this month was marred by differences over respect for democracy inside Russia and over Russia's ban on imports of meat from Poland.

At that summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised Russian police for preventing anti-Kremlin protesters reaching the city near the summit venue where they planned a march.

Warsaw believes the ban on meat imports is politically motivated and responded by vetoing the launch of negotiations on a new strategic partnership treaty with Russia. The EU has backed Poland in the dispute.