Putin Is Given Cool Reception at E.U. Headquarters
By ANDREW HIGGINS, NYT
JAN. 28, 2014
BRUSSELS — President Vladimir V. Putin for years trumpeted Russia’s grand ambitions for improved relations with the European Union. He not only pushed to break down visa barriers across a vast expanse of territory covering more than 6,000 miles, but also urged the creation of what he calls a “harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Putin arrived at the Brussels headquarters of the 28-nation bloc. But he will not even get dinner. That customary courtesy got yanked from the program — a small sign of how escalating tensions over the unrest in Ukraine have soured even the basic routines of diplomacy and chilled relations between Moscow and Brussels.
Beyond the protocol slights, there are stark limits to how far Europe is willing or able to go in a high-stakes struggle with Russia over Ukraine, where weeks of peaceful protests last week tipped into violence and raised the unnerving prospect of chaotic civil strife on Europe’s eastern border.
(More here.)
JAN. 28, 2014
BRUSSELS — President Vladimir V. Putin for years trumpeted Russia’s grand ambitions for improved relations with the European Union. He not only pushed to break down visa barriers across a vast expanse of territory covering more than 6,000 miles, but also urged the creation of what he calls a “harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Putin arrived at the Brussels headquarters of the 28-nation bloc. But he will not even get dinner. That customary courtesy got yanked from the program — a small sign of how escalating tensions over the unrest in Ukraine have soured even the basic routines of diplomacy and chilled relations between Moscow and Brussels.
Beyond the protocol slights, there are stark limits to how far Europe is willing or able to go in a high-stakes struggle with Russia over Ukraine, where weeks of peaceful protests last week tipped into violence and raised the unnerving prospect of chaotic civil strife on Europe’s eastern border.
(More here.)
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