RUSSIA/IRELAND: The Russian foreign minister is due in Dublin today, writes Dan McLaughlin in Moscow
Russia's new foreign minister is due in Dublin today to try and clear final stumbling blocks with the European Union ahead of its enlargement into Moscow's old sphere of influence on May 1st.
Mr Sergei Lavrov will meet the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen; the EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana; and the European External Relations Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, for talks expected to focus on modifications to a key pact governing trade between Russia and the EU.
Moscow is worried that it will lose out after May 1st, when eight eastern European nations join the EU, along with Malta and Cyprus.
The Kremlin is also irritated by EU criticism of its handling of the war in Chechnya with separatist rebels.
Russia has preferential trade deals with most of the former eastern bloc and has demanded compensation for what it imagines will be lost earnings when tariffs change and the new EU members become subject to conditions applicable to the entire EU bloc.
Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov, who is Russia's point man on EU affairs, said on Monday that Moscow hoped to reach agreement on a modified Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) by the end of the week.
Russia has been reluctant to include the new members under the existing PCA, and the EU responded with veiled threats over possible trade reprisals.
Moscow also wants Brussels to put pressure on new members Latvia and Estonia, both former Soviet states, over what it calls discrimination towards the two countries' large Russian minorities.
Potentially the most explosive discussions concern Chechnya, where Russian troops are fighting their second war in a decade with separatist rebels whom Moscow says are part-funded by al-Qaeda.
The EU presented a draft resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Commission last week that called for condemnation of abuses in Chechnya, as well as "terrorist acts" elsewhere in the country.
Moscow reacted furiously, calling it yet another attempt to undermine efforts to root out "terrorists" and bring peace to the restive North Caucasus region.
"This is encouragement for terrorists and contradicts the uncompromising fight against international terrorism," said Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov.
The resolution, which was backed by several former Soviet bloc states, "strongly condemns the ongoing serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Chechnya," citing "forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture, ill treatment, arbitrary detentions and abductions".
Mr Chizhov said two similar resolutions had failed in the past two years.
"If our colleagues and partners want to repeat this mistake for a third time . . . we can hardly prevent them from doing so," he said.
"We believe that this is an unfriendly step and is not in line with the Russia-EU partnership," Mr Chizhov added.
The Russian foreign minister's visit to Dublin was postponed from March, when Mr Lavrov, a former UN envoy, replaced Mr Igor Ivanov in a government reshuffle.
Developments in the Middle East and Kosovo are also expected to feature in today's talks, Russian officials said.