UK-Russia
The EU should continue to build relationship with Russia and to pursue a policy of engagement at all levels and across all policy areas but in a "hardheaded and unsentimental" way, according to an all-party British parliamentary committee.

In a report Thursday, the House of Lords European Union Committee also raises concerns about Russia's slide away from democracy and examines the implications of the recent election of President Dmitri Medvedev.

The report calls on the EU to continue to engage with Russia on a broad range of issues and to base its relations with Russia on a long term perspective.

All indications are that Medvedev's presidency will be
characterized by a high degree of continuity with the policies of President Putin, it concluded.

The Committee expressed support for his stated aim to strengthen the rule of law in Russia but warned that it remains to be seen what concrete steps he will take to achieve this, saying that "serious questions remain."
"The relationship between Russia and the EU is currently undergoing significant changes. Russia is increasingly confident and economically powerful," said committee chair Lord Roper.

"It is important that while the EU's relationship with Russia will change, the EU states should maintain pressure on Russia to more fully embrace democracy and implement a more effective rule of law," Roper said.

The report concluded that if Russia falls short of the standards it has accepted under the Council of Europe and OSCE in the area of democracy and human rights, criticism by the EU may at times be necessary.

"The attitude of ordinary Russians to western-style liberal democracy can largely be attributed to the shattered illusions and humiliating economic situation of the 1990s," it suggested.

Roper referred to the controversy around the extradition of Andrei Luguvoi, wanted by Britain in connection with the killing of a Russian dissident in London, and the "scandalous treatment" of the British Council in being forced to close two offices.

These, he said, show that it is important that the EU stands shoulder to shoulder with member states when they come into conflict with Russia on international issues."
"The EU must do everything it can to continue to engage with Russia but must always do that in the context of its guiding principles of democracy and the acceptance of international law," the committee chair said.

The report covers foreign policy issues, in particular current crisis hotspots such as Georgia and the Ukraine, where both the EU and Russia have geopolitical interests, as well as cooperation on Iran's nuclear issue and the disagreements over Kosovo.

Overall it concluded that the EU should formulate a united strategy in the pursuit of engagement with Russia at all levels and in all policy areas using a hard-headed and unsentimental approach.