Russia EU summit, Putin, Prodi and Berlusconi

(6 Nov 2003)

1. Exterior Villa Madama where the European Union-Russia Summit is taking place
2. Car of Italian President Silvio Berlusconi
3. Berlusconi gets out of car and walks into Villa Madama
4. EU foreign policy representative Javier Solana gets out of car
5. Guard looking on
6. Russian President Vladimir Putin gets out of car and shakes hands with Berlusconi, hugs EU Commission president Romano Prodi
7. Media
8. Putin adjusts trousers, Putin, Berlusconi and Prodi pose for media
9. Putin, Berlusconi and Prodi walk into Villa Madama
10. Summit
11. Putin listening
12. Various Berlusconi talking (Solana on his left and Prodi on his right)
13. Summit with media

STORYLINE:

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Italian President Silvio Berlusconi and top European Union officials met on Thursday for talks, including discussions over Chechnya and the arrest of an oil tycoon.

The EU-Russian summit is the last one before the EU adds 10 new members next year, most of them from the former Soviet bloc.

Moscow is keen to develop firm economic ties with the 15-nation EU, while the European bloc is intent on maintaining good relations with a neighbour that is still a great regional power.

Talks between Russia and the EU - which will expand to 25 members in May 2004 - are amicable but not always easy, particularly when exchanges turn to matters such as alleged human rights abuses in the separatist Russian republic of Chechnya.

The new members will be Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Malta and Cyprus.

Freedoms in Russia are likely to come up during Thursday's talks as President Vladimir Putin faces criticism over the arrest of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky last month, which many analysts have worried was politically motivated.

Putin denies this, and stressed on Wednesday that his government shouldn't be seen as persecuting Khodorkovsky's company, Yukos.

Topics on the table include ties in economics, border control, justice and education, as well as a Russian request for visa-free travel with the EU.

Also on the agenda is whether Russia will ratify the Kyoto Protocol on global warming - considered key to putting the 1997 protocol into effect.

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