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The Kremlin - will the Helsinki summit bring it any closer to the EU? (Photo: Finnish EU presidency)

Helsinki summit sees EU and Russia drifting apart

EU leaders will on Friday (24 November) limp to Finland for a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin without a mandate to start talks on a new EU-Russia treaty, but with plenty of thorny problems on the agenda such as Russian food trade bans, human rights, Iran and Georgia.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has personally promised Polish PM Jaroslaw Kaczynski he will "put pressure" on the Russian leader to end the now famous ban on Polish meat exports, with Mr Pu...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

The Kremlin - will the Helsinki summit bring it any closer to the EU? (Photo: Finnish EU presidency)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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