Poland and Lithuania rebuke Juncker on Russia

They issued the warning in a letter, dated 11 December and seen by EUobserver, to the EU trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem, and the EU foreign relations chief, Federica Mogherini.

They said: “Possible deeper economic integration between the EU and the Russian Federation … depends on a set of specific conditions,” but “we lack any meaningful progress on fulfilling these conditions.”

They said Russia must first implement the “Minsk” ceasefire pact in Ukraine, by extracting its troops and handing back control of the border. They also said Russia must lift its EU food embargo.

"We are surprised and concerned about the recent signals sent to the Russian Federation, which provide an overly optimistic perspective and send a positive message without references to the conditions,” they added.

“The future course of our relations will be determined by Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, which so far shows no signs of the necessary changes.”

They also said the wrong signals could “undermine” EU efforts to forestall Russia trade sanctions against Ukraine.

Juncker

Waszczykowski and Linkevicius reacted after Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission chief, voiced interest in holding talks with the Eurasian Economic Union (EUU), a Russian-led trade bloc.

Juncker, in a letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin last month, seen by the Reuters news agency, expressed “regret” closer EU-Russia ties “have not been able to develop,” adding: "I can assure you that the European Commission will be a helpful partner in this process.”

Waszczykowski and Linkevicius said if the EU is to hold talks with the EEU these should be “at the working level, oriented at the exchange of technical information.”

They said the Eurasian union is “a body of five countries - with current presidency Belarus - and technical contacts (if any) could take place between the appropriate institutions which represent the EU and the whole EEU … not only its single member - Russia.”

Sanctions

EU leaders are expected, later this week, to extend the duration of economic sanctions on Russia.

But Juncker’s EEU initiative comes amid wider efforts to repair ties with Moscow.

“It is true that, one year ago, Italy could have been, effectively, isolated in trying to start a dialogue with Russia, instead of building a wall. But today this is pretty much the mainstream view supported by all member states,” Italy’s foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, told press in Brussels on Monday.

Nato has resumed meetings with Russian officials to help avoid accidental military clashes in Syria. The US secretary of state John Kerry also visited Moscow on Tuesday to talk about Syria.