Thursday

28th Sep 2023

Renzi and Juncker send 'poor message' on Russia

  • Renzi (l) said earlier this week that the visit is designed to take Italian-Russian relations to “a new level” (Photo: Palazzo Chigi)

The presence of the Italian PM, the European Commission head and dozens of European and American CEOs at a business forum in St Petersburg shows that the Western blockade of Russia is dissolving, Russian media and diplomats have said.

Italy’s Matteo Renzi and the commission’s Jean-Claude Juncker will give speeches at the event, which takes place on Thursday and Friday (16-17 June), and hold bilateral meetings with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Putin to discuss Nord Stream II approval with Juncker (Photo: gazprom.com)

Renzi is bringing more than 20 top Italian executives, with Italian energy firms ENI and Saipem to sign new deals with Russia’s Rosneft and Novatek at the forum.

The Italian PM said earlier this week that his visit would take Italian-Russian relations to “a new level” and that Europe needs Putin’s help to fight terrorism.

Juncker’s spokesman said he is going as a “bridge-builder”.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said that Putin and Juncker will discuss EU sanctions on Russia, the migration crisis and Nord Stream II, a new Russia-Germany gas pipeline that needs the EU commission’s legal approval to go ahead.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The main thing is an attempt to look at where we are going in our relations, Russia and the European Union. And even against the background of current differences, what are the opportunities to maintain and develop dialogue.”

Putin is also to have dinner with former French leader and potential 2017 presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Ushakov called him Putin’s “old friend” and said they would discuss “Russian-French relations”.

The Anglo-Dutch energy company Shell, like the Italian firms, is to sign a new gas deal with Russia’s Gazprom.

Other European firms sending their top people to the St Petersburg event include Glencore, JCDecaux, the Metro Group, Siemens, Schneider Electric, Societe Generale and Total.

US boycott

The US state department said on Wednesday that the US government will not attend “at any level” due to Russia’s “continued … aggression” in Ukraine.

Its spokesman, James Kirby, said that “attending this forum sends a poor message out there about the acceptability of Russia’s actions”.

He added that firms which do business in Russia take “clear risks both economic and reputational” because Russia does not respect the rule of law.

But Ushakov, the Putin aide, highlighted the fact the US warning fell on deaf ears. He said "many representatives of other countries and leading international companies, including [from] countries which do not recommend sending their representatives to the forum" are coming anyway.

Russian state media was triumphant.

“These figures [on St Petersburg attendees] confirm that it is impossible to conduct a policy of isolation against Russia,” Izvestia, a Russian daily, said. Moskovsky Komsomolets, another daily, said the forum will “lift the reputation” that there is a Western “blockade” on Russia.

EU states have all-but agreed to extend Russia economic sanctions for another six months before they expire at the end of July.

But EU diplomats have warned it will be harder to maintain the EU consensus when the next renewal comes up in December.

’Hang in there!’

The sanctions, which include curbs on international lending to Russia’s top banks and energy firms, contributed to a 3.7 percent contraction in Russia’s GDP last year.

The developments, including low oil prices, could see Vnesheconombank, a Russian lender used by Putin to finance vanity projects such as the Sochi Olympics in 2014, being broken up unless it gets a huge bailout, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev tried to make light of the difficult conditions on a recent trip to Russia-occupied Crimea in Ukraine when he told an elderly woman, who had complained about her low pension: “There simply isn’t any money … Hang in there! Cheer up, and good health!”.

The phrase “hang in there!” quickly became a meme in Russian media, the Financial Times reports.

Tele2, an internet company, posted billboards that said “Competitors, hang in there!”, while two other firms tried to register the phrase as a trademark.

Interview

Russia 'ready to destabilise half of Eurasia'

Russia does not have a veto on Georgia’s foreign policy and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili does not rule the country, the Georgian president has said.

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. Germany tightens police checks on Czech and Polish border
  2. EU Ombudsman warns of 'new normal' of crisis decision-making
  3. How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?
  4. Resurgent Fico hopes for Slovak comeback at Saturday's election
  5. EU and US urge Azerbijan to allow aid access to Armenians
  6. EU warns of Russian 'mass manipulation' as elections loom
  7. Blocking minority of EU states risks derailing asylum overhaul
  8. Will Poles vote for the end of democracy?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us